Extended Emission Surrounding Nearby Seyfert Galaxies
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Author/Creator ORCID
Date
2009-01-01
Type of Work
Department
Physics
Program
Physics, Applied
Citation of Original Publication
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Access limited to the UMBC community. Item may possibly be obtained via Interlibrary Loan through a local library, pending author/copyright holder's permission.
Abstract
We present the results from a search for and survey of any extended X-ray emission surrounding a class of Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN) known as &ldquo Seyfert-2 &rdquo galaxies using data collected using Chandra X-ray observatory (CXO< rs of this work was therefore to determine whether CXO< ns help constrain current theories for AGN by probing the smallest spatial scales (&ge 100~pc) possible. Our sample consists of all the CXO< ns of Seyfert-2 galaxies performed using the ACIS-S3 detector during the first 8 years of operation (28 objects). We find extended X-ray emission in all our Seyfert-2 sample of galaxies with a range of luminosities (10<super>38< er>41< >&minus 1< jects, the morphology is predominately bi-conical centered on the nucleus and typically extending out to a few kpc.Only a single cone is seen in 8 of the remaining objects, which may be indicative of intrinsically anisotropic emission. Where data is available, the X-ray cones do appear to occupy the same solid angle as the extended [O III] emission line gas previously detected in these objects. Our data suggest that the luminosity of the extended emission is typically a few percent of that of the nuclear source. Our findings are therefore broadly consist with current theories of AGN, but the low signal to noise for many of the observations combined with obscuration and possible contamination prevent any definitive tests of &ldquo Unified Schemes &rdquo being performed.