The Astrophysical Journal (Jan 2023)
BASS. XLII. The Relation between the Covering Factor of Dusty Gas and the Eddington Ratio in Nearby Active Galactic Nuclei
- C. Ricci,
- K. Ichikawa,
- M. Stalevski,
- T. Kawamuro,
- S. Yamada,
- Y. Ueda,
- R. Mushotzky,
- G. C. Privon,
- M. J. Koss,
- B. Trakhtenbrot,
- A. C. Fabian,
- L. C. Ho,
- D. Asmus,
- F. E. Bauer,
- C. S. Chang,
- K. K. Gupta,
- K. Oh,
- M. Powell,
- R. W. Pfeifle,
- A. Rojas,
- F. Ricci,
- M. J. Temple,
- Y. Toba,
- A. Tortosa,
- E. Treister,
- F. Harrison,
- D. Stern,
- C. M. Urry
Affiliations
- C. Ricci
- ORCiD
- Instituto de Estudios Astrofísicos, Facultad de Ingeniería y Ciencias, Universidad Diego Portales , Avenida Ejercito Libertador 441, Santiago, Chile [email protected]; Kavli Institute for Astronomy and Astrophysics, Peking University , Beijing 100871, People’s Republic of China
- K. Ichikawa
- ORCiD
- Frontier Research Institute for Interdisciplinary Sciences, Tohoku University , Sendai, 980-8578, Japan
- M. Stalevski
- ORCiD
- Astronomical Observatory , Volgina 7, 11060 Belgrade, Serbia; Sterrenkundig Observatorium, Universiteit Ghent , Krijgslaan 281 S9, B-9000 Ghent, Belgium
- T. Kawamuro
- ORCiD
- RIKEN Cluster for Pioneering Research , 2-1 Hirosawa, Wako, Saitama 351-0198, Japan
- S. Yamada
- ORCiD
- RIKEN Cluster for Pioneering Research , 2-1 Hirosawa, Wako, Saitama 351-0198, Japan
- Y. Ueda
- ORCiD
- Department of Astronomy, Kyoto University , Kitashirakawa -Oiwake-cho, Sakyo-ku, Kyoto 606-8502, Japan
- R. Mushotzky
- ORCiD
- Department of Astronomy, University of Maryland , College Park, MD 20742, USA; Joint Space-Science Institute, University of Maryland , College Park, MD 20742, USA
- G. C. Privon
- ORCiD
- National Radio Astronomy Observatory , 520 Edgemont Road, Charlottesville, VA 22903, USA; Department of Astronomy, University of Florida , PO Box 112055, Gainesville, FL 32611, USA
- M. J. Koss
- ORCiD
- Eureka Scientific , 2452 Delmer Street, Suite 100, Oakland, CA 94602-3017, USA; Space Science Institute , 4750 Walnut Street, Suite 205, Boulder, CO 80301, USA
- B. Trakhtenbrot
- ORCiD
- School of Physics and Astronomy, Tel Aviv University , Tel Aviv 69978, Israel
- A. C. Fabian
- ORCiD
- Institute of Astronomy , Madingley Road, Cambridge CB3 0HA, UK
- L. C. Ho
- ORCiD
- Kavli Institute for Astronomy and Astrophysics, Peking University , Beijing 100871, People’s Republic of China; Department of Astronomy, School of Physics, Peking University , Beijing 100871, People’s Republic of China
- D. Asmus
- Department of Physics & Astronomy, University of Southampton , Southampton, SO17 1BJ, UK; Gymnasium Schwarzenbek , D-21493 Schwarzenbek, Germany
- F. E. Bauer
- ORCiD
- Instituto de Astrofísica, Facultad de Física, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile , Campus San Joaquin, Av. Vicuña Mackenna 4860, Macul Santiago, 7820436, Chile; Centro de Astroingeniería, Facultad de Física, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile , Campus San Joaquin, Av. Vicuña Mackenna 4860, Macul Santiago, 7820436, Chile; Millennium Institute of Astrophysics , Nuncio Monseñor Sótero Sanz 100, Of 104, Providencia, Santiago, Chile
- C. S. Chang
- ORCiD
- Joint ALMA Observatory , Avenida Alonso de Cordova 3107, Vitacura 7630355, Santiago, Chile
- K. K. Gupta
- ORCiD
- STAR Institute , Quartier Agora—Allée du six Août, 19c B-4000 Liège, Belgium
- K. Oh
- ORCiD
- Korea Astronomy & Space Science institute , 776, Daedeokdae-ro, Yuseong-gu, Daejeon 34055, Republic of Korea
- M. Powell
- ORCiD
- Kavli Institute for Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology, Stanford University , 452 Lomita Mall, Stanford, CA 94305, USA; Department of Physics, Stanford University , 382 Via Pueblo Mall, Stanford, CA 94305, USA
- R. W. Pfeifle
- ORCiD
- X-Ray Astrophysics Laboratory, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center , Code 662, Greenbelt, MD 20771, USA; Oak Ridge Associated Universities , NASA NPP Program, Oak Ridge, TN 37831, USA
- A. Rojas
- ORCiD
- Instituto de Estudios Astrofísicos, Facultad de Ingeniería y Ciencias, Universidad Diego Portales , Avenida Ejercito Libertador 441, Santiago, Chile [email protected]; Centro de Astronomía (CITEVA), Universidad de Antofagasta , Avenida Angamos 601, Antofagasta, Chile
- F. Ricci
- ORCiD
- Dipartimento di Matematica e Fisica, Universita Roma Tre , via della Vasca Navale 84, I-00146, Roma, Italy
- M. J. Temple
- ORCiD
- Instituto de Estudios Astrofísicos, Facultad de Ingeniería y Ciencias, Universidad Diego Portales , Avenida Ejercito Libertador 441, Santiago, Chile [email protected]
- Y. Toba
- ORCiD
- National Astronomical Observatory of Japan , 2-21-1 Osawa, Mitaka, Tokyo 181-8588, Japan; Academia Sinica Institute of Astronomy and Astrophysics , 11F Astronomy-Mathematics Building, AS/NTU, No.1, Section 4, Roosevelt Road, Taipei 10617, Taiwan; Research Center for Space and Cosmic Evolution, Ehime University , 2-5 Bunkyo-cho, Matsuyama, Ehime 790-8577, Japan
- A. Tortosa
- ORCiD
- INAF—Osservatorio Astronomico di Roma , via di Frascati 33, I-00078 Monte Porzio Catone, Italy
- E. Treister
- ORCiD
- Instituto de Astrofísica, Facultad de Física, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile , Campus San Joaquin, Av. Vicuña Mackenna 4860, Macul Santiago, 7820436, Chile
- F. Harrison
- Cahill Center for Astronomy and Astrophysics, California Institute of Technology , Pasadena, CA 91125, USA
- D. Stern
- ORCiD
- Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology , 4800 Oak Grove Drive, MS 169-224, Pasadena, CA 91109, USA
- C. M. Urry
- ORCiD
- Yale Center for Astronomy & Astrophysics , Physics Department, PO Box 208120, New Haven, CT 06520-8120, USA
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ad0733
- Journal volume & issue
-
Vol. 959,
no. 1
p. 27
Abstract
Accreting supermassive black holes (SMBHs) located at the centers of galaxies are typically surrounded by large quantities of gas and dust. The structure and evolution of this circumnuclear material can be studied at different wavelengths, from the submillimeter to the X-ray. Recent X-ray studies have shown that the covering factor of the obscuring material tends to decrease with increasing Eddington ratio, likely due to radiative feedback on dusty gas. Here we study a sample of 549 nearby ( z ≲ 0.1) hard X-ray (14–195 keV) selected nonblazar active galactic nuclei (AGN) and use the ratio between the AGN infrared and bolometric luminosity as a proxy of the covering factor. We find that, in agreement with what has been found by X-ray studies of the same sample, the covering factor decreases with increasing Eddington ratio. We also confirm previous findings that showed that obscured AGN typically have larger covering factors than unobscured sources. Finally, we find that the median covering factors of AGN located in different regions of the column density–Eddington ratio diagram are in good agreement with what would be expected from a radiation-regulated growth of SMBHs.
Keywords
