Abstract
We report the discovery of a strong Fe K line in the ASCA spectrum of the infrared-luminous galaxy IRAS P09104+4109 at a redshift z = 0.442. It is the most distant Fe K emission line detected so far. The large equivalent width (EW ~ 450 eV) and X-ray continuum spectrum, which has {GAMMA} ~ 2.0 with little absorption, favors a model in which the observed X-rays are scattered into our line of sight from a hidden quasar. Previous work has shown that the source has strong narrow emission lines and a highly polarized continuum in the optical and a strong infrared excess, similar to Seyfert 2 galaxies. The observed X-ray luminosity is L_x_ ~ 2 x 10^45^ ergs s^-1^ in the rest frame 2-10 keV band; the large obscuration suggested by the optical and infrared studies implies that the hidden quasar has an intrinsic luminosity of L_Bol_ = 5 x 10^47^ ergs s^-1^. Our results indicate that IRAS P09104+4109 is the prototype of a new class of Seyfert 2 nuclei, which emit at quasar luminosities.
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