Partially obscured quasars in the local universe

We propose an XMM survey of low redshift partially obscured quasars discoveredin the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS). These objects are characterized by largeBalmer decrements, stellarlight dominated continuum, luminous broad Halpha andnarrow OIII. With an estimated density similar to opticalcolor selected QSOs,this large population of obscured QSOs has many impacts on quasar studies, suchas the inclination oriented unification scheme. However, it is far from clearwhether they are absorbed but otherwise normal quasars, or a special class ofobjects. Xrays will provide a unique view to distinguish between thesepossibilities, and allow us to determine this objects. contribution to the Xraybackground. truncated!, Please see actual data for full text [truncated!, Please see actual data for full text]