Extragalactic source counts in the 20-50 kev energy band from the deep observation of the coma region by INTEGRAL IBIS

We present the analysis of serendipitous sources in a deep, 500 ks, hard X-ray observation of the Coma Cluster region with the IBIS instrument on board INTEGRAL. In addition to the Coma Cluster, the final 20-50 keV image contains 12 serendipitous sources with statistical significance > 4 sigma. We use these data (after correcting for expected number of false detections) to extend the extragalactic source counts in the 20-50 keV energy band down to a limiting flux of 1: 0; 10(-1)1 ergs s(-1) cm(-2) (similar or equal to 1 mcrab). This is a more than a factor of 10 improvement in sensitivity compared to the previous results in this energy band obtained with the HEAO 1 A-4 instrument. The derived source counts are consistent with the Euclidean relation N(> f) infinity f(--3/2). A large fraction of identified serendipitous sources are low-redshift, z < 0: 02, active galactic nuclei (AGNs), mostly of Seyfert 1 type. The surface density of hard X-ray sources is ( 1: 4 +/- 0: 5); 10(-2) deg(-2) above a flux threshold of 10(-11) ergs s(-1) cm(-2). These sources directly account for similar to 3% of the cosmic X-ray background in the 20-50 keV energy band. Given the low redshift depth of our sample, we expect that similar sources at higher redshifts account for a significant fraction of the hard X-ray background. Our field covers only 3% of the sky; a systematic analysis of other extragalactic INTEGRAL observations can produce much larger source samples and is, therefore, critically important.