A deep<i>Chandra</i>survey of the Groth Strip - I. The X-ray data

We present the results of a 200 ks Chandra observation of part of the Groth Strip region, using the ACIS-I instrument. We present a relatively simple method for the detection of point-sources and calculation of limiting sensitivities, which we argue is at least as sensitive and more self-consistent than previous methods presented in the literature. 158 distinct X-ray sources are included in our point-source catalogue in the ACIS-I area. The number counts show a relative dearth of X-ray sources in this region. For example at a flux limit of 1E-15 (cgs) around 20 per cent more soft band sources are detected in the HDF-N and almost 50 per cent more in the ELAIS-N1 field, which we have analysed by the same method for comparison. We find, however, that these differences are consistent with Poisson variations at 2 sigma significance, and therefore there is no evidence for cosmic variance based on these number counts alone. We determine the average spectra of the objects and find a marked difference between the soft-band selected sources, which have Gamma=1.9 typical of unobscured AGN, and the hard-band selected sources, which have Gamma=1.0. Reassuringly, the sample as a whole has a mean spectrum of Gamma=1.4\pm 0.1, the same as the X-ray background. Nonetheless, our results imply that the fraction of sources with significant obscuration is only ~25 per cent, much less than predicted by standard AGN population synthesis models. This is confirmed by direct spectral fitting, with only a handful of objects showing evidence for absorption. After accounting for absorption, all objects are consistent with mean intrinsic spectrum of Gamma=1.76 \pm 0.08, very similar to local Seyferts (abridged).