AGN sample in the northern XMM-XXL field

On the other hand, no significant difference is found between samples having similar luminosity but different redshift, suggesting that the structure of the torus does not evolve strongly with redshift. Contrary to previous works, we do not find evidence for an increasing photon index at high Eddington ratio. This may be an indication that the structure of the accretion disc changes as the Eddington ratio approaches unity.

Comparing our X-ray spectral analysis results with the optical spectral classification, we find that ~20 per cent of optical type-1 AGN show an X-ray absorbing column density higher than 10^21.5^cm^-2^, and about 50 per cent of type-2 AGN have an X-ray absorbing column density less than 10^21.5^cm^-2^. We suggest that the excess X-ray absorption shown in the high-luminosity optical type-1 AGN can be due to small-scale dust-free gas within (or close to) the broad-line region, while in the low-luminosity ones it can be due to a clumpy torus with a large covering factor.