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Extragalactic Source Counts in the 20-50 keV Energy Band from the Deep Observation of the Coma Region by INTEGRAL IBIS

Extragalactic Source Counts in the 20-50 keV Energy Band from the Deep Observation of the Coma Region by INTEGRAL IBIS

Publication date: 21 May 2005

Authors: Krivonos, R., et al.

Journal: ApJ
Volume: 625
Issue: 1
Page: 89-94
Year: 2005

Copyright: The American Astronomical Society

We present the analysis of serendipitous sources in a deep, 500 ks, hard X-ray observation of the Coma Cluster region with the IBIS instrument on board INTEGRAL. In addition to the Coma Cluster, the final 20-50 keV image contains 12 serendipitous sources with statistical significance >4 sigma. We use these data (after correcting for expected number of false detections) to extend the extragalactic source counts in the 20-50 keV energy band down to a limiting flux of 1.0x10-11 ergs s-1 cm-2 (~=1 mcrab). This is a more than a factor of 10 improvement in sensitivity compared to the previous results in this energy band obtained with the HEAO 1 A-4 instrument. The derived source counts are consistent with the Euclidean relation N(>f)~f-3/2. A large fraction of identified serendipitous sources are low-redshift, z<0.02, active galactic nuclei (AGNs), mostly of Seyfert 1 type. The surface density of hard X-ray sources is (1.4+/-0.5)x10-2 deg-2 above a flux threshold of 10-11 ergs s-1 cm-2. These sources directly account for ~3% of the cosmic X-ray background in the 20-50 keV energy band. Given the low redshift depth of our sample, we expect that similar sources at higher redshifts account for a significant fraction of the hard X-ray background. Our field covers only 3% of the sky; a systematic analysis of other extragalactic INTEGRAL observations can produce much larger source samples and is, therefore, critically important.

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