Unveiling the hidden AGN in the merging starburst system ARP 299 (IC694 + NGC 3690)

As part of a research of elusive AGN in a well defined sample of infrared selected galaxies (using BeppoSAX, Chandra, XMM-Newton and INTEGRAL data) we have observed with BeppoSAX the merging starburst system Arp 299. The broad-band (0.1-40 keV) coverage of this observation clearly reveals, for the first time in this system, the presence of a deeply buried AGN having an intrinsic luminosity of L(0.5-100 keV) = 1.9E43 cgs.