Ned-allsky

A Compton-thick nucleus in the dual active galactic nuclei of Mrk 266

August 2020 • 2020A&A...640A..95I

Authors • Iwasawa, K. • Ricci, C. • Privon, G. C. • Torres-Albà, N. • Inami, H. • Charmandaris, V. • Evans, A. S. • Mazzarella, J. M. • Díaz-Santos, T.

Abstract • We present the results from our analysis of NuSTAR data of the luminous infrared galaxy Mrk 266, which contains two nuclei, south-western (SW) and north-eastern (NE), which were resolved in previous Chandra imaging. Combining this with the Chandra data, we intepret the hard X-ray spectrum obtained from a NuSTAR observation to result from a steeply rising flux from a Compton-thick active galactic nuclei (AGN) in the SW nucleus which is very faint in the Chandra band, confirming the previous claim. This hard X-ray component is dominated by reflection, and its intrinsic 2-10 keV luminosity is likely to be ∼1 × 1043 erg s-1. Although it is bright in soft X-ray, only a moderately absorbed NE nucleus has a 2-10 keV luminosity of 4 × 1041 erg s-1, placing it in the low-luminosity AGN class. These results have implications for understanding the detectability and duty cycles of emission from dual AGN in heavily obscured mergers.

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Joe Mazzarella

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