To be published in Annu. Rev. Astron. Astrophys., Volume 43 (2005).
astro-ph/0501058

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Abstract. Deep surveys of the cosmic X-ray background are reviewed in the context of observational progress enabled by the Chandra X-ray Observatory and the X-ray Multi-Mirror Mission-Newton. The sources found by deep surveys are described along with their redshift and luminosity distributions, and the effectiveness of such surveys at selecting active galactic nuclei (AGN) is assessed. Some key results from deep surveys are highlighted including (1) measurements of AGN evolution and the growth of supermassive black holes, (2) constraints on the demography and physics of high-redshift AGN, (3) the X-ray AGN content of infrared and submillimeter galaxies, and (4) X-ray emission from distant starburst and normal galaxies. We also describe some outstanding problems and future prospects for deep extragalactic X-ray surveys.

Keywords: X-ray astronomy - Extragalactic surveys - Observational cosmology - Active galaxies - Starburst galaxies - Galaxies

Table of Contents

• INTRODUCTION TO DEEP EXTRAGALACTIC X-RAY SURVEYS
• Brief Historical Summary of X-ray Deep Field Research
• Current Deep Surveys with Chandra and XMM-Newton
• Deep-Survey Number Counts and the Fraction of the Cosmic X-ray Background Resolved
• PROPERTIES OF THE SOURCES FOUND AND MISSED BY DEEP EXTRAGALACTIC X-RAY SURVEYS
• Source Classification Challenges
• Basic Source Types
• AGN Redshift and Luminosity Distributions
• AGN Selection Completeness
• SOME KEY RESULTS FROM DEEP EXTRAGALACTIC X-RAY SURVEYS
• X-ray Measurements of AGN Evolution and the Growth of Supermassive Black Holes
• X-ray Constraints on the Demography and Physics of High-Redshift (z > 4) AGN
• X-ray Constraints on AGN in Infrared and Submillimeter Galaxies
• X-ray Emission from Distant Starburst and Normal Galaxies
• FUTURE PROSPECTS FOR DEEP EXTRAGALACTIC X-RAY SURVEYS
• REFERENCES