X-ray properties of quasars

The X-ray properties of 111 catalogued quasars have been examined with the imaging proportional counter on board the Einstein Observatory. Thirty-five of the objects, of redshift between 0.064 and 3.53, were detected as X-ray sources. The 0.5–4.5-ke V X-ray properties of these quasars are correlated with their optical and radio continuum properties and with their redshifts and variability characteristics. The X-ray luminosity of quasars tends to be highest for those objects which are bright in both the optical and radio regimes and which exhibit optically violent variability. These observations suggest that quasars should be divided into two classes on the basis of radio luminosities, spectra, evolution and underlying morphology and, thus, that quasars can make up a significant portion of the diffuse soft X-ray background only if the slope of the optical quasar log N–log S relation is steeper than 2 to mB ≍21.5.

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