Astrophysics and Evolution of
Supermassive Black Holes
INAF - Osservatorio Astronomico di Bologna
IASF – CNR sezione di Bologna
Dipartimento di Astronomia – Universita’ Bologna
STRATEGY: HIGH ENERGY OBSERVATIONS and
MULTIWAVELENGTH FOLLOW-UP
 WHY
Probe the inner regions  strong field limit of GR
Unbiased (Unobscured) view of accretion history
AIMS
Mapping physics and geometry of central BH
Space density and evolution of obscured accreting BH

WHEN
since early 2000 (launch of XMM and Chandra) based
on the BeppoSAX heritage  up to the foreseen life of
NASA and ESA cornerstones (2008-2010)
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OAB
P. Ciliegi
A. Comastri
C. Gruppioni
M. Mignoli
G.M. Stirpe
V. Zitelli

(RA)
(AA)
(RA)
(RA)
(AA)
(AA)
C. Vignali (Post-Doc)
M. Brusa (PhD 3+ yr.)
P. Ranalli (PhD 3+ yr.)
F. Civano (PhD 1 yr.)
IASF
M. Cappi
(Ric.)
G. Di Cocco (Dir.)
P. Grandi
(Ric.)
G. Malaguti (Ric.)
M. Dadina
(art. 23)
L. Foschini
(art. 23)
F. Panessa (PhD 3+ yr.)
G. Ponti
(PhD 1 yr.)
N. Cappelluti (student)
UNIBO
G. G. C. Palumbo (PO)

SMBH ASTROPHYSICS
o
Deep high energy observations of bright
Seyfert galaxies and quasars
o Direct (unabsorbed) probe of the disc/BH
system inner regions
o High quality spectroscopy (continuum +
emission/absorption line parameters)
o High throughput (variability, reverberation
mapping)
o High-quality imaging of high z QSO
o
Reverberation mapping in Opt/UV
Broad-band (0.1-100 keV) X-ray Observations of AGNs
Cappi et al., ‘99, Malaguti et al. ‘98, ‘01, etc. (single objects)
Dadina et al., in preparation ( all the AGNs (z<0.1) in BeppoSAX archive)
BeppoSAX spectra up to 100 keV
for about 100 AGNs
R and Ec for about 20 AGNs
N. of sources
N. of sources
Importance of high-energy coverage for
the astrophysics of AGNs
Gamma
N. of sources
R
Ec
X-ray mapping of the Inner regions of AGNs
Ponti et al. 2003, Dadina & Cappi 2003, Longinotti et al. 2003, etc
First model-independent confirmation of
the existence of a broad FeK line in
MCG-6-30-15
First reverberation mapping of the
FeK line (r<100 rs)
continuum
FeK line
Diffuse emission from AGN :
e.g. NGC 5252 with Chandra
(Joint XMM and Chandra observation)
Monitoraggio di QSO a Loiano
• Zitelli e Stirpe + Trevese (Univ.
Roma)
• Avviato nel 2003
• 2 PG QSO con z > 1, V  15
• Osservazioni fotometriche e
spettroscopiche a Loiano (1.5m)
con cadenza mensile
• Finalizzato a misurare il ritardo
delle variazioni delle righe
rispetto a quelle del continuo 
ottenere dimensioni della Broad
Line Region e, combinando con la
larghezza delle righe, la massa
del buco nero centrale
• Non ancora fatto per alte
luminosità
Primi spettri
Vista variabilità, misura preliminare di ritardo (ca. 60 d) in UM 87
Monitoraggio di QSO ad
alto z al VLT con ISAAC
• Stirpe + Marconi e
Salvati (Arcetri), Capetti
(Torino), Axon e Robinson
(Rochester, NY), Horne
(St. Andrews)
• Finalità simili al
programma di Loiano, ma
per z più alti e righe di
ionizzazione più bassa
•Avviato nel 2001, cadenze
mensili in service mode (6
h/semestre)
• 2 QSO con z=2.3, K=15
X-ray Lighthouses at the Dawn of
the Modern Universe (C. Vignali)
>500 QSOs at z>4
~90 detected by
Chandra/XMM
X-ray emission is a
universal property
of QSOs
Spectral shape constant
up to z=6
UV to X-ray ratio higher
for brighter quasars
X-RAY COSMOLOGY
o
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o
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HARD X-RAY SURVEYS
Insensitive to absorption up to large column densities
(log NH < 24, Compton-thin)
Most direct probe of the super-massive black holes
(SMBH) accretion activity recorded in the XRB spectral
energy density
Test of XRB models  test of AGN unified schemes 
physics and geometry of obscuring gas and dust
MULTIWAVELENGTH FOLLOW-UP
Optical Identifications
Redshift, Luminosity and Absorption distributions
X-ray properties (individual and stacked) of other classes
non-AGN objects (Starburst, galaxies, EROs, etc..)
The deepest X-ray sky
Chandra Surveys, 1-2 Ms exposures
CDF-N (Alexander et al. 2003)
CDF-S (Giacconi et al. 2002)
The HELLAS2XMM survey
Collaborators: A. Baldi (Harvard-CFA),
N. Carangelo, S. Molendi (IASF-Mi)
F. Fiore, F. Cocchia, V. D’Elia, S. Puccetti (INAF-OAR),
F. La Franca, G. Matt, G.C. Perola (Uni Roma3),
R. Maiolino (INAF-OAA),
Beginning: Early 2001
Main goal: to trace the history of accretion in the Universe
Strategy: public XMM-Newton fields  large area (4 deg2)
To date: 122 sources in ~1 deg2 (5 fields)
Optical Photometry (R band): ESO 3.6m (complete to R=24)
Spectroscopy: ESO 3.6m + VLT/FORS2 (96/122)
Near-Infrared photometry: VLT/ISAAC (11 targets with R>24)
Radio: ATCA + VLA (complete)
Additional X: Chandra (2 fields)
Selected Results
•Starburst
(P. Ranalli)
•XBONGs
(A.Comastri)
•EROs
(M. Brusa)
•High X/O
(M. Mignoli)
High X/O sources HELLAS2XMM

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ISAAC observations:
11 sources with R > 24
F(2-10) > 1.2 x 10-14
K-band morphology:
R-band image
K-band image
Most (7/10) are ellipticals
Redshift range: z=0.8-2.4
(from colour-morphology redshift
tracks)
X-ray analysis: (Perola et al. in prep.)
Highly obscured
L(2-10 keV)=1044-1045 erg/s


ALL: R-K>5  EROs
3 near-IR counterparts are
unique
Mignoli, Pozzetti et al. 2004, A&A, in press
High quality imaging
 Surface brightness
and effective radius
2 pointlike
1 disky
7 ellipticals
Fit with a
de Vaucouleurs
profile
Complementary program
on EROs
Piercing obscured
AGN among EROs with
XMM-Newton
M. BRUSA
Comastri, Mignoli, Vignali,
Pozzetti, Zamorani
+ Daddi (ESO) + Cimatti
(INAF-Arcetri)
R band
K band
Included in the XMM-Newton Image Gallery
(section: Cosmology/Deep Fields)
The 2-10 keV luminosity as a
Star Formation Rate indicator
Blue: Local starburst
Red: HDFN high-z
galaxies
SFR=2x10-40L2-10
(from Ranalli, Comastri &
Setti, 2003, A&A 399, 39)
X-ray bright optically normal galaxies
PROTOTYPE: Source P3
in the PKS0312 field
(Comastri et al. 2002, ApJ,
571, 771)
XBONGs:
Featureless optical
spectra
LX>1042 erg/s
Relatively hard Xray spectra
Discovered both in
shallow and deep
surveys (e.g. Barger et
al. 2002)
Ks (VLT/ISAAC) imaging of
XBONGs
________________________
30 arcsec
________________________
30 arcsec
________________________
30 arcsec
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30 arcsec
AGN surveys in the Marano Field
(Mignoli, Zamorani, Marano + MPE)
XMM-Newton
~500 X-ray sources
ESO-WFI
WFI
composite (BVR) image.
~55000 objects, ~300 color-selected AGN
candidates down to B=23.5 (>100 spect. observed)
Corrected quasar density at B=23.5 ~340/sq. deg
Contesto Nazionale e
Internazionale
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13 staff a BO (wrt ~ 100 in Italia)
Hellas2XMM e’ una collaborazione INAFUniversita’-CNR
Cambridge e IC (UK) e UCLA (USA) per studi
di timing e LLAGN
MPE (D) e CfA (USA) per le surveys
Partner di COSMOS (2 gradi quadri con HST
PI: Scoville - Caltech) official commitment
for XMM e Chandra follow-up (Co-PI)
Partner of european RTN FP6
2000


2001
2002
2003+
Refereed Journals + Invited Talks
20+1
17+1
20+1
30+4
International Review Committees
Chandra/XMM TAC + XMM User Group
XEUS Astrophysics WG
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Telescopes Time (X-rays) --- kiloseconds
420
320
770
600
Telescope Time (other lambda, mostly ESO) --- nights
6
6
12
9+
Several hundreds of kiloseconds in large international
programs (COSMOS/ELAIS etc..)
FINANZIAMENTI
2000
2001
2002
Personale
30
(ASI+CNR+Cofin)
35
30
13
Ricerca
(ASI)
11
16
40
17
Ricerca
(COFIN + INAF)
-
20
25
10 Inaf
52 approved
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2003+ (k€)
Problemi
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PROGRAMMAZIONE:
necessita’ all’interno del budget
assegnato/disponibile, di un piano organico a
medio/lungo termine
VALUTAZIONE:
Interna (comitati esterni internazionali) delle
attivita’/proposte/strategie scientifiche
OUTREACH:
necessita’ di un’ Interfaccia- struttura INAF
dedicata alla diffusione dell’attivita’ scientifica
Future developments

X-RAY COSMOLOGY :
high redshift Universe / LSS of X-ray sources
(X—rays + SIRTF)
 Hellas2xmm 4 deg2, @ 10-14 cgs
ELAIS-S1 0.5 deg2 @ 2x10-15 cgs
COSMOS 2 deg2 @ 2x10-15 cgs

X-RAY ASTROPHYSICS:
Physical observables down to ~ Rg (within XMMChandra framework)
Physics of accretion up to z ~ 4-5