TY - JOUR
T1 - BASS. XLI. The Correlation between Mid-infrared Emission Lines and Active Galactic Nuclei Emission
AU - Bierschenk, M.
AU - Ricci, C.
AU - Temple, M. J.
AU - Satyapal, S.
AU - Cann, J.
AU - Xie, Y.
AU - Diaz, Y.
AU - Ichikawa, K.
AU - Koss, M. J.
AU - Bauer, F. E.
AU - Rojas, A.
AU - Kakkad, D.
AU - Tortosa, A.
AU - Ricci, F.
AU - Mushotzky, R.
AU - Kawamuro, T.
AU - Gupta, K. K.
AU - Trakhtenbrot, B.
AU - Chang, C. S.
AU - Riffel, R.
AU - Oh, K.
AU - Harrison, F.
AU - Powell, M.
AU - Stern, D.
AU - Urry, C. M.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2024. The Author(s). Published by the American Astronomical Society.
PY - 2024/12/1
Y1 - 2024/12/1
N2 - We analyze Spitzer spectra of 140 active galactic nuclei (AGN) detected in the hard X-rays (14-195 keV) by the Burst Alert Telescope on board Swift. This sample allows us to probe several orders of magnitude in black hole masses (106-109 M ⊙), Eddington ratios (10−3-1), X-ray luminosities (1042-1045 erg s−1), and X-ray column densities (1020-1024 cm−2). The AGN emission is expected to be the dominant source of ionizing photons with energies ≳50 eV, and therefore, high-ionization mid-infrared (MIR) emission lines such as [Ne v] 14.32, 24.32 μm and [O iv] 25.89 μm are predicted to be good proxies of AGN activity, and robust against obscuration effects. We find high detection rates (≳85%-90%) for the MIR coronal emission lines in our AGN sample. The luminosities of these lines are correlated with the 14-150 keV luminosity (with a typical scatter of σ ∼0.4-0.5 dex), strongly indicating that the MIR coronal line (CL) emission is driven by AGN activity. CLs are also tightly correlated to the bolometric luminosity (σ ∼0.2-0.3 dex), calculated from careful analysis of the spectral energy distribution. We find that the relationship between the CL strengths and L 14-150 keV is independent of black hole mass, AGN luminosity, and Eddington ratio, and mostly not affected by high X-ray column densities. This confirms that the MIR CLs can be used as unbiased tracers of the AGN power for X-ray luminosities in the 1042-1045 erg s−1 range.
AB - We analyze Spitzer spectra of 140 active galactic nuclei (AGN) detected in the hard X-rays (14-195 keV) by the Burst Alert Telescope on board Swift. This sample allows us to probe several orders of magnitude in black hole masses (106-109 M ⊙), Eddington ratios (10−3-1), X-ray luminosities (1042-1045 erg s−1), and X-ray column densities (1020-1024 cm−2). The AGN emission is expected to be the dominant source of ionizing photons with energies ≳50 eV, and therefore, high-ionization mid-infrared (MIR) emission lines such as [Ne v] 14.32, 24.32 μm and [O iv] 25.89 μm are predicted to be good proxies of AGN activity, and robust against obscuration effects. We find high detection rates (≳85%-90%) for the MIR coronal emission lines in our AGN sample. The luminosities of these lines are correlated with the 14-150 keV luminosity (with a typical scatter of σ ∼0.4-0.5 dex), strongly indicating that the MIR coronal line (CL) emission is driven by AGN activity. CLs are also tightly correlated to the bolometric luminosity (σ ∼0.2-0.3 dex), calculated from careful analysis of the spectral energy distribution. We find that the relationship between the CL strengths and L 14-150 keV is independent of black hole mass, AGN luminosity, and Eddington ratio, and mostly not affected by high X-ray column densities. This confirms that the MIR CLs can be used as unbiased tracers of the AGN power for X-ray luminosities in the 1042-1045 erg s−1 range.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85213323826&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.3847/1538-4357/ad844a
DO - 10.3847/1538-4357/ad844a
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AN - SCOPUS:85213323826
SN - 0004-637X
VL - 976
JO - Astrophysical Journal
JF - Astrophysical Journal
IS - 2
M1 - 257
ER -