A deep X-ray look to the most obscured quasar at z~3.6 and its environment

TL;DR

This study investigates a highly luminous, obscured quasar at z~3.6, revealing its Compton-thick nature, environment, and potential hidden AGN activity in nearby galaxies, shedding light on galaxy evolution phases.

Contribution

It provides the first detailed X-ray characterization of W0410-09, a luminous obscured quasar at z~3.6, and explores its environment and hidden AGN activity in surrounding galaxies.

Findings

W0410-09 is a Compton-thick, highly luminous obscured QSO at z=3.631.

Detected Fe Kα emission suggests hidden AGN in nearby LAEs.

Estimated AGN fraction in LAEs could be up to 35%.

Abstract

The most luminous and obscured quasars (QSOs) detected in infrared all-sky surveys could represent a key co-evolutionary phase from nuclear to circum-galactic (CG) scales in the formation of massive galaxies. In this context, Hot Dust Obscured Galaxies (Hot DOGs) at z ~2-4 provide a unique opportunity to study the link between cosmic mass assembly and nuclear accretion in high-z luminous QSOs/galaxies. W0410-0913 (hereafter W0410-09) is a luminous ($\rm ~L_{\rm bol} \sim 6.4 \times10^{47} \rm erg\ s^{-1}$) obscured QSO at z = 3.631, with a 30 kpc CG Ly$\alpha$ nebula (CGLAN), smaller than the ~ 100 kpc nebulae around unobscured Type-I QSOs, and an exceptional overdense environment of ~ 19 Ly$\alpha$ emitters (LAEs) within 300 kpc and $\pm$ 200 $\rm km ~s^{-1}$ of the Hot DOG. We aim to detect and characterize nuclear accretion in W0410-09 and its environment. Exploiting a deep proprietary ~280 ks Chandra observation, using empirical and physically motivated models for obscured sources, we show that W0410-09 exhibits Compton-thick obscuration ($\rm~ N_H > 10^{24} \rm cm^{-2}$) and high intrinsic luminosity ($\rm ~L_{2-10} > 10^{45} \rm erg ~s^{-1}$), making it one of the most luminous obscured QSOs at z $>$ 3.5. With the exclusion of W0410-09 we do not detect X-ray emission from any of the 19 LAEs, except for a 3$\sigma$ signal in the 6-7 keV rest-frame band, interpreted as Fe K$\alpha$ emission, suggesting the presence of heavily obscured yet undetected AGN emission in several LAEs. Including W0410-09, the estimated AGN fraction is $f_{\rm AGN}^{\rm LAE} = 5^{+12}_{-4}$%, potentially up to ~35% if unresolved obscured AGN are considered as suggested by the Fe K$\alpha$ line detection. We conclude that W0410-09 is in a critical transitional blow-out phase, during which powerful QSO-driven outflows are clearing the nuclear obscuration, ultimately leading to an unobscured luminous quasar.