Infrared observations of serendipitous hard Chandra X-ray sources |
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| Authors: | C S Crawford A C Fabian P Gandhi R J Wilman R M Johnstone |
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| Institution: | Institute of Astronomy, Madingley Road, Cambridge CB3 0HA |
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| Abstract: | We present observations of a sample of optically faint, hard X-ray sources of the kind likely to be responsible for much of the hard X-ray background. We confirm that such sources are easily detected in the near-infrared, and find that they have a featureless continuum suggesting that the active nucleus is heavily obscured. The infrared colours of the majority of the targets observed are consistent with absorbed elliptical host galaxies at z =1–2. It is likely that we are observing some of the brighter members of the important new class of X-ray type II quasars. |
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| Keywords: | galaxies: active diffuse radiation infrared: galaxies X-rays: galaxies |
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