The maximum number density of Active Galactic Nuclei (AGNs), as deduced from X-ray studies, occurs at z >= 1, with lower luminosity objects peaking at smaller redshifts. Optical studies lead to a different evolutionary behaviour, with a number density peaking at z ~ 2 independently of the intrinsic luminosity, but this result is limited to active nuclei brighter than the host galaxy. A selection based on optical variability can detect low luminosity AGNs (LLAGNs), where the host galaxy light prevents the identification by non-stellar colours. The authors collected X-ray data in a field where there existed an optically-selected sample of "variable galaxies", i.e. variable objects with diffuse appearance, in order to investigate the X-ray and optical properties of the population of AGNs, particularly of low luminosity ones, where the host galaxy is visible. They observed a field of ~ 0.2 deg² in the Selected Area 57, for 67 ks with XMM-Newton. They correlated the list of detected X-ray sources with a photographic survey of SA 57, complete to B_J ~ 23 and with the available spectroscopic data. They obtained a catalog of 140 X-ray sources to limiting fluxes of 5 x 10^-16 and 2 x 10^-15 erg/cm²/s in the 0.5 - 2 keV and 2 - 10 keV bands, respectively, 98 of which are identified in the optical bands. The X-ray detection of part of the variability-selected candidates confirms their AGN nature. Diffuse variable objects populate the low luminosity side of the sample. Only 25/44 optically-selected QSOs are detected in X-rays. 15% of all QSOs in the field have X/O < 0.1. Additional information on the likely optical counterparts of 98 of the X-ray sources is available in the reference paper, e.g., in Table 3. This table was created by the HEASARC in September 2007 based on CDS table J/A+A/469/1211 file table2.dat. This is a service provided by NASA HEASARC .

This table contains the results from an X-ray and optical analysis of 188 active galactic nuclei (AGN) identified from 497 hard X-ray (observed flux in the (2.0 - 8.0 keV) band > 2.7 x 10^-15 erg/cm²/s) sources in 20 Chandra fields (1.5 square degrees) forming part of the Chandra Multiwavelength Project (ChaMP). These medium-depth X-ray observations enable the detection of a representative subset of those sources responsible for the bulk of the 2 - 8 keV cosmic X-ray background. Brighter than the survey's optical spectroscopic limit, the authors achieve a reasonable degree of completeness (77% of X-ray sources with counterparts r' < 22.5 have been classified): broad emission-line AGNs (62%), narrow emission-line galaxies (24%), absorption-line galaxies (7%), stars (5%), or clusters (2%). To construct a pure AGN sample, the authors required the rest-frame 2.0-8.0 keV luminosity (uncorrected for intrinsic absorption) to exceed 10⁴² erg s^-1, thereby excluding any sources that may contain a significant stellar or hot ISM component. The most luminous known star-forming or elliptical galaxies attain at most L_X = 10⁴² erg s^-1. Since many of the traditional optical AGN signatures are not present in obscured sources, high X-ray luminosity becomes the authors' single discriminant for supermassive black hole accretion. They believe that almost all of the NELGs and ALGs harbor accreting SMBHs based on their X-ray luminosity. They find that 90% of the identified ChaMP sources have luminosities above this threshold. These selection criteria yield a sample of 188 AGNs from 20 Chandra fields with f(2-8 keV) > 2.7 x 10^-15 erg cm^-2 s^-1, r' < 22.5, and L_X > 10⁴² erg s^-1. The authors removed five objects identified as clusters based on their extended X-ray emission. This table was created by the HEASARC in March 2007 based on the CDS table J/ApJ/618/123, file table4.dat. This is a service provided by NASA HEASARC .

The Swift Active galactic nucleus (AGN) and Cluster Survey (SACS) uses 125 deg² of Swift X-ray Telescope (XRT) serendipitous fields with variable depths surrounding gamma-ray bursts to provide a medium depth (4 x 10^-15 erg cm^-2 s^-1) and medium area survey filling the gap between deep, narrow Chandra/XMM-Newton surveys and wide, shallow ROSAT surveys. In the reference paper, a catalog of 22,563 point sources and 442 extended sources, and the number counts of the AGN and galaxy cluster populations are presented. SACS provides excellent constraints on the AGN number counts at the bright end with negligible uncertainties due to cosmic variance, and these constraints are consistent with previous measurements. The authors use Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) mid-infrared(MIR) colors to classify the sources. For AGNs, they can roughly separate the point sources into MIR-red and MIR-blue AGNs, finding roughly equal numbers of each type in the soft X-ray band (0.5-2.0 keV), but fewer MIR-blue sources in the hard X-ray band (2-8 keV). The cluster number counts, with 5% uncertainties from cosmic variance, are also consistent with previous surveys but span a much larger continuous flux range. Deep optical or IR followup observations of this cluster sample will significantly increase the number of higher redshift (z > 0.5) X-ray-selected clusters. This HEASARC table contains the list of 17,748 Swift XRT point sources which were detected in the soft X-ray band image (0.5-2.0 keV) using wavdetect with a false positive threshold of 10^-6 (contained in Table 2 of the reference paper). The authors consider these sources to be AGN candidates. This table was created by the HEASARC in June 2015 based on an electronic version of Table 2 of the reference paper, the list of Swift XRT point sources detected in the soft X-ray (0.5-2 keV) band, which was obtained from the ApJS web site. This is a service provided by NASA HEASARC .