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Register a new userThe Suzaku View of the Disk-Jet Connection in the Low Excitation Radio Galaxy NGC 6251
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D. A. Evans
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We present results from an 87-ks Suzaku observation of the canonical low-excitation radio galaxy (LERG) NGC 6251. We have previously suggested that LERGs violate conventional AGN unification schemes: they may lack an obscuring torus and are likely to accrete in a radiatively inefficient manner, with almost all of the energy released by the accretion process being channeled into powerful jets. We model the 0.5-20 keV Suzaku spectrum with a single power law of photon index $Gamma=1.82^{+0.04}_{-0.05}$, together with two collisionally ionized plasma models whose parameters are consistent with the known galaxy- and group-scale thermal emission. Our observations confirm that there are no signatures of obscured, accretion-related X-ray emission in NGC 6251, and we show that the luminosity of any such component must be substantially sub-Eddington in nature.
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We present the results of extensive multi-frequency monitoring of the radio galaxy 3C 120 between 2002 and 2007 at X-ray, optical, and radio wave bands, as well as imaging with the Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA). Over the 5 yr of observation, significant dips in the X-ray light curve are followed by ejections of bright superluminal knots in the VLBA images. Consistent with this, the X-ray flux and 37 GHz flux are anti-correlated with X-ray leading the radio variations. This implies that, in this radio galaxy, the radiative state of accretion disk plus corona system, where the X-rays are produced, has a direct effect on the events in the jet, where the radio emission originates. The X-ray power spectral density of 3C 120 shows a break, with steeper slope at shorter timescale and the break timescale is commensurate with the mass of the central black hole based on observations of Seyfert galaxies and black hole X-ray binaries. These findings provide support for the paradigm that black hole X-ray binaries and active galactic nuclei are fundamentally similar systems, with characteristic time and size scales linearly proportional to the mass of the central black hole. The X-ray and optical variations are strongly correlated in 3C 120, which implies that the optical emission in this object arises from the same general region as the X-rays, i.e., in the accretion disk-corona system. We numerically model multi-wavelength light curves of 3C 120 from such a system with the optical-UV emission produced in the disk and the X-rays generated by scattering of thermal photons by hot electrons in the corona. From the comparison of the temporal properties of the model light curves to that of the observed variability, we constrain the physical size of the corona and the distances of the emitting regions from the central BH.
Broad line radio galaxies (BLRGs) are a rare type of radio-loud AGN, in which the broad optical permitted emission lines have been detected in addition to the extended jet emission. Here we report on deep (40ksec x4) observations of the bright BLRG 3C~120 using Suzaku. The observations were spaced a week apart, and sample a range of continuum fluxes. An excellent broadband spectrum was obtained over two decades of frequency (0.6 to 50 keV) within each 40 ksec exposure. We clearly resolved the iron K emission line complex, finding that it consists of a narrow K_a core (sigma ~ 110 eV or an EW of 60 eV), a 6.9 keV line, and an underlying broad iron line. Our confirmation of the broad line contrasts with the XMM-Newton observation in 2003, where the broad line was not required. The most natural interpretation of the broad line is iron K line emission from a face-on accretion disk which is truncated at ~10 r_g. Above 10 keV, a relatively weak Compton hump was detected (reflection fraction of R ~ 0.6), superposed on the primary X-ray continuum of Gamma ~ 1.75. Thanks to the good photon statistics and low background of the Suzaku data, we clearly confirm the spectral evolution of 3C120, whereby the variability amplitude decreases with increasing energy. More strikingly, we discovered that the variability is caused by a steep power-law component of Gamma ~2.7, possibly related to the non-thermal jet emission. We discuss our findings in the context of similarities and differences between radio-loud/quiet objects.
We present LOFAR observations at 150 MHz of the borderline FRI/FRII giant radio galaxy NGC 6251. This paper presents the most sensitive and highest-resolution images of NGC 6251 at these frequencies to date, revealing for the first time a low-surface-brightness extension to the northern lobe, and a possible backflow associated with the southern lobe. The integrated spectra of components of NGC 6251 are consistent with previous measurements at higher frequencies, similar to results from other LOFAR studies of nearby radio galaxies. We find the outer structures of NGC 6251 to be either at equipartition or slightly electron dominated, similar to those of FRII sources rather than FRIs; but this conclusion remains tentative because of uncertainties associated with the geometry and the extrapolation of X-ray measurements to determine the external pressure distribution on the scale of the outer lobes. We place lower limits on the ages of the extension of the northern lobe and the backflow of the southern lobe of $t gtrsim 250$ Myr and $t gtrsim 210$ Myr respectively. We present the first detection of polarisation at 150 MHz in NGC 6251. Taking advantage of the high Faraday resolution of LOFAR, we place an upper limit on the magnetic field in the group of $B < 0.2 (Lambda_B / 10 {rm kpc})^{-0.5} mu$G for a coherence scale of $Lambda_B < 60 {rm kpc}$ and $B < 13 mu$G for $Lambda_B = 240$ kpc.
We present the results of extensive multi-frequency monitoring of the radio galaxy 3C 111 between 2004 and 2010 at X-ray (2.4--10 keV), optical (R band), and radio (14.5, 37, and 230 GHz) wave bands, as well as multi-epoch imaging with the Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA) at 43 GHz. Over the six years of observation, significant dips in the X-ray light curve are followed by ejections of bright superluminal knots in the VLBA images. This shows a clear connection between the radiative state near the black hole, where the X-rays are produced, and events in the jet. The X-ray continuum flux and Fe line intensity are strongly correlated, with a time lag shorter than 90 days and consistent with zero. This implies that the Fe line is generated within 90 light-days of the source of the X-ray continuum. The power spectral density function of X-ray variations contains a break, with steeper slope at shorter timescales. The break timescale of 13 (+12,-6) days is commensurate with scaling according to the mass of the central black hole based on observations of Seyfert galaxies and black hole X-ray binaries (BHXRBs). The data are consistent with the standard paradigm, in which the X-rays are predominantly produced by inverse Compton scattering of thermal optical/UV seed photons from the accretion disk by a distribution of hot electrons --- the corona --- situated near the disk. Most of the optical emission is generated in the accretion disk due to reprocessing of the X-ray emission. The relationships that we have uncovered between the accretion disk and the jet in 3C 111, as well as in the FR I radio galaxy 3C 120 in a previous paper, support the paradigm that active galactic nuclei and Galactic BHXRBs are fundamentally similar, with characteristic time and size scales proportional to the mass of the central black hole
We report results from a 2007 Suzaku observation of the Seyfert 1 AGN NGC 4593. The narrow Fe K alpha emission line has a FWHM width ~4000 km/s, indicating emission from >~ 5000 Rg. There is no evidence for a relativistically broadened Fe K line, consistent with the presence of a radiatively efficient outer disk which is truncated or transitions to an interior radiatively inefficient flow. The Suzaku observation caught the source in a low-flux state; compared to a 2002 XMM observation, the hard X-ray flux decreased by 3.6, while the Fe K alpha line intensity and width each roughly halved. Two model-dependent explanations for the changes in Fe line profile are explored. In one, the Fe line width has decreased from ~10000 to ~4000 km/s from 2002 to 2007, suggesting that the thin disk truncation/transition radius has increased from 1000-2000 to >~5000 Rg. However, there are indications from other compact accreting systems that such truncation radii tend to be associated only with accretion rates relative to Eddington much lower than that of NGC 4593. In the second (preferred) model, the line profile in the XMM observation consists of a time-invariant narrow component plus a broad component originating from the inner part of the truncated disk (~300 Rg) which has responded to the drop in continuum flux. The Compton reflection component strength R is ~1.1, consistent with the measured Fe K alpha line total EQW with an Fe abundance 1.7 times solar. The modest soft excess has fallen by a factor of ~20 from 2002 to 2007, ruling out emission from a region 5 lt-yr in size.
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