XMM Observations of NuSTAR-observed Heavily Obscured Quasars at z < 0.5

Heavily obscured, candidate Comptonthick QSO2s (CTQSO2s) are an extremelychallenging class of objects to study at Xray wavelengths. Five opticallyselected CTQSO2 candidates have been detected with NuSTAR but, at present, onlytwo of these have sufficient broadband (0.524 keV) Xray data for reliablespectral modelling, which in each case results in the identification ofComptonthick material. We propose 60 ks XMMNewton observations of two moreobjects that would double the number of NuSTARdetected CTQSO2 candidates withhigh quality spectral modelling. The proposed XMMNewton observations have thepower to distinguish between Comptonthick and Comptonthin absorption, thusimproving our understanding of the Nh distribution of QSO2s. truncated!, Please see actual data for full text [truncated!, Please see actual data for full text]