The optical-UV spectral energy distribution of the unabsorbed AGN population in theXMM-NewtonBright Serendipitous Survey

Abstract

Active galactic nuclei (AGN) emit radiation over a wide range of wavelengths, with a peak of emission in the far-UV region of the electromagnetic spectrum, a spectral region that is historically difficult to observe. Using optical, GALEX UV and XMM-Newton data we derive the spectral energy distribution (SED) from the optical/UV to X-ray regime of a sizeable sample of AGN. The principal motivation is to investigate the relationship between the optical/UV emission and the X-ray emission and provide bolometric corrections to the hard X-ray (2-10 keV) energy range, kbol, the latter being a fundamental parameter in current physical cosmology. We construct and study the X-ray to optical SED of a sample of 195 X-ray selected Type 1 AGN belonging to the XMM-Newton bright serendipitous survey (XBS). The optical-UV luminosity was computed using data from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS), from our own dedicated optical spectroscopy and the satellite Galaxy Evolution Explorer (GALEX), while the X-ray luminosity was computed using XMM-Newton data. Because it covers a wide range of redshift (0.03 < z < 2.2), X-ray luminosities (41.8 < logL[2-10]keV < 45.5 erg/s) and because it is composed of "bright objects", this sample is ideal for this kind of investigation. We find a correlation between kbol and the hard X-ray photon index {\Gamma}(2-10keV) and a tight correlation between the optical-to-X-ray spectral index {\alpha}ox and kbol, so we conclude that both {\Gamma}(2-10keV) and {\alpha}ox can be used as a proxy for kbol.