Hard X-ray census of nearby active galaxies and implications for the cosmic history of black hole growth

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Rashid Sunyaev
• Subject Area: Astrophysics and Astronomy
• Term: from 2005 to 2011
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 5448593

• Final Report Year: 2012

Final Report Abstract

According to recent observations, supermassive black holes (SMBHs) have dramatically evolved over cosmic time and affected the formation and evolution of galaxies. Despite the success of deep X-ray surveys in providing us rich observational material on active galactic nuclei (AGN) at high redshifts, the AGN census at low redshifts remained limited until recently. Therefore, six years ago we proposed for the DFG Priority Programme 1177 to fill this gap in the history of SMBH growth with the help of an all-sky hard X-ray survey performed by the INTEGRAL observatory. Using this survey, we have measured the hard X-ray luminosity function and absorption column density distribution of local AGN. We have also tentatively detected a high-energy rollover in the cumulative hard X-ray spectrum of local AGN, which provides strong support to the popular hypothesis that the cosmic X-ray background is an integral record of SMBH growth. We determined the total energy release by AGN and therefore the total growth rate of SMBHs in the local Universe which is important “redshift-zero” point in the history of SMBH growth.

Publications

• “Hard X-ray survey of the Galactic plane region in Crux: A catalog of sources”, 2006, Astron. Lett. 32, 145
  Revnivtsev M., Sazonov S., Molkov S., Lutovinov A., Churazov E., Sunyaev R.
  
• “Identification of four RXTE Slew Survey sources with nearby luminous active galactic nuclei”, 2006, A&A, 448, L49
  Revnivtsev M., Sazonov S., Churazov E., Trudolyubov S.
  
• ÏNTEGRAL/IBIS all-sky survey in hard X-rays”, 2007, A&A, 475, 775
  Krivonos R., Revnivtsev M., Lutovinov A., Sazonov S., Churazov E., Sunyaev R.
  
• “Hard X-ray emission of the Earth’s atmosphere: Monte Carlo simulations”, MNRAS, 2007, 377, 1726
  Sazonov S., Churazov E., Sunyaev R., Revnivtsev M.
  
• “Hard X-ray luminosity function and absorption distribution of nearby AGN: INTEGRAL all-sky survey”, 2007, A&A, 462, 57
  Sazonov S., Revnivtsev M., Krivonos R., Churazov E., Sunyaev R.
  
• “Hard X-ray luminosity function and absorption distribution of nearby AGN: INTEGRAL all-sky survey”, 2007, A&A, 462, 57
  Sazonov S., Revnivtsev M., Krivonos R., Churazov E., Sunyaev R.
  
• “INTEGRAL observations of the cosmic X-ray background in the 5–100 keV range via occultation by the Earth”, 2007, A&A, 467, 529
  Churazov E., Sunyaev R., Revnivtsev M., Sazonov S., Molkov S., Grebenev S. et al.
  
• “Earth X-ray albedo for CXB radiation in the 1–1000 keV band”, 2008, MNRAS, 385, 719
  Churazov E., Sazonov S., Sunyaev R., Revnivtsev M.
  
• ”Cumulative hard X-ray spectrum of local AGN: a link to the cosmic X-ray background”, 2008, A&A, 482, 517
  Sazonov S., Krivonos R., Revnivtsev M., Churazov E., Sunyaev R.
  
• ”Discovery of heavily obscured AGN among seven INTEGRAL hard X-ray sources observed by Chandra”, 2008, A&A, 487, 509
  Sazonov S., Revnivtsev M., Burenin R., Churazov E., Sunyaev R., Forman W.R., Murray S.S.
  
• ”Large-scale variations of the cosmic X-ray background and the X-ray emissivity of the local Universe”, 2008, A&A, 483, 425
  Revnivtsev M., Molkov S., Sazonov S.
  
• ”New active galactic nuclei among the INTEGRAL and Swift X-ray sources”, 2008, Astron. Lett., 34, 367
  Burenin R., Mescheryakov A., Revnivtsev M., Sazonov S., Bikmaev I., Pavlinsky M., Sunyaev R.
  
• “INTEGRAL/IBIS 7-year All-Sky Hard X-ray Survey. I. Image reconstruction”, 2010, A&A, 519, id. A107
  Krivonos, R., Revnivtsev, M., Tsygankov, S., Sazonov, S., Vikhlinin, A., Pavlinsky, M., Churazov, E., Sunyaev, R.
  
• “INTEGRAL/IBIS 7-year All-Sky Hard X-Ray Survey. II. Catalog of sources”, 2010, A&A, 523, id. A61
  Krivonos, R., Tsygankov, S., Revnivtsev, M., Grebenev, S., Churazov, E., Sunyaev, R.
  
• “Statistical properties of local AGN based on the INTEGRAL/IBIS 7-year all-sky hard X-ray survey”, Proceedings 8th INTEGRAL Workshop (Dublin, Ireland), id. 6 (2010)
  Sazonov, S., Churazov, E., Krivonos, R., Revnivtsev, M., Sunyaev, R.