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Register a new userGalaxy gas as obscurer: I. GRBs x-ray galaxies and find a N_H ~ M* relation
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An important constraint for galaxy evolution models is how much gas resides in galaxies, in particular at the peak of star formation z=1-3. We attempt a novel approach by letting long-duration Gamma Ray Bursts (LGRBs) x-ray their host galaxies and deliver column densities to us. This requires a good understanding of the obscurer and biases introduced by incomplete follow-up observations. We analyse the X-ray afterglow of all 844 Swift LGRBs to date for their column density $N_H$. To derive the population properties we propagate all uncertainties in a consistent Bayesian methodology. The $N_H$ distribution covers the $10^{20-23}mathrm{cm}^{-2}$ range and shows no evolutionary effect. Higher obscurations, e.g. Compton-thick columns, could have been detected but are not observed. The $N_H$ distribution is consistent with sources randomly populating a ellipsoidal gas cloud of major axis $N_H^text{major}=10^{23}mathrm{cm}^{-2}$ with 0.22 dex intrinsic scatter between objects. The unbiased SHOALS survey of afterglows and hosts allows us to constrain the relation between Spitzer-derived stellar masses and X-ray derived column densities $N_H$. We find a well-constrained powerlaw relation of $N_H=10^{21.7}mathrm{cm}^{-2}timesleft(M_{star}/10^{9.5}M_{odot}right)^{1/3}$, with 0.5 dex intrinsic scatter between objects. The Milky Way and the Magellanic clouds also follow this relation. From the geometry of the obscurer, its stellar mass dependence and comparison with local galaxies we conclude that LGRBs are primarily obscured by galaxy-scale gas. Ray tracing of simulated Illustris galaxies reveals a relation of the same normalisation, but a steeper stellar-mass dependence and mild redshift evolution. Our new approach provides valuable insight into the gas residing in high-redshift galaxies.
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The torus obscurer of Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN) is poorly understood in terms of its density, substructure and physical mechanisms. Large X-ray surveys provide model boundary constraints, for both Compton-thin and Compton-thick levels of obscuration, as obscured fractions are mean covering factors $f_{text{cov}}$. However, a major remaining uncertainty is host galaxy obscuration. In Paper I we discovered a relation of $N_H propto M_{star}^{1/3}$ for the obscuration of galaxy-scale gas. Here we apply this observational relation to the AGN population, and find that galaxy-scale gas is responsible for a luminosity-independent fraction of Compton-thin AGN, but does not produce Compton-thick columns. With the host galaxy obscuration understood, we present a model of the remaining, nuclear obscurer which is consistent with a range of observations. Our radiation-lifted torus model consists of a Compton-thick component ($f_{text{cov}}sim35%$) and a Compton-thin component ($f_{text{cov}}sim40%$), which depends on both black hole mass and luminosity. This provides a useful summary of observational constraints for torus modellers who attempt to reproduce this behaviour. It can also be employed as a sub-grid recipe in cosmological simulations which do not resolve the torus. We also investigate host-galaxy X-ray obscuration inside cosmological, hydro-dynamic simulations (EAGLE, Illustris). The obscuration from ray-traced galaxy gas can agree with observations, but is highly sensitive to the chosen feedback assumptions.
The nuclear obscurer of Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN) is poorly understood in terms of its origin, geometry and dynamics. We investigate whether physically motivated geometries emerging from hydro-radiative simulations can be differentiated with X-ray reflection spectroscopy. For two new geometries, the radiative fountain model of Wada (2012) and a warped disk, we release spectral models produced with the ray tracing code XARS. We contrast these models with spectra of three nearby AGN taken by NuSTAR and Swift/BAT. Along heavily obscured sight-lines, the models present different 4-20keV continuum spectra. These can be differentiated by current observations. Spectral fits of the Circinus Galaxy favor the warped disk model over the radiative fountain, and clumpy or smooth torus models. The necessary reflector (NH>10^25/cm^2) suggests a hidden population of heavily Compton-thick AGN amongst local galaxies. X-ray reflection spectroscopy is a promising pathway to understand the nuclear obscurer in AGN.
We analyze the early X-ray flares in the GRB flare-plateau-afterglow (FPA) phase observed by Swift-XRT. The FPA occurs only in one of the seven GRB subclasses: the binary-driven hypernovae (BdHNe). This subclass consists of long GRBs with a carbon-oxygen core and a neutron star (NS) binary companion as progenitors. The hypercritical accretion of the supernova (SN) ejecta onto the NS can lead to the gravitational collapse of the NS into a black hole. Consequently, one can observe a GRB emission with isotropic energy $E_{iso}gtrsim10^{52}$~erg, as well as the associated GeV emission and the FPA phase. Previous work had shown that gamma-ray spikes in the prompt emission occur at $sim 10^{15}$--$10^{17}$~cm with Lorentz gamma factor $Gammasim10^{2}$--$10^{3}$. Using a novel data analysis we show that the time of occurrence, duration, luminosity and total energy of the X-ray flares correlate with $E_{iso}$. A crucial feature is the observation of thermal emission in the X-ray flares that we show occurs at radii $sim10^{12}$~cm with $Gammalesssim 4$. These model independent observations cannot be explained by the fireball model, which postulates synchrotron and inverse Compton radiation from a single ultra relativistic jetted emission extending from the prompt to the late afterglow and GeV emission phases. We show that in BdHNe a collision between the GRB and the SN ejecta occurs at $simeq10^{10}$~cm reaching transparency at $sim10^{12}$~cm with $Gammalesssim4$. The agreement between the thermal emission observations and these theoretically derived values validates our model and opens the possibility of testing each BdHN episode with the corresponding Lorentz gamma factor.
The nucleus of the active galaxy NGC 5548 was the target of two intensive spectroscopic monitoring campaigns at X-ray, ultraviolet (UV), and optical frequencies in 2013/14. These campaigns detected the presence of a massive obscuration event. In 2016/17, Landt et al. conducted a near-IR spectroscopic monitoring campaign on NGC 5548 and discovered He i 1.08 {mu}m absorption. Here we decompose this absorption into its components and study its time variability. We attribute the narrow He i absorption lines to the warm absorber and, as for the newly appeared low-ionization warm absorber lines in the UV, their presence is most likely due to a reduction in ionization parameter caused by the obscurer. The observed variability of the narrow He i absorption is consistent with what is expected for the warm absorber. Most importantly, we also detect fast, broad He i absorption, which we attribute to the obscurer. This He i broad absorption, which is indicative of a high-column density gas, is unsaturated and variable on time-scales of a few months. The observed variability of the obscurer is mainly due to changes in ionization, although density changes also play a role. We test the physical cycle model of Dehghanian et al. which proposes that helium recombination can account for how the obscurer influences the physics of the warm absorber gas. Our results support their model, but also indicate that the reality might be more complex.
We study an extensive sample of 87 GRBs for which there are well sampled and simultaneous optical and X-ray light-curves. We extract the cleanest possible signal of the afterglow component, and compare the temporal behaviors of the X-ray light-curve, observed by Swift XRT, and optical data, observed by UVOT and ground-based telescopes for each individual burst. Overall we find 62% GRBs that are consistent with the standard afterglow model. When more advanced modeling is invoked, up to 91% of the bursts in our sample may be consistent with the external shock model. A large fraction of these bursts are consistent with occurring in a constant interstellar density medium (ISM) (61%) while only 39% of them occur in a wind-like medium. Only 9 cases have afterglow light-curves that exactly match the standard fireball model prediction, having a single power law decay in both energy bands which are observed during their entire duration. In particular, for the bursts with chromatic behavior additional model assumptions must be made over limited segments of the light-curves in order for these bursts to fully agree with the external shock model. Interestingly, for 54% of the X-ray and 40% of the optical band observations the end of the shallow decay ($t^{sim-0.5}$) period coincides with the jet break ($t^{sim-p}$) time, causing an abrupt change in decay slope. The fraction of the burst that consistent with the external shock model is independent of the observational epochs in the rest frame of GRBs. Moreover, no cases can be explained by the cooling frequency crossing the X-ray or optical band.
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