| Abstract
| - We propose a model for the source of the X-ray background (XRB) in which low-luminosity active nuclei (L ∼ 1043 erg s−1) are obscured (N ∼ 1023 cm−2) by nuclear starbursts within the inner ∼ 100 pc. The obscuring material covers most of the sky as seen from the central source, rather than being distributed in a toroidal structure, and hardens the averaged X-ray spectrum by photoelectric absorption. The gas is turbulent with velocity dispersion ∼ few × 100 km s−1 and cloud-cloud collisions lead to copious star formation. Although supernovae tend to produce outflows, most of the gas is trapped in the gravity field of the star-forming cluster itself and the central black hole. A hot (T ∼ 106 − 107 K) virialized phase of this gas, comprising a few per cent of the total obscuring material, feeds the central engine of ∼ 107 M⊙ through Bondi accretion, at a sub-Eddington rate appropriate for the luminosity of these objects. If starburst-obscured objects give rise to the residual XRB, then only 10 per cent of the accretion in active galaxies occurs close to the Eddington limit in unabsorbed objects.
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