ASCA observations of two ultraluminous IRAS galaxies: IRAS 15307+3252 and IRAS 20460+1925

Yasushi Ogasaka, Hajime Inoue, William N. Brandt, Andrew C. Fabian, Tsuneo Kii, Takao Nakagawa, Ryuichi Fujimoto, Chiko Otani

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33 Scopus citations

Abstract

We report on ASCA observations of two ultraluminous far-infrared galaxies, IRAS 15307+3252 and IRAS 20460+1925. An X-ray flux of 1.53 × 10-12 erg cm-2 s-1 in the 2-10 keV band was detected from IRAS 20460+1925. The continuous spectrum is well represented by a power law with a photon index of 1.99+0.18-0.15 and excess photoelectric absorption by a column of (2.6+0.29-0.32) × 1022 cm-2 in the rest frame. The spectrum also shows an iron K emission line with an equivalent width of 260+145-137 eV and a centroid energy of 6.36±0.08 keV in the rest frame. These spectral properties are consistent with those of Seyfert-2 galaxies, although the intrinsic 2-10 keV X-ray luminosity (corrected for absorption) of 1.20 × 1044 erg s-1 is high and close to that of quasars. No X-rays were detected from IRAS 15307+3252, and the upper limit to the X-ray flux is 7.2 × 10-14 erg cm-2 s-1 in the 2-10 keV band. However, the upper limit on the ratio of the X-ray flux to the far-infrared flux is not inconsistent with a source containing a highly obscured quasar.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)179-185
Number of pages7
JournalPublications of the Astronomical Society of Japan
Volume49
Issue number2
DOIs
StatePublished - 1997

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • Astronomy and Astrophysics
  • Space and Planetary Science

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