X-RAY PROPERTIES OF THE NORTHERN GALACTIC CAP SOURCES IN THE 58 MONTH SWIFT /BAT CATALOG

• Published in: The Astrophysical journal Vol. 763; no. 2; pp. 1 - 38
• Main Authors: Vasudevan, Ranjan V, Brandt, William N, Mushotzky, Richard F, Winter, Lisa M, Baumgartner, Wayne H, Shimizu, Thomas T, Schneider, P, Nousek, John
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States 01.02.2013
• Subjects: ABSORPTION; Active galactic nuclei; ASTROPHYSICS, COSMOLOGY AND ASTRONOMY; COMPTON EFFECT; DENSITY; GALAXY NUCLEI; HARD X RADIATION; IRON; KEV RANGE 01-10; LUMINOSITY; RED SHIFT; SIGNAL-TO-NOISE RATIO; SKY; Spectra; TELESCOPES; UNIVERSE; X-RAY GALAXIES; X-rays; XMM (spacecraft)
• ISSN: 0004-637X; 1538-4357
• DOI: 10.1088/0004-637X/763/2/111

We present a detailed X-ray spectral analysis of the non-beamed, hard X-ray selected active galactic nuclei (AGNs) in the northern Galactic cap of the 58 month Swift Burst Alert Telescope (Swift/BAT) catalog, consisting of 100 AGNs with b > 50[degrees]. This sky area has excellent potential for further dedicated study due to a wide range of multi-wavelength data that are already available, and we propose it as a low-redshift analog to the "deep field" observations of AGNs at higher redshifts. We present distributions of luminosity, absorbing column density, and other key quantities for the catalog. We use a consistent approach to fit new and archival X-ray data gathered from XMM-Newton, Swift/XRT, ASCA, and Swift/BAT. We probe to deeper redshifts than the 9 month BAT catalog, and uncover a broader absorbing column density distribution. We emphasize the utility of this northern Galactic cap sample for a wide variety of future studies on AGNs.