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[48.13U] An X-ray Investigation of LINER Galaxies

J. McNulty (St. John's College), S. Satyapal, S. Sambruna (George Mason University)

We present an X-Ray survey, using archival data from the Chandra Advanced CCD Imaging Spectrometer, of 33 LINER galaxies for which Infrared Space Observatory comparison data is available. These X-Ray observations provide a useful "window" into the nuclei of obscured AGN out to column densities of a few times 10²⁴cm^-2. Using Chandra's high angular resolution (0.5"/pixel), we detect nuclear point sources morphologically consistent with AGN in >50% of the sample. In many cases, comparison of hard (2-10 keV) to soft (0.2-2 keV) X-Rays gives further evidence of AGN. This evidence is compared with IR spectral diagnostics for AGN activity. We find that several sources which show strong X-ray nuclear point sources do not show the high excitation lines characteristic of AGN in the mid-infrared. Similarily, several sources show distinct signatures of AGN activity in the mid-infrared but do not display nuclear point sources in the X-rays. With the advent of SIRTF, and future IR missions such as Herschel and NGST, it is increasingly critical to determine if multiwavelength diagnostics can provide a consistent picture of AGN. This work was supported by NASA grant NAG5-11432.

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Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, 34, #4
© 2002. The American Astronomical Soceity.