CONTRIBUTION OF THE ACCRETION DISK, HOT CORONA, AND OBSCURING TORUS TO THE LUMINOSITY OF SEYFERT GALAXIES: INTEGRAL AND SPITZER OBSERVATIONS
Creators
- 1. Space Research Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences, Profsoyuznaya 84/32, Moscow 117997 (Russian Federation)
- 2. Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138 (United States)
- 3. Department of Physics and Astronomy, Dartmouth College, 6127 Wilder Laboratory, Hanover, NH 03755 (United States)
- 4. Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, MS 169-327, 4800 Oak Grove Drive, Pasadena, CA 91109 (United States)
- 5. Institute of Astronomy, Madingley Road, Cambridge CB3 0HA (United Kingdom)
- 6. Max-Planck-Institut für Astrophysik, Karl-Schwarzschild-Str. 1, D-85741 Garching (Germany)
Description
We estimate the relative contributions of the supermassive black hole (SMBH) accretion disk, corona, and obscuring torus to the bolometric luminosity of Seyfert galaxies, using Spitzer mid-infrared (MIR) observations of a complete sample of 68 nearby active galactic nuclei (AGNs) from the INTEGRAL all-sky hard X-ray (HX) survey. This is the first HX-selected (above 15 keV) sample of AGNs with complementary high angular resolution, high signal-to-noise, MIR data. Correcting for the host galaxy contribution, we find a correlation between HX and MIR luminosities: L15μm∝L0.74±0.06HX. Assuming that the observed MIR emission is radiation from an accretion disk reprocessed in a surrounding dusty torus that subtends a solid angle decreasing with increasing luminosity (as inferred from the declining fraction of obscured AGNs), the intrinsic disk luminosity, LDisk, is approximately proportional to the luminosity of the corona in the 2-300 keV energy band, LCorona, with the LDisk/LCorona ratio varying by a factor of 2.1 around a mean value of 1.6. This ratio is a factor of ∼2 smaller than for typical quasars producing the cosmic X-ray background. Therefore, over three orders of magnitude in luminosity, HX radiation carries a large, and roughly comparable, fraction of the bolometric output of AGNs. We estimate the cumulative bolometric luminosity density of local AGNs at ∼(1-3) × 1040 erg s–1 Mpc–3. Finally, the Compton temperature ranges between kTc ≈ 2 and ≈6 keV for nearby AGNs, compared to kTc ≈ 2 keV for typical quasars, confirming that radiative heating of interstellar gas can play an important role in regulating SMBH growth.
Availability note (English)
Available from http://dx.doi.org/10.1088/0004-637X/757/2/181Additional details
Identifiers
Publishing Information
- Journal Title
- Astrophysical Journal
- Journal Volume
- 757
- Journal Issue
- 2
- Journal Page Range
- [20 p.]
- ISSN
- 0004-637X
- CODEN
- ASJOAB
INIS
- Country of Publication
- United States
- Country of Input or Organization
- International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)
- INIS RN
- 44050408
- Subject category
- S79: ASTROPHYSICS, COSMOLOGY AND ASTRONOMY;
- Descriptors DEI
- ACCRETION DISKS; ASTRONOMY; ASTROPHYSICS; BLACK HOLES; BOLOMETERS; CARBON MONOXIDE; CORRELATIONS; COSMIC PHOTONS; DENSITY; GALAXY NUCLEI; HARD X RADIATION; INTERMEDIATE INFRARED RADIATION; KEV RANGE; LUMINOSITY; QUASARS; SEYFERT GALAXIES; X-RAY GALAXIES
- Descriptors DEC
- BOSONS; CARBON COMPOUNDS; CARBON OXIDES; CHALCOGENIDES; COSMIC RADIATION; COSMIC RADIO SOURCES; COSMIC RAY SOURCES; COSMIC X-RAY SOURCES; ELECTROMAGNETIC RADIATION; ELEMENTARY PARTICLES; ENERGY RANGE; GALAXIES; INFRARED RADIATION; IONIZING RADIATIONS; MASSLESS PARTICLES; MEASURING INSTRUMENTS; OPTICAL PROPERTIES; OXIDES; OXYGEN COMPOUNDS; PHOTONS; PHYSICAL PROPERTIES; PHYSICS; RADIATIONS; X RADIATION