Where are Compton-thick radio galaxies? A hard X-ray view of three candidates. Issue 4 (8th December 2017)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Ursini, F; Bassani, L; Panessa, F; Bazzano, A; Bird, A J; Malizia, A; Ubertini, P
• Is Part Of: Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. Volume 474:Issue 4(2018)
• Page Start: 5684
• Page End: 5693
• Publication Date: 2017-12-08
• Subjects: galaxies: active -- galaxies: Seyfert -- X-rays: galaxies -- X-rays: individual: NGC 612, 4C 73.08, 3C 452; Astronomy -- Periodicals; Periodicals; 520.5
• DOI: 10.1093/mnras/stx3159
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0035-8711

Abstract

Abstract: We present a broad-band X-ray spectral analysis of the radio-loud active galactic nuclei NGC 612, 4C 73.08 and 3C 452, exploiting archival data from NuSTAR, XMM–Newton, Swift and INTEGRAL . These Compton-thick candidates are the most absorbed sources among the hard X-ray selected radio galaxies studied in Panessa et al. We find an X-ray absorbing column density in every case below 1.5 × 10 24 cm −2, and no evidence for a strong reflection continuum or iron K α line. Therefore, none of these sources is properly Compton-thick. We review other Compton-thick radio galaxies reported in the literature, arguing that we currently lack strong evidences for heavily absorbed radio-loud AGNs.