XMM-Newton observations of candidate Swift-BAT Compton-thick sources

We propose to perform sensitive Xray observations with XMMNewton of 7candidate Comptonthick AGN detected by SwiftBAT in the ongoing allsky survey(15200 keV). The BAT spectra reveal, through the detection of the photoelectriccutoff (1020 keV), that these objects are obscured by intervening matter whichis Comptonthick. Sensitive Xray observations are needed to confirm and tostudy the nature of these sources. A powerful diagnostic for the presence ofComptonthick matter is provided by the intensity and equivalent width of theiron line. XMMNewton is the most suitable observatory to study such objects asits sensitivity is 10x larger than SwiftXRT at 6 keV. truncated!, Please see actual data for full text [truncated!, Please see actual data for full text]