Relativistic reflection models of the X-ray spectrum of the ‘complex’ Narrow Line Seyfert 1 (NLS1) 1H 0707−495 require a high-spin, moderate-inclination, low-mass black hole. With these parameters ...fixed, the observed optical/UV emission directly determines the mass accretion rate through the outer disc and hence predicts the bolometric luminosity. This is 140–260 times the Eddington limit. Such a disc should power a strong wind, and winds are generically expected to be clumpy. Changing inclination angle with respect to a clumpy wind structure gives a possible explanation for the otherwise puzzling difference between ‘complex’ NLS1 such as 1H 0707−495 and ‘simple’ ones like PG 1244+026. Lines of sight which intercept the wind show deep absorption features at iron from the hot phase of the wind, together with stochastic dips and complex absorption when the clumps occult the X-ray source (complex NLS1), whereas both these features are absent for more face-on inclination (simple NLS1). This geometry is quite different from the clean view of a flat disc which is assumed for the spin measurements in relativistic reflection models, so it is possible that even 1H 0707−495 has low spin. If so, this re-opens the simplest and hence very attractive possibility that high black hole spin is a necessary and sufficient condition to trigger highly relativistic (bulk Lorentz factor ∼10–15) jets.
Abstract
We present a detailed multiwavelength study of an unobscured, highly super-Eddington Type-1 QSO RX J0439.6-5311. We combine the latest XMM–Newton observation with all archival data from ...infrared to hard X-rays. The optical spectrum is very similar to that of 1H 0707-495 in having extremely weak O iii and strong Fe ii emission lines, although the black hole mass is probably slightly higher at 5-10 × 106 M⊙. The broad-band spectral energy distribution is uniquely well defined due to the extremely low Galactic and intrinsic absorption, so the bolometric luminosity is tightly constrained. The optical/UV accretion disc continuum is seen down to 900 Å, showing that there is a standard thin disc structure down to R ≥ 190–380 R
g and determining the mass accretion rate through the outer disc. This predicts a much higher bolometric luminosity than observed, indicating that there must be strong wind and/or advective energy losses from the inner disc, as expected for a highly super-Eddington accretion flow. Significant outflows are detected in both the narrow-line region (NLR) and broad-line region (BLR) emission lines, confirming the presence of a wind. We propose a global picture for the structure of a super-Eddington accretion flow where the inner disc puffs up, shielding much of the potential NLR material, and show how inclination angle with respect to this and the wind can explain very different X-ray properties of RX J0439.6-5311 and 1H 0707-495. Therefore, this source provides strong supporting evidence that ‘simple’ and ‘complex’ super-Eddington NLS1s can be unified within the same accretion flow scenario but with different inclination angles. We also propose that these extreme NLS1s could be the low-redshift analogues of weak emission-line quasars.
Abstract
We report the results from a recent 133 ks XMM–Newton observation of a highly super-Eddington narrow-line Type-1 quasi-stellar object RX J0439.6−5311. This source has one of the steepest ...active galactic nuclei hard X-ray slopes, in addition to a prominent and smooth soft X-ray excess. Strong variations are found throughout the 0.3–10 keV energy range on all time-scales covered by the observation, with the soft excess mainly showing low-frequency (LF) variations below 0.1 mHz while the hard X-rays show stronger variability at higher frequencies. We perform a full set of spectral-timing analysis on the X-ray data, including a simultaneous modelling of the time-averaged spectra, frequency-dependent root-mean-square and covariance spectra, lag-frequency and lag-energy spectra. Especially, we find a significant time-lag signal in the LF band, which indicates that the soft X-rays lead the hard by ∼4 ks, with a broad continuum-like profile in the lag spectrum. Our analysis strongly supports the model where the soft X-ray excess is dominated by a separate low temperature, optically thick Comptonization component rather than relativistic reflection or a jet. This soft X-ray emitting region is several tens or hundreds of R
g away from the hot corona emitting hard X-rays, and is probably associated with a geometrically thick (‘puffed-up’) inner disc region.
Abstract
In this third paper in a series of three, we present a detailed study of the broad-band spectral energy distribution (SED) of active galactic nuclei (AGNs) based on a nearby unobscured type ...1 AGN sample. We perform a systematic cross-correlation study of several key parameters, i.e. Γ2-10 keV, L
2-10 keV, L
bol/L
Edd = λEdd, L
bol/L
2-10 keV = κ2-10 keV, , FWHMHβ, M
BH, αox, αX and αUV. The well-defined spectral properties of the sample enable us to improve existing relations and to identify new correlations among these parameters. We confirm a break region around FWHMHβ ≃ 4000 km s−1 in the Γ2-10 keV versus FWHMHβ correlation and log(M
BH) ≃ 8.0 in the Γ2-10 keV versus M
BH correlation, where these correlations appear to change form. Beyond the break point, the intrinsic Γ2-10 keV index is dispersed around 1.8. Several new correlations are also reported in this paper, e.g. strong correlations in κ5100 versus λEdd, κ5100 versus κ2-10 keV and κ2-10 keV versus M
BH. The principal component analysis (PCA) is performed on the correlation matrix of the above parameters. This shows that the three physical parameters, i.e. black hole mass, mass accretion rate and Eddington ratio, drive the majority of the correlations. This is consistent with PCA results found from previous optical spectral studies.
For each key parameter, we split the AGNs into three subsamples, binned based on increasing value of that parameter. We co-add the model SEDs for each object in the subsample to see how the SED changes with that parameter. Most parameters, except L
bol, show similar systematic changes in the SED such that the temperature at which the disc peaks is correlated with the ratio of power in the disc versus the Comptonized components and the hard X-ray spectral index. This underlying change in SED shape shows that AGNs do exhibit intrinsically different spectral states. This is superficially similar to the SED differences in black hole binary (BHB) seen as λEdd increases, but the analogy does not hold in detail. Only objects with the highest λEdd appear to correspond to a BHB spectral state (the disc-dominated high/soft state). The AGNs with typical mass accretion rates have spectra which do not match well with any state observed in BHB. We speculate that this could be due to the presence of a powerful ultraviolet line-driven disc wind, which complicates simple mass scaling between stellar and supermassive black holes.
Abstract
The short-term X-ray variability of tidal disruption events (TDEs) and its similarities with that of active galactic nuclei are poorly understood. In this work, we show the diversity of ...TDEs’ short-term X-ray variability, and take Swift J1644+57 as an example to study the evolution of various properties related to the short-term X-ray variability, such as the X-ray flux distribution, power spectral density (PSD), rms variability, time lag, and coherence spectra. We find that the flux distribution of Swift J1644+57 has a lognormal form in the normal state, but deviates from it significantly in the dipping state, thereby implying different physical mechanisms in the two states. We also find that during the first two XMM-Newton observations in the dipping state, Swift J1644+57 exhibited different variability patterns, which are characterized by steeper PSDs and larger rms than the normal state. A significant soft X-ray lag is detected in these two observations, which is ∼50 s between 0.3–1 keV and 2–10 keV with a high coherence. Using the 2–10 keV rms of 0.10–0.50, the black hole mass of Swift J1644+57 is estimated to be
(
0.6
–
7.9
)
×
10
6
M
⊙
, but the variation of rms as the TDE evolves introduces a large uncertainty. Finally, we discuss the value of conducting similar studies on other TDEs, especially in the coming era of time-domain astronomy when a lot more TDEs will be discovered in X-rays promptly. This also heralds a significant increase in the demand for deep follow-up observations of X-ray selected TDEs with X-ray telescopes of large effective areas and long orbital periods.
We explore the origin of the strong soft X-ray excess in narrow-line Seyfert 1 galaxies using spectral-timing information from a 120 ks XMM-Newton observation of PG 1244+026. Spectral fitting alone ...cannot distinguish between a true additional soft X-ray continuum component and strongly relativistically smeared reflection, but both models also require a separate soft blackbody component. This is most likely intrinsic emission from the disc extending into the lowest energy X-ray bandpass. The rms spectra on short time-scales (200-5000 s) contain both (non-disc) soft excess and power-law emission. However, the spectrum of the variability on these time-scales correlated with the 4-10 keV light curve contains only the power law. Together these show that there is fast variability of the soft excess which is independent of the 4-10 keV variability. This is inconsistent with a single reflection component making the soft X-ray excess as this necessarily produces correlated variability in the 4-10 keV bandpass. Instead, the rms and covariance spectra are consistent with an additional cool Comptonization component which does not contribute to the spectrum above 2 keV. PUBLICATION ABSTRACT
Abstract
The most rapidly evolving regions of galaxies often display complex optical spectra with emission lines excited by massive stars, shocks and accretion on to supermassive black holes. ...Standard calibrations (such as for the star formation rate) cannot be applied to such mixed spectra. In this paper, we isolate the contributions of star formation, shock excitation and active galactic nucleus (AGN) activity to the emission line luminosities of individual spatially resolved regions across the central 3 × 3 kpc2 region of the active barred spiral galaxy NGC 613. The star formation rate and AGN luminosity calculated from the decomposed emission line maps are in close agreement with independent estimates from data at other wavelengths. The star formation component traces the B-band stellar continuum emission, and the AGN component forms an ionization cone which is aligned with the nuclear radio jet. The optical line emission associated with shock excitation is cospatial with strong H2 and Fe II emission and with regions of high ionized gas velocity dispersion (σ ≳ 100 km s−1). The shock component also traces the outer boundary of the AGN ionization cone and may therefore be produced by outflowing material interacting with the surrounding interstellar medium. Our decomposition method makes it possible to determine the properties of star formation, shock excitation and AGN activity from optical spectra, without contamination from other ionization mechanisms.
The optical spectra of Seyfert galaxies are often dominated by emission lines excited by both star formation and active galactic nucleus (AGN) activity. Standard calibrations (such as for the star ...formation rate) are not applicable to such composite (mixed) spectra. In this paper, we describe how integral field data can be used to spectrally and spatially separate emission associated with star formation from emission associated with accretion on to an AGN. We demonstrate our method using integral field data for two AGN host galaxies (NGC 5728 and NGC 7679) from the Siding Spring Southern Seyfert Spectroscopic Snapshot Survey (S7). The spectra of NGC 5728 and NGC 7679 form clear sequences of AGN fraction on standard emission line ratio diagnostic diagrams. We show that the emission line luminosities of the majority (>85 per cent) of spectra along each AGN fraction sequence can be reproduced by linear superpositions of the emission line luminosities of one AGN dominated spectrum and one star formation dominated spectrum. We separate the Hα, Hβ, N iiλ6583, S iiλλ6716, 6731, O iiiλ5007 and O iiλλ3726, 3729 luminosities of every spaxel into contributions from star formation and AGN activity. The decomposed emission line images are used to derive the star formation rates and AGN bolometric luminosities for NGC 5728 and NGC 7679. Our calculated values are mostly consistent with independent estimates from data at other wavelengths. The recovered star-forming and AGN components also have distinct spatial distributions which trace structures seen in high-resolution imaging of the galaxies, providing independent confirmation that our decomposition has been successful.
Abstract
Active galactic nuclei (AGN) are generally considered the scaled-up counterparts of X-ray binaries (XRBs). It is known that the power spectral density (PSD) of the X-ray emission of XRBs ...shows significant evolution with spectral state. It is not clear whether AGN follow a similar evolutionary trend, however, though their X-ray emission and the PSD are both variable. In this work, we study a sample of nine AGN with multiple long observations with XMM-Newton, which exhibit significant X-ray spectral variation. We perform Bayesian PSD analysis to measure the PSD shape and variation. We find that a large change in the X-ray energy spectrum (mainly the change in flux state) is often accompanied by a large change in the PSD shape. The emergence of a high-frequency break in the PSD also depends on the spectral state. Among the four sources with significant high-frequency PSD breaks detected, three show the break only in the high-flux state, while the remaining one shows it only in the low-flux state. Moreover, the X-ray rms variability in different spectral states of an AGN is found to vary by as much as 1.0 dex. These results suggest that the different variability properties observed are likely caused by different physical processes dominating different spectral states. Our results also indicate that the intrinsic PSD variation can introduce a significant fraction of the dispersion as reported for the correlations between various X-ray variability properties and the black hole mass.
Abstract Weak-line quasars (WLQs) are a notable group of active galactic nuclei (AGNs) that show unusually weak UV lines even though their optical-UV continuum shapes are similar to those of typical ...quasars. The physical mechanism for WLQs is an unsolved puzzle in the AGN unified model. We explore the properties of UV emission lines by performing extensive photoionization calculations based on Cloudy simulations with different spectral energy distributions (SEDs) of AGNs. The AGN continua are built from several observational empirical correlations, where the blackbody emission from the cold disk, the power-law emission from the hot corona, and a soft X-ray excess component are considered. We find that the equivalent width (EW) of C iv from our models is systematically lower than observational values if the component of soft X-ray excess is neglected. The EW will increase several times and is roughly consistent with the observations after considering the soft X-ray excess component as constrained from normal type I AGNs. We find that the UV lines are weak for QSOs with quite large black hole mass (e.g., M BH > 10 9 M ⊙ ) and weak soft X-ray emission due to the deficit of ionizing photons. As an example, we present the strength of C iv based on the multiband SEDs for three nearby weak-line AGNs, where the weaker soft X-ray emission normally predicts the weaker lines.
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