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        The nature of X-ray-absorbed quasi-stellar objects

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        Author
        Page, M. J.
        Carrera, F. J.
        Stevens, J. A.
        Ebrero, J.
        Blustin, A. J.
        Attention
        2299/9498
        Abstract
        There exists a significant population of broad line, z similar to 2 quasi-stellar objects ( QSOs) which have heavily absorbed X-ray spectra. Follow-up observations in the submillimetre show that these QSOs are embedded in ultraluminous starburst galaxies, unlike most unabsorbed QSOs at the same redshifts and luminosities. Here we present X-ray spectra from XMM-Newton for a sample of five such X-ray-absorbed QSOs that have been detected at submillimetre wavelengths. We also present spectra in the rest-frame ultraviolet from ground-based telescopes. All the five QSOs are found to exhibit strong CIV absorption lines in their ultraviolet spectra with equivalent width >5 angstrom. The X-ray spectra are inconsistent with the hypothesis that these objects show normal QSO continua absorbed by low-ionization gas. Instead, the spectra can be modelled successfully with ionized absorbers, or with cold absorbers if they possess unusually flat X-ray continuum shapes and unusual optical to X-ray spectral energy distributions. We show that the ionized absorber model provides the simplest, most self-consistent explanation for their observed properties. We estimate that the fraction of radiated power that is converted into kinetic luminosity of the outflowing winds is typically similar to 4 per cent, in agreement with recent estimates for the kinetic feedback from QSOs required to produce the M-sigma relation, and consistent with the hypothesis that the X-ray-absorbed QSOs represent the transition phase between obscured accretion and the luminous QSO phase in the evolution of massive galaxies.
        Publication date
        2011-10
        Published in
        Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
        Published version
        https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2966.2011.19226.x
        Other links
        http://hdl.handle.net/2299/9498
        Relations
        School of Physics, Astronomy and Mathematics
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