UHURU observations of X-ray emission from Seyfert galaxies

Abstract

A point summation technique has been used to analyze systematically the Uhuru data for X-ray emission from the 88 Seyfert galaxies listed by Weedman (1977), plus MCG 8-11-11 reported by the Ariel 5 group. In addition to measuring the average X-ray intensity for 15 sources reported in the 4U and 2A catalogs, three new candidate sources are found. X-ray variability has previously been reported for NGC 4151, 3C 390.3, and MCG 8-11-11; Mrk 279 is now also found to vary. Furthermore, significant flaring activity from NGC 4151 was observed with as much as a factor of 10 increase in intensity on a time possibly as short as 730 seconds. The local X-ray volume emissivity of Seyfert galaxies is measured, and it is found, with standard assumptions, that from 6% to 25% of the diffuse 2-10-keV X-ray background can be attributed to emission from Seyfert galaxies. The data show that the luminosity function for X-ray Seyferts is rather steep.