An X-ray Significantly Variable, Luminous, Type 2 Quasar at z = 2.99 with a Massive Host Galaxy

ABSTRACT

We present a comprehensive X-ray analysis and spectral energy distribution (SED) fitting of WISEA J171419.96+602724.6, an extremely luminous type 2 quasar at z = 2.99. The source was suggested as a candidate Compton-thick (column density NH>1.5 × 1024 cm−2) quasar by a short XMM-Newton observation in 2011. We recently observed the source with deep NuSTAR and XMM-Newton exposures in 2021 and found that the source has a lower obscuration of NH∼5 × 1022 cm−2 with an about four times lower flux. The two epochs of observations suggested that the source was significantly variable in X-ray obscuration, flux, and intrinsic luminosity at 2-3~σ in less than 2.5 years (in the source rest frame). We performed SED fitting of this source using CIGALE thanks to its great availability of multiwavelength data (from hard X-rays to radio). The source is very luminous with a bolometric luminosity of LBOL∼ 2.5 × 1047 erg s−1. Its host galaxy has a huge star formation rate (SFR) of ∼1280 Solar mass yr−1 and a huge stellar mass of ∼1.1 × 1012 Solar mass. The correlation between the SFR and stellar mass of this source is consistent with what was measured in the high-z quasars. It is also consistent with what was measured in the main-sequence star-forming galaxies, suggesting that the presence of the active nucleus in our target does not enhance or suppress the SFR of its host galaxy. The source is an Infrared hyper-luminous, obscured galaxy with significant amount of hot dust in its torus and shares many similar properties with hot, dust obscured galaxies.

AUTHORS

Xiurui Zhao, Stefano Marchesi, Marco Ajello, Francesca Civano, Roberto Gilli, Giorgio Lanzuisi, Iván E. López, Ross Silver, Nuria Torres-Albà, Peter G. Boorman, Andrealuna Pizzetti