The XMM-Newton Serendipitous Survey. II. First results from the AXIS high galactic latitude medium sensitivity survey

TL;DR

This paper reports initial findings from a medium sensitivity, high galactic latitude X-ray survey using XMM-Newton, identifying most sources as AGN and providing insights into their population at specific flux levels.

Contribution

First identification results from the AXIS high galactic latitude X-ray survey, including source classifications and the discovery of broad-absorption line QSOs.

Findings

93% of sources identified, mostly AGN

Discovery of 2 broad-absorption line QSOs (~10% of AGN)

Identification of additional sources fainter than survey limit

Abstract

We present the first results on the identifications of a medium sensitivity survey (X-ray flux limit 2E-14 erg/cm2/s in the 0.5-4.5 keV band) at high galactic latitude (|b|>20 deg) carried out with the XMM-Newton X-ray observatory within the AXIS observing programme. This study is being conducted as part of the XMM-Newton Survey Science Centre activities towards the identification of the sources in the X-ray serendipitous sky survey. The sample contains 29 X-ray sources in a solid angle of 0.26deg2 (source density 113 +/- 21 sources/deg2), out of which 27 (93%) have been identified. The majority of the sources are broad-line AGN (19), followed by narrow emission line X-ray emitting galaxies (6, all of which turn out to be AGN), 1 nearby non-emission line galaxy (NGC 4291) and 1 active coronal star. Among the identified sources we find 2 broad-absorption line QSOs (z~1.8 and z~1.9), which constitute ~10% of the AGN population at this flux level, similar to optically selected samples. Identifications of a further 10 X-ray sources fainter than our survey limit are also presented.