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NASA's Great Observatories have opened up the electromagnetic spectrum from space, providing sustained access to wavelengths not accessible from the ground. Together, Hubble, Compton, Chandra, and Spitzer have provided the scientific community with an agile and powerful suite of telescopes with which to attack broad scientific questions, and react to a rapidly changing scientific landscape. As the existing Great Observatories age, or are decommissioned, community access to these wavelengths will diminish, with an accompanying loss of scientific capability. This report, commissioned by the NASA Cosmic Origins, Physics of the Cosmos and Exoplanet Exploration Program Analysis Groups (PAGs), analyzes the importance of multi-wavelength observations from space during the epoch of the Great Observatories, providing examples that span a broad range of astrophysical investigations., A report by the Great Observatories Science Analysis Group (SAG-10), commissioned by NASA's Cosmic Origins, Physics of the Cosmos, and Exoplanet Exploration Program Analysis Groups. 87 pages, 23 figures

The non-linear relation between the X-ray and ultraviolet (UV) luminosity in quasars has been used to derive quasar distances and to build a Hubble diagram at redshifts up to $z\sim$ 7. This cosmological application is based on the assumption of independence of the relation on redshift and luminosity. We want to test the reliability of this hypothesis by studying the spectroscopic properties of high-redshift quasars in the X-ray and UV bands. We performed a one-by-one analysis of a sample of 130 quasars at $z>$ 2.5 with high-quality X-ray and UV spectroscopic observations. We found that not only the X-ray to UV correlation still holds at these redshifts, but its intrinsic dispersion is as low as 0.12 dex (previous works reached 0.20$-$0.22 dex). For a sample of quasars at $z\sim$ 3 with particularly high-quality observations the dispersion further drops to 0.09 dex, a value entirely accountable for by intrinsic variability and source geometry effects. The composite spectra of these quasars, in both the X-rays and the UV, do not show any difference with respect to the average spectra of quasars at lower redshifts. The absence of any spectral difference between high- and low-$z$ quasars and the tightness of the X-ray to UV relation suggests that no evolutionary effects are present in the relation. Therefore, it can be safely employed to derive quasar distances. Under this assumption, we obtain a measurement of the luminosity distance at $z\sim$ 3 with 15 % uncertainty, and in a 4$\sigma$ tension with the concordance model., Comment: Accepted for publication in Astronomy & Astrophysics Letters, 8 pages, 6 figures

The cosmic X-ray background (CXB), which peaks at an energy of ~30 keV, is produced primarily by emission from accreting supermassive black holes (SMBHs). The CXB therefore serves as a constraint on the integrated SMBH growth in the Universe and the accretion physics and obscuration in active galactic nuclei (AGNs). This paper gives an overview of recent progress in understanding the high-energy (>~10 keV) X-ray emission from AGNs and the synthesis of the CXB, with an emphasis on results from NASA's NuSTAR hard X-ray mission. We then discuss remaining challenges and open questions regarding the nature of AGN obscuration and AGN physics. Finally, we highlight the exciting opportunities for a next-generation, high-resolution hard X-ray mission to achieve the long-standing goal of resolving and characterizing the vast majority of the accreting SMBHs that produce the CXB., Science White paper submitted to Astro2020 Decadal Survey; 5 pages, 3 figures, plus references and cover page

Context. Finding the sources responsible for the hydrogen reionization is one of the most pressing issues in observational cosmology. Bright quasi-stellar objects (QSOs) are known to ionize their surrounding neighborhood, but they are too few to ensure the required HI ionizing background. A significant contribution by faint active galactic nuclei (AGNs), however, could solve the problem, as recently advocated on the basis of a relatively large space density of faint active nuclei at z > 4. Aims. This work is part of a long-term project aimed at measuring the Lyman Continuum escape fraction for a large sample of AGNs at z similar to 4 down to an absolute magnitude of M-1450 similar to-23. We have carried out an exploratory spectroscopic program to measure the HI ionizing emission of 16 faint AGNs spanning a broad U-I color interval, with I similar to 21-23, and 3.6 < z < 4.2. These AGNs are three magnitudes fainter than the typical SDSS QSOs (M-1450 less than or similar to -26) which are known to ionize their surrounding IGM at z > 4. Methods. We acquired deep spectra of these faint AGNs with spectrographs available at the VLT, LBT, and Magellan telescopes, that is, FORS2, MODS1-2, and LDSS3, respectively. The emission in the Lyman Continuum region, close to 900 A rest frame, has been detected with a signal to noise ratio of similar to 10-120 for all 16 AGNs. The flux ratio between the 900 A rest-frame region and 930 A provides a robust estimate of the escape fraction of HI ionizing photons. Results. We have found that the Lyman Continuum escape fraction is between 44 and 100\% for all the observed faint AGNs, with a mean value of 74\% at 3.6 < z < 4.2 and -25.1 less than or similar to M-1450 less than or similar to -23.3, in agreement with the value found in the literature for much brighter QSOs (M-1450 less than or similar to -26) at the same redshifts. The Lyman Continuum escape fraction of our faint AGNs does not show any dependence on the absolute luminosities or on the observed U-I colors of the objects. Assuming that the Lyman Continuum escape fraction remains close to -75\% down to M-1450 similar to-18, we find that the AGN population can provide between 16 and 73\% (depending on the adopted luminosity function) of the whole ionizing UV background at z similar to 4, measured through the Lyman forest. This contribution increases to 25-100\% if other determinations of the ionizing UV background are adopted from the recent literature. Conclusions. Extrapolating these results to z similar to 5-7, there are possible indications that bright QSOs and faint AGNs can provide a significant contribution to the reionization of the Universe, if their space density is high at M-1450 similar to 23.

Aims. We perform clustering measurements of 800 X-ray selected Chandra COSMOS Legacy (CCL) Type 2 AGN with known spectroscopic redshift to probe the halo mass dependence on AGN host galaxy properties, such as galaxy stellar mass Mstar, star formation rate (SFR) and specific black hole accretion rate (BHAR), in the redshift range z = [0 - 3]. Methods. We split the sample of AGN with known spectroscopic redshits according to Mstar, SFR and specific BHAR, while matching the distributions in terms of the other parameters, including redshift. We measure the projected two-point correlation function wp(rp) and model it with the 2-halo term to derive the large-scale bias b and the corresponding typical mass of the hosting halo, for the different subsamples. Results. We found no significant dependence of the large-scale bias and typical halo mass on galaxy stellar mass and specific BHAR for CCL Type 2 AGN at mean z~1, while a negative dependence on SFR is observed, with lower SFR AGN residing in richer environment. Mock catalogs of AGN matched to have the same X-ray luminosity, stellar mass, specific BHAR and SFR of CCL Type 2 AGN, almost reproduce the observed Mstar, specific BHAR and SFR-Mh relations, when assuming a fraction of satellite AGN of 15%, which corresponds to a ratio between the probabilities of satellite and central AGN of being active Q = 2. Mock matched normal galaxies follow a slightly steeper Mstar -Mh relation with low mass mock galaxies residing in less massive halos than mock AGN of similar mass, and are less biased than mock AGN with similar specific BHAR and SFR, at least for Q > 1., Accepted for publication in A&A

(abridged) We present the X-ray analysis of a sample of 30 luminous quasars at $z\simeq3.0-3.3$ with deep XMM-Newton observations, selected from the SDSS-DR7 to be representative of the most luminous, intrinsically blue quasar population. By construction, the sample boasts a unique degree of homogeneity in terms of optical/UV properties. In the X-rays, only four sources are too faint for a detailed spectral analysis. Neglecting a radio-loud object, the other 25 quasars are, as a whole, the most X-ray luminous ever observed, with rest-frame 2-10 keV luminosities of $0.5-7\times10^{45}$ erg/s. The continuum photon index distribution, centred at $��\sim1.85$, is in excellent agreement with those in place at lower redshift, luminosity and black-hole mass, confirming the universal nature of the X-ray emission mechanism in quasars. Even so, when compared against the well-known $L_{\rm X}-L_{\rm UV}$ correlation, our quasars unexpectedly split into two distinct subsets. About 2/3 of the sources are clustered around the relation with a minimal scatter of 0.1 dex, while the remaining 1/3 appear to be X-ray underluminous by factors of $>3-10$. Such a large incidence ($\approx25\%$) of X-ray weakness has never been reported in radio-quiet, non-BAL quasar samples. Several factors could contribute to enhance the X-ray weakness fraction among our $z\simeq3$ blue quasars. However, the X-ray weak objects also have, on average, flatter spectra, with no clear evidence of absorption. Indeed, column densities in excess of a few $\times10^{22}$ cm$^{-2}$ can be ruled out for most of the sample. We suggest that, at least in some of our X-ray weak quasars, the corona might experience a radiatively inefficient phase due to the presence of a powerful accretion-disc wind, which substantially reduces the accretion rate through the inner disc and so the availability of seed photons for Compton up-scattering., Version accepted for publication in Astronomy & Astrophysics (13+2 pages, 10+1 figures, 3 tables)

We present the largest high-redshift (3 0 at z > 3. We compute the number counts in the observed 0.5-2 keV band, finding a decline in the number of sources at z > 3 and constraining phenomenological models of the X-ray background. We compute the AGN space density at z. > 3 in two different luminosity bins. At higher luminosities (logL(2-10 keV) > 44.1 erg s(-1)), the space density declines exponentially, dropping by a factor of similar to 20 from z similar to 3 to z similar to 6. The observed decline is similar to 80% steeper at lower luminosities (43.55 erg s(-1) 44.1 erg s(-1), unobscured and obscured objects may have different evolution with redshift, with the obscured component being three times higher at z similar to 5. Finally, we compare our space density with predictions of quasar activation merger models, whose calibration is based on optically luminous AGNs. These models significantly overpredict the number of expected AGNs at logL (2-10 keV) > 44.1 erg s(-1) with respect to our data.

We present the first full catalog and science results for the $\textit{Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array}$ ($\textit{Nu}$STAR) serendipitous survey. The catalog incorporates data taken during the first 40 months of $\textit{Nu}$STAR operation, which provide ≈20 Ms of effective exposure time over 331 fields, with an areal coverage of 13 deg$^{2}$, and 497 sources detected in total over the 3-24 keV energy range. There are 276 sources with spectroscopic redshifts and classifications, largely resulting from our extensive campaign of ground-based spectroscopic follow-up. We characterize the overall sample in terms of the X-ray, optical, and infrared source properties. The sample is primarily composed of active galactic nuclei (AGNs), detected over a large range in redshift from $z$ = 0.002 to 3.4 (median of $\langle z\rangle =0.56$) = 0.56), but also includes 16 spectroscopically confirmed Galactic sources. There is a large range in X-ray flux, from log(f$_{3-24keV}$/erg s$^{-1}$ cm$^{-2}$) ≈ -14 to -11, and in rest-frame 10-40 keV luminosity, from (L$_{10-40keV}$/erg s$^{-1}$) ≈ 39 to 46, with a median of 44.1. Approximately 79% of the $\textit{Nu}$STAR sources have lower-energy ( 10$^{44}$ erg s$^{-1}$) to ≈80% at the lowest luminosities (LX < 10$^{43}$ erg s$^{-1}$). Our optical spectroscopic analysis finds that the observed fraction of optically obscured AGNs (i.e., the type 2 fraction) is F$_{Type 2}$ = 53$^{+15}_{−14}$%, for a well-defined subset of the 8-24 keV selected sample. This is higher, albeit at a low significance level, than the type 2 fraction measured for redshift- and luminosity-matched AGNs selected by, Please visit the publisher's website.

著者人数: 36名, Accepted: 2013-05-22, 資料番号: SA1004651000

International audience; We examine the behaviour of the infrared‐radio correlation (IRRC) over the range 0 < z less than or similar to 6 using new, highly sensitive 3 GHz observations with the Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array (VLA) and infrared data from the Herschel Space Observatory in the 2 deg(2) COSMOS field. We distinguish between objects where emission is believed to arise solely from star‐formation, and those where an active galactic nucleus (AGN) is thought to be present. We account for non‐detections in the radio or in the infrared using a doublycensored survival analysis. We find that the IRRC of star‐forming galaxies, quantified by the infrared‐to‐1.4 GHz radio luminosity ratio (qTIR), decreases with increasing redshift: q(TIR)(z) = (2.88 +/‐ 0.03)(1 + z)(‐0.19 +/‐ 0.01). This is consistent with several previous results from the literature. Moderate‐to‐high radiative luminosity AGN do not follow the same q(TIR)(z) trend as star‐forming galaxies, having a lower normalisation and steeper decrease with redshift. We cannot rule out the possibility that unidentified AGN contributions only to the radio regime may be steepening the observed q(TIR)(z) trend of the star‐forming galaxy population. We demonstrate that the choice of the average radio spectral index directly affects the normalisation, as well as the derived trend with redshift of the IRRC. An increasing fractional contribution to the observed 3 GHz flux by free‐free emission of star‐forming galaxies may also affect the derived evolution. However, we find that the standard (M82‐based) assumption of the typical radio spectral energy distribution (SED) for star‐forming galaxies is inconsistent with our results. This suggests a more complex shape of the typical radio SED for star‐forming galaxies, and that imperfect K corrections in the radio may govern the derived trend of decreasing q(TIR) with increasing redshift. A more detailed understanding of the radio spectrum is therefore required for robust K corrections in the radio and to fully understand the cosmic evolution of the IRRC. Lastly, we present a redshift‐dependent relation between rest‐frame 1.4 GHz radio luminosity and star formation rate taking the derived redshift trend into account.

International audience; We explore the multiwavelength properties of AGN host galaxies for different classes of radio‐selected AGN out to z less than or similar to 6 via a multiwavelength analysis of about 7700 radio sources in the COSMOS field. The sources were selected with the Very Large Array (VLA) at 3 GHz (10 cm) within the VLA‐COSMOS 3 GHz Large Project, and cross‐matched with multiwavelength ancillary data. This is the largest sample of high‐redshift (z less than or similar to 6) radio sources with exquisite photometric coverage and redshift measurements available. We constructed a sample of moderate‐to‐high radiative luminosity AGN (HLAGN) via spectral energy distribution decomposition combined with standard X‐ray and mid‐infrared diagnostics. Within the remainder of the sample we further identified low‐to‐moderate radiative luminosity AGN (MLAGN) via excess in radio emission relative to the star formation rates in their host galaxies. We show that at each redshift our HLAGN have systematically higher radiative luminosities than MLAGN and that their AGN power occurs predominantly in radiative form, while MLAGN display a substantial mechanical AGN luminosity component. We found significant differences in the host properties of the two AGN classes, as a function of redshift. At z < 1 : 5, MLAGN appear to reside in significantly more massive and less star‐forming galaxies compared to HLAGN. At z > 1., we observed a reversal in the behaviour of the stellar mass distributions with the HLAGN populating the higher stellar mass tail. We interpret this finding as a possible hint of the downsizing of galaxies hosting HLAGN, with the most massive galaxies triggering AGN activity earlier than less massive galaxies, and then fading to MLAGN at lower redshifts. Our conclusion is that HLAGN and MLAGN samples trace two distinct galaxy and AGN populations in a wide range of redshifts, possibly resembling the radio AGN types often referred to as radiative‐and jet‐mode (or high‐and low‐excitation), respectively, whose properties might depend on the different availability of cold gas supplies.

International audience; We make use of the deep Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array (VLA) COSMOS radio observations at 3 GHz to infer radio luminosity functions of star‐forming galaxies up to redshifts of z similar to 5 based on approximately 6000 detections with reliable optical counterparts. This is currently the largest radio‐selected sample available out to z similar to 5 across an area of 2 square degrees with a sensitivity of rms approximate to 2.3 mu Jy beam(‐1). By fixing the faint and bright end shape of the radio luminosity function to the local values, we find a strong redshift trend that can be fitted with a pure luminosity evolution L‐1.4 (GHz) proportional to /(1 + z)((3.16 +/‐ 0.2)‐(0.32 +/‐ 0.07)z). We estimate star formation rates (SFRs) from our radio luminosities using an infrared (IR)‐radio correlation that is redshift dependent. By integrating the parametric fits of the evolved luminosity function we calculate the cosmic SFR density (SFRD) history since z similar to 5. Our data suggest that the SFRD history peaks between 2 < z < 3 and that the ultraluminous infrared galaxies (100 M‐circle dot yr(‐1) < SFR < 1000 M‐circle dot yr(‐1)) contribute up to similar to 25% to the total SFRD in the same redshift range. Hyperluminous infrared galaxies (SFR > 1000 M fi yr 1) contribute an additional less than or similar to 2% in the entire observed redshift range. We find evidence of a potential underestimation of SFRD based on ultraviolet (UV) rest‐frame observations of Lyman break galaxies at high redshifts (z greater than or similar to 4) on the order of 15‐20%, owing to appreciable star formation in highly dust‐obscured galaxies, which might remain undetected in such UV observations.

We examine the behaviour of the infrared-radio correlation (IRRC) over the range $0, Comment: 17 pages, 22 figures, 3 tables. Accepted for publication in A&A

To fully understand cosmic black hole growth we need to constrain the population of heavily obscured active galactic nuclei (AGN) at the peak of cosmic black hole growth ($z\sim$1-3). Sources with obscuring column densities higher than $\mathrm{10^{24}}$ atoms $\mathrm{cm^{-2}}$, called Compton-thick (CT) AGN, can be identified by excess X-ray emission at $\sim$20-30 keV, called the "Compton hump". We apply the recently developed Spectral Curvature (SC) method to high-redshift AGN (25\times 10^{43}}$ erg $\mathrm{s^{-1}}$. In the Cosmological evolution survey (COSMOS), we find an observed CT fraction of $\mathrm{15^{+4}_{-3}\%}$ (40/272) or $\mathrm{32\pm11 \%}$ when corrected for the survey sensitivity. When comparing to low redshift AGN with similar X-ray luminosities, our results imply the CT AGN fraction is consistent with having no redshift evolution. Finally, we provide SC equations that can be used to find high-redshift CT AGN (z>1) for current (XMM-Newton) and future (eROSITA and ATHENA) X-ray missions., 10 pages, 8 figures

We present the measurement of the projected and redshift space 2-point correlation function (2pcf) of the new catalog of Chandra COSMOS-Legacy AGN at 2.9$\leq$z$\leq$5.5 ($\langle L_{bol} \rangle \sim$10$^{46}$ erg/s) using the generalized clustering estimator based on phot-z probability distribution functions (Pdfs) in addition to any available spec-z. We model the projected 2pcf estimated using $��_{max}$ = 200 h$^{-1}$ Mpc with the 2-halo term and we derive a bias at z$\sim$3.4 equal to b = 6.6$^{+0.60}_{-0.55}$, which corresponds to a typical mass of the hosting halos of log M$_h$ = 12.83$^{+0.12}_{-0.11}$ h$^{-1}$ M$_{\odot}$. A similar bias is derived using the redshift-space 2pcf, modelled including the typical phot-z error $��_z$ = 0.052 of our sample at z$\geq$2.9. Once we integrate the projected 2pcf up to $��_{max}$ = 200 h$^{-1}$ Mpc, the bias of XMM and \textit{Chandra} COSMOS at z=2.8 used in Allevato et al. (2014) is consistent with our results at higher redshift. The results suggest only a slight increase of the bias factor of COSMOS AGN at z$\gtrsim$3 with the typical hosting halo mass of moderate luminosity AGN almost constant with redshift and equal to logM$_h$ = 12.92$^{+0.13}_{-0.18}$ at z=2.8 and log M$_h$ = 12.83$^{+0.12}_{-0.11}$ at z$\sim$3.4, respectively. The observed redshift evolution of the bias of COSMOS AGN implies that moderate luminosity AGN still inhabit group-sized halos at z$\gtrsim$3, but slightly less massive than observed in different independent studies using X-ray AGN at z$\leq2$., Accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journal

I'll present here a study on the clustering properties of Chandra COSMOS-Legacy AGN. This new catalog is the largest available sample of X-ray selected AGN for clustering studies. The 2pcf has been measured at z>3 for the first time using X-ray data with high accuracy, using new techniques based on photometric redshift in the form of probability distribution functions in addition to any available spectroscopy. The results will be compared to previous studies using optically selected quasars and interpreted in terms of AGN triggering mechanisms.

We present new Keck/MOSFIRE K-band spectroscopy for a sample of 14 faint, X-ray-selected active galactic nuclei (AGNs) in the COSMOS field. The data cover the spectral region surrounding the broad Balmer emission lines, which enables the estimation of black hole masses (M_(BH) and accretion rates (in terms of L/L_(Edd)). We focus on 10 AGNs at z ≃ 3.3, where we observe the Hβ spectral region, while for the other four z ≃ 2.4 sources we use the Hɑ broad emission line. Compared with previous detailed studies of unobscured AGNs at these high redshifts, our sources are fainter by an order of magnitude, corresponding to number densities of order ~10^(−6)^–10^(−5) Mpc^(-3). The lower AGN luminosities also allow for a robust identification of the host galaxy emission, necessary to obtain reliable intrinsic AGN luminosities, BH masses and accretion rates. We find the AGNs in our sample to be powered by supermassive black holes (SMBHs) with a typical mass of M_(BH) ≃ 5 x 10^8 M_⊙ —significantly lower than the higher-luminosity, rarer quasars reported in earlier studies. The accretion rates are in the range L/L_(Edd) ~ 0.1–0.4, with an evident lack of sources with lower L/L_(Edd) (and higher M_BH), as found in several studies of faint AGNs at intermediate redshifts. Based on the early growth expected for the SMBHs in our sample, we argue that a significant population of faint z ~ 5−6 AGNs, with M_(BH) ~ sim 10^6M_⊙, should be detectable in the deepest X-ray surveys available, but this is not observed. We discuss several possible explanations for the apparent absence of such a population, concluding that the most probable scenario involves an evolution in source obscuration and/or radiative efficiencies.

We present the largest high-redshift (30 at z>3. We compute the number counts in the observed 0.5-2 keV band, finding a decline in the number of sources at z>3 and constraining phenomenological models of X-ray background. We compute the AGN space density at z>3 in two different luminosity bins. At higher luminosities (logL(2-10 keV) > 44.1 erg/s) the space density declines exponentially, dropping by a factor ~20 from z~3 to z~6. The observed decline is ~80% steeper at lower luminosities (43.55 erg/s < logL(2-10 keV) < 44.1 erg/s), from z~3 to z~4.5. We study the space density evolution dividing our sample in optically classified Type 1 and Type 2 AGN. At logL(2-10 keV) > 44.1 erg/s, unobscured and obscured objects may have different evolution with redshift, the obscured component being three times higher at z~5. Finally, we compare our space density with predictions of quasar activation merger models, whose calibration is based on optically luminous AGN. These models significantly overpredict the number of expected AGN at logL(2-10 keV) > 44.1 erg/s with respect to our data., Comment: 18 pages, 13 figures. Accepted for publication on ApJ

We study a sample of 69 X-ray detected Early Type Galaxies (ETGs), selected from the Chandra COSMOS survey, to explore the relation between the X-ray luminosity of hot gaseous halos L_(X, gas) and the integrated stellar luminosity (L_K) of the galaxies, in a range of redshift extending out to z=1.5. In the local universe a tight steep relationship has been stablished between these two quantities suggesting the presence of largely virialized halos in X-ray luminous systems. We use well established relations from the study of local universe ETGs, together with the expected evolution of the X-ray emission, to subtract the contribution of low mass X-ray binary populations (LMXBs) from the X-ray luminosity of our sample. Our selection minimizes the presence of active galactic nuclei (AGN), yielding a sample representative of normal passive COSMOS ETGs; therefore the resulting luminosity should be representative of gaseous halos, although we cannot exclude other sources such as obscured AGN, or enhanced X-ray emission connected with embedded star formation in the higher z galaxies. We find that most of the galaxies with estimated L_X

We present the COSMOS2015 catalog which contains precise photometric redshifts and stellar masses for more than half a million objects over the 2deg$^{2}$ COSMOS field. Including new $YJHK_{\rm s}$ images from the UltraVISTA-DR2 survey, $Y$-band from Subaru/Hyper-Suprime-Cam and infrared data from the Spitzer Large Area Survey with the Hyper-Suprime-Cam Spitzer legacy program, this near-infrared-selected catalog is highly optimized for the study of galaxy evolution and environments in the early Universe. To maximise catalog completeness for bluer objects and at higher redshifts, objects have been detected on a $��^{2}$ sum of the $YJHK_{\rm s}$ and $z^{++}$ images. The catalog contains $\sim 6\times 10^5$ objects in the 1.5 deg$^{2}$ UltraVISTA-DR2 region, and $\sim 1.5\times 10^5$ objects are detected in the "ultra-deep stripes" (0.62 deg$^{2}$) at $K_{\rm s}\leq 24.7$ (3$��$, 3", AB magnitude). Through a comparison with the zCOSMOS-bright spectroscopic redshifts, we measure a photometric redshift precision of $��_{��z/(1+z_s)}$ = 0.007 and a catastrophic failure fraction of $��=0.5$%. At $3, Accepted for publication in ApJ

We study the composition of the faint radio population selected from the VLA-COSMOS 3GHz Large Project, a radio continuum survey performed at 10 cm wavelength. The survey covers the full 2 square degree COSMOS field with mean rms ∼ 2.3 µJy/beam, cataloging 10,899 source components above 5 × rms. By combining these radio data with UltraVISTA, optical, near-infrared, and Spitzer/IRAC mid-infrared data, as well as X-ray data from the Chandra Legacy, Chandra COSMOS surveys, we gain insight into the emission mechanisms within our radio sources out to redshifts of z ∼ 5. From these emission characteristics we classify our souces as star forming galaxies or AGN. Using their multi-wavelength properties we further separate the AGN into sub-samples dominated by radiatively efficient and inefficient AGN, often referred to as high- and low-excitation emission line AGN. We compare our method with other results based on fitting of the sources’ spectral energy distributions using both galaxy and AGN spectral models, and those based on the infrared-radio correlation. We study the fractional contributions of these sub-populations down to radio flux levels of ∼10 µJy. We find that at 3 GHz flux densities above ∼400 µJy quiescent, red galaxies, consistent with the low-excitation radio AGN class constitute the dominant fraction. Below densities of ∼200 µJy star-forming galaxies begin to constitute the largest fraction, followed by the low-excitation, and X-ray- and IR-identified high-excitation radio AGN.

Bolometric luminosities and Eddington ratios of both X-ray selected broad-line (Type-1) and narrow-line (Type-2) AGN from the XMM-Newton survey in the COSMOS field are presented. The sample is composed by 929 AGN (382 Type-1 AGN and 547 Type-2 AGN) and it covers a wide range of redshifts, X-ray luminosities and absorbing column densities. About 65% of the sources are spectroscopically identified as either Type-1 or Type-2 AGN (83% and 52% respectively), while accurate photometric redshifts are available for the rest of the sample. The study of such a large sample of X-ray selected AGN with a high quality multi-wavelength coverage from the far-infrared (now with the inclusion of Herschel data at 100 micron and 160 micron) to the optical-UV allows us to obtain accurate estimates of bolometric luminosities, bolometric corrections and Eddington ratios. The kbol-Lbol relations derived in the present work are calibrated for the first time against a sizable AGN sample, and rely on observed redshifts, X-ray luminosities and column density distributions. We find that kbol is significantly lower at high Lbol with respect to previous estimates by Marconi et al. (2004) and Hopkins et al. (2007). Black hole masses and Eddington ratios are available for 170 Type-1 AGN, while black hole masses for Type-2 AGN are computed for 481 objects using the black hole mass-stellar mass relation and the morphological information. We confirm a trend between kbol and lambda_Edd, with lower hard X-ray bolometric corrections at lower Eddington ratios for both Type-1 and Type-2 AGN. We find that, on average, Eddington ratio increases with redshift for all Types of AGN at any given Mbh, while no clear evolution with redshift is seen at any given Lbol., Comment: 19 pages, 18 figures, accepted to MNRAS

The "Cosmic Evolution Survey" (COSMOS) enables the study of the spectral energy distributions (SEDs) of active galactic nuclei (AGNs) because of the deep coverage and rich sampling of frequencies from X-ray to radio. Here we present an SED catalog of 413 X-ray (XMM-Newton)-selected type 1 (emission line FWHM > 2000 km s-1) AGNs with Magellan, SDSS, or VLT spectrum. The SEDs are corrected for Galactic extinction, broad emission line contributions, constrained variability, and host galaxy contribution. We present the mean SED and the dispersion SEDs after the above corrections in the rest-frame 1.4 GHz to 40 keV, and show examples of the variety of SEDs encountered. In the near-infrared to optical (rest frame ~8 μm-4000 Å), the photometry is complete for the whole sample and the mean SED is derived from detections only. Reddening and host galaxy contamination could account for a large fraction of the observed SED variety. The SEDs are all available online.

Using the wide multiband photometry available in the Cosmic Evolution Survey (COSMOS) field, we explore the host galaxy properties of a large sample of active galactic nuclei (AGNs; ˜1700 objects) with Lbol ranging from 1043 to 1047 erg s-1, obtained by combining X-ray and optical spectroscopic selections. Based on a careful study of their spectral energy distributions, which have been parametrized using a two-component (AGN+galaxy) model fit, we have derived dust-corrected rest-frame magnitudes, colours and stellar masses of the obscured and unobscured AGN hosts up to high redshift (z≲3). Moreover, for the sample of obscured AGNs, we have also derived reliable star formation rates (SFRs). We find that AGN hosts span a large range of stellar masses and SFRs. No colour-bimodality is seen at any redshift in the AGN hosts, which are found to be mainly massive, red galaxies. Once we have accounted for the colour-mass degeneracy in well-defined mass-matched samples, we find a residual (marginal) enhancement of the incidence of AGNs in redder galaxies with lower specific SFRs. We argue that this result might emerge because of our ability to properly account for AGN light contamination and dust extinction, compared to surveys with a more limited multiwavelength coverage. However, because these colour shifts are relatively small, systematic effects could still be considered responsible for some of the observed trends. Interestingly, we find that the probability for a galaxy to host a black hole that is growing at any given 'specific accretion rate' (i.e. the ratio of X-ray luminosity to the host stellar mass) is almost independent of the host galaxy mass, while it decreases as a power law with LX/M*. By analysing the normalization of such a probability distribution, we show how the incidence of AGNs increases with redshift as rapidly as (1 + z)4, which closely resembles the overall evolution of the specific SFR of the entire galaxy population. We provide analytical fitting formulae that describe the probability of a galaxy of any mass (above the completeness limit of the COSMOS) to host an AGN of any given specific accretion rate as a function of redshift. These can be useful tools for theoretical studies of the growing population of black holes within galaxy evolution models. Although AGN activity and star formation in galaxies do appear to have a common triggering mechanism, at least in a statistical sense, within the COSMOS sample, we do not find any conclusive evidence to suggest that AGNs have a powerful influence on the star-forming properties of their host galaxies.

The Wide Field X-ray Telescope (WFXT) will provide tens of millions of AGN, with more than 4x10^5 expected at z>3. Here we review the issues present in the identification of (large) samples of faint and high-redshift X-ray sources, and describe a statistical, powerful tool that can be applied to WFXT catalogs. The depth of associated optical and near infrared catalogs, needed for a reliable and as much complete as possible identification, are also discussed, along with the combined synergies with existing or planned facilities, 6 pages, proceedings of "The Wide Field X-ray Telescope Workshop", held in Bologna, Italy, Nov. 25-26 2009. To appear in Memorie della Societ\`a Astronomica Italiana 2010 (arXiv:1010.5889) "

We report the final optical identifications of the medium-depth (~60 ksec), contiguous (2 deg^2) XMM-Newton survey of the COSMOS field. XMM-Newton has detected ~800 X-ray sources down to limiting fluxes of ~5x10^{-16}, ~3x10^{-15}, and ~7x10^{-15} erg/cm2/s in the 0.5-2 keV, 2-10 keV and 5-10 keV bands, respectively. The work is complemented by an extensive collection of multi-wavelength data from 24 micron to UV, available from the COSMOS survey, for each of the X-ray sources, including spectroscopic redshifts for ~50% of the sample, and high-quality photometric redshifts for the rest. The XMM and multiwavelength flux limits are well matched: 1760 (98%) of the X-ray sources have optical counterparts, 1711 (~95%) have IRAC counterparts, and 1394 (~78%) have MIPS 24micron detections. Thanks to the redshift completeness (almost 100%) we were able to constrain the high-luminosity tail of the X-ray luminosity function confirming that the peak of the number density of logL_X>44.5 AGN is at z~2. Spectroscopically-identified obscured and unobscured AGN, as well as normal and starforming galaxies, present well-defined optical and infrared properties. We devised a robust method to identify a sample of ~150 high redshift (z>1), obscured AGN candidates for which optical spectroscopy is not available. We were able to determine that the fraction of the obscured AGN population at the highest (L_X>10^{44} erg s^{-1}) X-ray luminosity is ~15-30% when selection effects are taken into account, providing an important observational constraint for X-ray background synthesis. We studied in detail the optical spectrum and the overall spectral energy distribution of a prototypical Type 2 QSO, caught in a stage transitioning from being starburst dominated to AGN dominated, which was possible to isolate only thanks to the combination of X-ray and infrared observations., ApJ, in press. 59 pages, 14 figures, 2 Tables. A few typos corrected and a reference added. Table 2 is also available at http://www.mpe.mpg.de/XMMCosmos/xmm53_release ; a version of the paper in ApJ format (27 pages) is available at http://www.mpe.mpg.de/XMMCosmos/xmm53_release/brusa_xmmcosmos_optid.pdf

e report a sizable class of type 1 active galactic nuclei (AGNs) with unusually weak near-infrared (1–3μm) emission in the XMM-COSMOS type 1 AGN sample. The fraction of these “hot-dust-poor” AGNs increases with redshift from 6% at low redshift (z < 2) to 20% at moderate high redshift (2 < z < 3.5). There is no clear trend of the fraction with other parameters: bolometric luminosity, Eddington ratio, black hole mass, and X-ray luminosity. The 3 μm emission relative to the 1 μm emission is a factor of 2–4 smaller than the typical Elvis et al. AGN spectral energy distribution (SED), which indicates a “torus” covering factor of 2%–29%, a factor of 3–40 smaller than required by unified models. The weak hot dust emission seems to expose an extension of the accretion disk continuum in some of the source SEDs. We estimate the outer edge of their accretion disks to lie at (0.3–2.0) × 104 Schwarzschild radii, ∼10–23 times the gravitational stability radii. Formation scenarios for these sources are discussed.

We present a catalog of 213 type-2 AGN selected from the zCOSMOS survey. The selected sample covers a wide redshift range (0.15, Comment: 20 pages, 11 figures, accepted for publication in Astronomy and Astrophysics

We present the first direct measurements of the rest-frame 10-40 keV X-ray luminosity function (XLF) of active galactic nuclei (AGNs) based on a sample of 94 sources at 0.1 Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array (NuSTAR) extragalactic survey program. Our results are consistent with the strong evolution of the AGN population seen in prior, lower-energy studies of the XLF. However, different models of the intrinsic distribution of absorption, which are used to correct for selection biases, give significantly different predictions for the total number of sources in our sample, leading to small, systematic differences in our binned estimates of the XLF. Adopting a model with a lower intrinsic fraction of Compton-thick sources and a larger population of sources with column densities NH ∼1023-24 cm-2 or a model with stronger Compton reflection component (with a relative normalization of R ∼ 2 at all luminosities) can bring extrapolations of the XLF from 2-10 keV into agreement with our NuSTAR sample. Ultimately, X-ray spectral analysis of the NuSTAR sources is required to break this degeneracy between the distribution of absorbing column densities and the strength of the Compton reflection component and thus refine our measurements of the XLF. Furthermore, the models that successfully describe the high-redshift population seen by NuSTAR tend to over-predict previous, high-energy measurements of the local XLF, indicating that there is evolution of the AGN population that is not fully captured by the current models.

We present the first direct measurements of the rest-frame 10-40 keV X-ray luminosity function (XLF) of Active Galactic Nuclei (AGNs) based on a sample of 94 sources at 0.1 < z, 14 pages, accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journal

We present a stacking analysis of the complete sample of Early Type Galaxies (ETGs) in the \textit{Chandra} COSMOS (C-COSMOS) survey, to explore the nature of the X-ray luminosity in the redshift and stellar luminosity ranges \(0, Comment: 22 pages, 7 figures, 2 tables. Accepted for publications on ApJ

The intrinsic column density (NH) distribution of quasars is poorly known. At the high obscuration end of the quasar population and for redshifts z 1.5e24 cm^-2) type 2 quasars (CTQSO2s); five new NuSTAR observations are reported herein, and four have been previously published. The candidate CTQSO2s lie at z~ 90 net source counts at 8-24 keV). For these NuSTAR-detected sources direct (i.e., X-ray spectral) constraints on the intrinsic AGN properties are feasible, and we measure column densities ~2.5-1600 times higher and intrinsic (unabsorbed) X-ray luminosities ~10-70 times higher than pre-NuSTAR constraints from Chandra and XMM-Newton. Assuming the NuSTAR-detected type 2 quasars are representative of other Compton-thick candidates, we make a correction to the NH distribution for optically selected type 2 quasars as measured by Chandra and XMM-Newton for 39 objects. With this approach, we predict a Compton-thick fraction of f_CT = 36^{+14}_{-12} %, although higher fractions (up to 76%) are possible if indirect absorption diagnostics are assumed to be reliable., 19 pages, 13 figures, 5 tables. Accepted for publication in ApJ

(Abriged) We report on the measurement of the rest frame K-band luminosity and total stellar mass of the hosts of 89 broad line Active Galactic Nuclei detected in the zCOSMOS survey in the redshift range 1, Comment: 47 pages, 8 figures. Accepted for publication in ApJ

International audience; The role of major mergers in galaxy and black hole formation is not well-constrained. To help address this, we develop an automated method to identify late-stage galaxy mergers before coalescence of the galactic cores. The resulting sample of mergers is distinct from those obtained using pair-finding and morphological indicators. Our method relies on median-filtering of high-resolution images to distinguish two concentrated galaxy nuclei at small separations. This method does not rely on low surface brightness features to identify mergers, and is therefore reliable to high redshift. Using mock images, we derive statistical contamination and incompleteness corrections for the fraction of late-stage mergers. The mock images show that our method returns an uncontaminated (\textless10%) sample of mergers with projected separations between 2.2 and 8 kpc out to z similar to 1. We apply our new method to a magnitude-limited (m(FW 814) \textless 23) sample of 44,164 galaxies from the COSMOS HST/ACS catalog. Using a mass-complete sample with log M-*/M-circle dot \textgreater 10.6 and 0.25 \textless z \textless= 1.00, we find similar to 5% of systems are late-stage mergers. Correcting for incompleteness and contamination, the fractional merger rate increases strongly with redshift as R-merge proportional to (1 + z)(3.8 +/- 0.9), in agreement both with earlier studies and with dark matter halo merger rates. Separating the sample into star-forming and quiescent galaxies shows that the merger rate for star-forming galaxies increases strongly with redshift, (1 + z)(4.5 +/- 1.3), while the merger rate for quiescent galaxies is consistent with no evolution, (1 + z)(1.1 +/- 1.2). The merger rate also becomes steeper with decreasing stellar mass. Limiting our sample to galaxies with spectroscopic redshifts from zCOSMOS, we find that the star formation rates and X-ray selected active galactic nucleus (AGN) activity in likely late-stage mergers are higher by factors of similar to 2 relative to those of a control sample. Combining our sample with more widely separated pairs, we find that 8 +/- 5% of star formation and 20 +/- 8% of AGN activity are triggered by close encounters (\textless143 kpc) or mergers, providing additional evidence that major mergers are not the only channels for star formation and black hole growth.

We present results from an analysis of the largest high-redshift (z > 3) X-ray-selected active galactic nucleus (AGN) sample to date, combining the Chandra C-COSMOS and ChaMP surveys and doubling the previous samples. The sample comprises 209 X-ray-detected AGN, over a wide range of rest frame 2-10 keV luminosities logL_{X}=43.3 - 46.0 erg s^{-1}. X-ray hardness rates show that ~39% of the sources are highly obscured, N_{H}>10^{22} cm^{-2}, in agreement with the ~37% of type-2 AGN found in our sample based on their optical classification. For ~26% of objects have mismatched optical and X-ray classifications. Using the 1/V_{max} method, we confirm that the comoving space density of all luminosity ranges of AGNs decreases with redshift above z > 3 and up to z ~ 7. With a significant sample of AGN (N=27) at z > 4, it is found that both source number counts in the 0.5 -2 keV band and comoving space density are consistent with the expectation of a luminosity dependent density evolution (LDDE) model at all redshifts, while they exclude the luminosity and density evolution (LADE) model. The measured comoving space density of type-1 and type-2 AGN shows a constant ratio between the two types at z > 3. Our results for both AGN types at these redshifts are consistent with the expectations of LDDE model., Comment: 20 pages, 11 figures. Accepted to MNRAS

We investigate, for the first time at z~3, the clustering properties of 189 Type 1 and 157 Type 2 X-ray active galactic nuclei (AGN) of moderate luminosity (log = 45.3 erg/s), with photometric or spectroscopic redshifts in the range 2.2, Comment: Accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journal

We present results from an analysis of the largest high-redshift (z > 3) X-ray-selected active galactic nucleus (AGN) sample to date, combining the Chandra C-COSMOS and ChaMP surveys and doubling the previous samples. The sample comprises 209 X-ray-detected AGN, over a wide range of rest frame 2-10 keV luminosities logL_{X}=43.3 - 46.0 erg s^{-1}. X-ray hardness rates show that ~39% of the sources are highly obscured, N_{H}>10^{22} cm^{-2}, in agreement with the ~37% of type-2 AGN found in our sample based on their optical classification. For ~26% of objects have mismatched optical and X-ray classifications. Using the 1/V_{max} method, we confirm that the comoving space density of all luminosity ranges of AGNs decreases with redshift above z > 3 and up to z ~ 7. With a significant sample of AGN (N=27) at z > 4, it is found that both source number counts in the 0.5 -2 keV band and comoving space density are consistent with the expectation of a luminosity dependent density evolution (LDDE) model at all redshifts, while they exclude the luminosity and density evolution (LADE) model. The measured comoving space density of type-1 and type-2 AGN shows a constant ratio between the two types at z > 3. Our results for both AGN types at these redshifts are consistent with the expectations of LDDE model., 20 pages, 11 figures. Accepted to MNRAS

We present Chandra High Resolution Camera observations of CID-42, a candidate recoiling supermassive black hole (SMBH) at z=0.359 in the COSMOS survey. CID-42 shows two optical compact sources resolved in the HST/ACS image embedded in the same galaxy structure and a velocity offset of ~1300 km/s between the H\beta\ broad and narrow emission line, as presented by Civano et al. (2010). Two scenarios have been proposed to explain the properties of CID-42: a GW recoiling SMBH and a double Type 1/ Type 2 AGN system, where one of the two is recoiling because of slingshot effect. In both scenario, one of the optical nuclei hosts an unobscured AGN, while the other one, either an obscured AGN or a star forming compact region. The X-ray Chandra data allow to unambiguously resolve the X-ray emission, and unveil the nature, of the two optical sources in CID-42. We find that only one of the optical nuclei is responsible for the whole X-ray unobscured emission observed and a 3sigma upper limit on the flux of the second optical nucleus is measured. The upper limit on the X-ray luminosity plus the analysis of the multiwavelength spectral energy distribution indicate the presence of a starforming region in the second source rather than an obscured SMBH, thus favoring the GW recoil scenario. However the presence of a very obscured SMBH cannot be fully ruled-out. A new X-ray feature, in a SW direction with respect to the main source, is discovered and discussed., Comment: Accepted for publication in ApJ on April 10, 2012. 7 pages, 7 figures

We present the first direct measurement of the mean Halo Occupation Distribution (HOD) of X-ray selected AGN in the COSMOS field at z < 1, based on the association of 41 XMM and 17 C-COSMOS AGN with member galaxies of 189 X-ray detected galaxy groups from XMM and Chandra data. We model the mean AGN occupation in the halo mass range logM_200[Msun] = 13-14.5 with a rolling-off power-law with the best fit index alpha = 0.06(-0.22;0.36) and normalization parameter f_a = 0.05(0.04;0.06). We find the mean HOD of AGN among central galaxies to be modelled by a softened step function at logMh > logMmin = 12.75 (12.10,12.95) Msun while for the satellite AGN HOD we find a preference for an increasing AGN fraction with Mh suggesting that the average number of AGN in satellite galaxies grows slower (alpha_s < 0.6) than the linear proportion (alpha_s = 1) observed for the satellite HOD of samples of galaxies. We present an estimate of the projected auto correlation function (ACF) of galaxy groups over the range of r_p = 0.1-40 Mpc/h at = 0.5. We use the large-scale clustering signal to verify the agreement between the group bias estimated by using the observed galaxy groups ACF and the value derived from the group mass estimates. We perform a measurement of the projected AGN-galaxy group cross-correlation function, excluding from the analysis AGN that are within galaxy groups and we model the 2-halo term of the clustering signal with the mean AGN HOD based on our results., Accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journal

The "Cosmic Evolution Survey" (COSMOS) enables the study of the Spectral Energy Distributions (SEDs) of Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN) because of the deep coverage and rich sampling of frequencies from X-ray to radio. Here we present a SED catalog of 413 X-ray (\xmm) selected type 1 (emission line FWHM$>2000$ km s$^{-1}$) AGN with Magellan, SDSS or VLT spectrum. The SEDs are corrected for the Galactic extinction, for broad emission line contributions, constrained variability, and for host galaxy contribution. We present the mean SED and the dispersion SEDs after the above corrections in the rest frame 1.4 GHz to 40 keV, and show examples of the variety of SEDs encountered. In the near-infrared to optical (rest frame $\sim 8\mu m$-- 4000\AA), the photometry is complete for the whole sample and the mean SED is derived from detections only. Reddening and host galaxy contamination could account for a large fraction of the observed SED variety. The SEDs are all available on-line., Comment: 22 pages, 22 figures, ApJ accepted, scheduled to be published October 20th, 2012, v758

Using the wide multi-band photometry available in the COSMOS field we explore the host galaxy properties of a large sample of Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN) obtained by combining X-ray and optical spectroscopic selections. Based on a careful study of their Spectral Energy Distribution (SED), which has been parametrized using a 2-component (AGN+galaxy) model fit, we derived dust-corrected rest-frame magnitudes, colors, stellar masses and star formation rates (SFRs). We find that AGN hosts span a large range of stellar masses and SFRs. No color-bimodality is seen at any redshift in the AGN hosts, which are found to be mainly massive, red galaxies. Once accounting for the color-mass degeneracy in well defined mass-matched samples, we find a residual marginal enhancement of AGN incidence in redder galaxies with lower specific star formation rates, and we argue that this result might emerge because of our ability to properly account for AGN light contamination and dust extinction. Interestingly, we find that the probability for a galaxy to host a black hole growing at any given "specific accretion rate" (i.e. the ratio of X-ray luminosity to the host stellar mass) is almost independent of the host galaxy mass, while it decreases as a power-law with Lx/M. By analyzing the normalization of such probability distribution, we show how the incidence of AGN increases with redshift as rapidly as (1+z)^4, in close resemblance with the overall evolution of the specific star formation rate of the entire galaxy population. Although AGN activity and star formation in galaxies do appear to have a common triggering mechanism, at least in a statistical sense, within the COSMOS sample we do not find strong evidence of any 'smoking gun' signaling powerful AGN influence on the star-forming properties of their hosts galaxies., Comment: 32 pages, 25 figures, 4 tables, accepted for publication in MNRAS

We present the high redshift (33. 81 sources are selected in the 0.5-2 keV band, 14 are selected in the 2-10 keV and 6 in the 0.5-10 keV bands. We sample the high luminosity (log L_(2-10 keV)>44.15 erg/s) space density up to z~5 and a fainter luminosity range (43.53. We find that the space density of high-luminosity AGNs declines exponentially at all the redshifts, confirming the trend observed for optically selected quasars. At lower luminosity, the measured space density is not conclusive, and a larger sample of faint sources is needed. Comparisons with optical luminosity functions and BH formation models are presented together with prospects for future surveys., Comment: 10 pages, 6 figures. ApJ in press. Table 3 is available in the published version

Close encounters between galaxies are expected to be a viable mechanism, as predicted by numerical simulations, by which accretion onto supermassive black holes can be initiated. To test this scenario, we construct a sample of 562 galaxies (M*>2.5x10^10 M_sun) in kinematic pairs over the redshift range 0.25 < z < 1.05 that are more likely to be interacting than a well-matched control sample of 2726 galaxies not identified as being in a pair, both from the zCOSMOS 20k spectroscopic catalog. Galaxies that harbor an active galactic nucleus (AGN) are identified on the basis of their X-ray emission (L_x>2x10^42 erg s^-1) detected by Chandra. We find a higher fraction of AGN in galaxies in pairs relative to isolated galaxies of similar stellar mass. Our result is primarily due to an enhancement of AGN activity, by a factor of 1.9 (observed) and 2.6 (intrinsic), for galaxies in pairs of projected separation less than 75 kpc and line-of-sight velocity offset less than 500 km s^-1. This study demonstrates that close kinematic pairs are conducive environments for black hole growth either indicating a causal physical connection or an inherent relation, such as, to enhanced star formation. In the Appendix, we describe a method to estimate the intrinsic fractions of galaxies (either in pairs or the field) hosting an AGN with confidence intervals, and an excess fraction in pairs. We estimate that 17.8_{-7.4}^{+8.4}% of all moderate-luminosity AGN activity takes place within galaxies undergoing early stages of interaction that leaves open the question as to what physical processes are responsible for fueling the remaining ~80% that may include late-stage mergers., 11 pages, 8 figures, Accepted by The Astrophysical Journal

We present a new measurement of the space density of high redshift (3.010^{-15} cgs), homogeneous sample of z>3 QSOs for which spectroscopic (22) or photometric (18) redshifts are available. We present the optical (color-color diagrams) and X-ray properties, the number counts and space densities of the z>3 X-ray selected quasars population and compare our findings with previous works and model predictions. We find that the optical properties of X-ray selected quasars are not significantly different from those of optically selected samples. There is evidence for substantial X-ray absorption (logN_H>23 cm^{-2}) in about 20% of the sources in the sample. The comoving space density of luminous (L_X >10^{44} erg s^-1) QSOs declines exponentially (by an e--folding per unit redshift) in the z=3.0-4.5 range, with a behavior similar to that observed for optically bright unobscured QSOs selected in large area optical surveys. Prospects for future, large and deep X-ray surveys are also discussed., 36 pages, 9 figures, 4 tables. To appear on ApJ, version revised according to referee comments

We present the analysis of the source counts in the XMM-COSMOS survey using data of the first year of XMM-Newton observations. The survey covers ~2 deg^2 within the region of sky bounded by 9^h57.5^m, Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, proceeding of the conference "At the edge of the Universe", Sintra, Portugal, October 2006. To be published on the Astronomical Society of the Pacific Conference Series (ASPCS)

A significant fraction of the accreting black holes powering high redshift AGN are obscured by large columns of dust and gas. For this reason, luminous type 2 quasars can be efficiently discovered combining hard X-ray and near-infrared observations. We will briefly discuss the most recent results., 6 pages, contributed paper to Proceedings of the Conference "Growing Black Holes" held in Garching, Germany, June 21-25, 2004, edited by A. Merloni, S. Nayakshin and R. Sunyaev, Springer-Verlag series of "ESO Astrophysics Symposia"

We present the initial results and the source catalog from the Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array (NuSTAR) survey of the Extended Chandra Deep Field South (hereafter ECDFS)—currently the deepest contiguous component of the NuSTAR extragalactic survey program. The survey covers the full ˜30' × 30' area of this field to a maximum depth of ˜360 ks (\approx 220 ks when corrected for vignetting at 3–24 keV) reaching sensitivity limits of \approx 1.3\times {10}^{ 14}\;\mathrm{erg}\;{{\rm{s}}}^{ 1}\;{\mathrm{cm}}^{ 2} (3–8 keV) \approx 3.4\times {10}^{ 14}\;\mathrm{erg}\;{{\rm{s}}}^{ 1}\;{\mathrm{cm}}^{ 2} (8–24 keV) and \approx 3.0\times {10}^{ 14}\;\mathrm{erg}\;{{\rm{s}}}^{ 1}\;{\mathrm{cm}}^{ 2} (3–24 keV). A total of 54 sources are detected over the full field although five of these are found to lie below our significance threshold once contaminating flux from neighboring (i.e. blended) sources is taken into account. Of the remaining 49 that are significant 19 are detected in the 8–24 keV band. The 8–24 to 3–8 keV band ratios of the 12 sources that are detected in both bands span the range 0.39–1.7 corresponding to a photon index range of {\rm{\Gamma }}\approx 0.5 2.3 with a median photon index of \bar{{\rm{\Gamma }}}=1.70\pm 0.52. The redshifts of the 49 sources in our main sample span the range z=0.21 2.7 and their rest frame 10–40 keV luminosities (derived from the observed 8–24 keV fluxes) span the range {L}_{10 40\;\mathrm{keV}}\approx (0.7 300)\times {10}^{43}\;\mathrm{erg}\;{{\rm{s}}}^{ 1} sampling below the "knee" of the X ray luminosity function out to z\sim 0.8 1. Finally we identify one NuSTAR source that has neither a Chandra nor an XMM Newton counterpart but that shows evidence of nuclear activity at infrared wavelengths and thus may represent a genuine new X ray source detected by NuSTAR in the ECDFS.

We discuss some of the main open issues related to the light-up and evolution of the first accreting sources powering high redshift luminous quasars. We discuss the perspectives of future deep X-ray surveys with the International X-ray Observatory and possible synergies with the Wide Field X-ray Telescope., 6 pages, 6 figures. Proceedings of "The Wide Field X-ray Telescope Workshop", held in Bologna, Italy, Nov. 25-26 2009. To appear in Memorie della Societ\`a Astronomica Italiana 2010 (arXiv:1010.5889)