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Register a new userX-ray perspective of Narrow-line Seyfert 1 galaxies
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Authors
L. C. Gallo
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It is arguably in the X-ray regime that Narrow-line Seyfert 1 galaxies (NLS1s) exhibit the most extreme behaviour. Spectral complexity, rapid and large amplitude flux variations, and exceptional spectral variability are well known characteristics. However, NLS1s are not eccentric, but form a continuous sequence with typical Seyfert 1 galaxies. Understanding the extreme behaviour displayed by NLS1s will provide insight to the general AGN phenomenon. In this review, I will examine some of the important NLS1 X-ray discoveries over the past twenty years. I will then explore recent work that looks at the nature of the primary X-ray source (i.e. the corona) in NLS1s, demonstrating how the corona can be compact, dynamic, and in some cases consistent with collimated outflow. X-ray observations of NLS1s will be key in determining the nature of the corona, resolving the disc-jet connection, and determining the origin of the radio loud/quiet dichotomy in AGN.
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Narrow-line Seyfert,1 galaxies (NLS1s) with very small broad-line widths (say, FWHM(hb) $la $ 1200,kms) represent the extreme type of Seyfert,1 galaxies that have small black hole masses (mbh) and/or high Eddington ratios (redd). Here we study the X-ray properties of a homogeneously and optically selected sample of 13 such objects, termed as very narrow line Seyfert,1 galaxies (VNLS1s), using archival xmm data. It is found that the Fe K$alpha$ emission line is at most weak in these objects. A soft X-ray excess is ubiquitous, with the thermal temperatures falling within a strict range of 0.1--0.2,keV. Our result highlights the puzzling independence of the thermal temperature by extending the relations to even smaller FWHM(hb), i.e., smaller mbh ($sim 10^6$ msun) and/or higher redd. The excess emission can be modeled by a range of viable models, though the disk reflection and Comptonization models generally give somewhat better fits over the smeared absorption and the $p$-free models. At the Eddington ratios around unity and above, the X-ray spectral slopes in the 2--10,keV band are systematically flatter than the Risaliti et al.s predictions of the relationship with redd suggested previously. Short timescale (1--2 hours) X-ray variability is common, which, together with the variability amplitude computed for some of the objects, are supportive of the scenario that NLS1s are indeed AGN with relatively small mbh.
The recent detection of gamma-ray emission from four radio-loud narrow-line Seyfert 1 galaxies suggests that the engine driving the AGN activity of these objects share some similarities with that of blazars, namely the presence of a gamma-ray emitting, variable, jet of plasma closely aligned to the line of sight. In this work we analyze the gamma-ray light curves of the four radio-loud narrow-line Seyfert 1 galaxies for which high-energy gamma-ray emission has been discovered by Fermi/LAT, in order to study their variability. We find significant flux variability in all the sources. This allows us to exclude a starburst origin of the gamma-ray photons and confirms the presence of a relativistic jet. Furthermore we estimate the minimum e-folding variability timescale (3 - 30 days) and infer an upper limit for the size of the emitting region (0.2 - 2 pc, assuming a relativistic Doppler factor delta=10 and a jet aperture of theta=0.1 rad).
Narrow-line Seyfert 1 galaxies (NLS1s) is one of the few classes of active galactic nuclei (AGN) harboring powerful relativistic jets and detected in $gamma$ rays. NLS1s are well-known X-ray sources. While in non-jetted sources the origin of this X-ray emission may be a hot corona surrounding the accretion disk, in jetted objects, especially beamed ones, the contribution of corona and relativistic jet is difficult to disentangle without a proper sampling of the hard X-ray emission. For this reason, we observed with textit{NuSTAR} the first four NLS1s detected at high energy $gamma$ rays. These data, along with textit{XMM-Newton} and textit{Swift/XRT} observations, confirmed that X rays originate both in the jet and in the accretion disk corona. Time variability in hard X rays furthermore suggests that, as observed in flat-spectrum radio quasars, the dissipation region during flares could change its position from source to source, and it can be located both inside and outside the broad-line region. We find that jetted NLS1s, and other blazars as well, seem not to follow the classical fundamental plane of black hole activity, which therefore should be used as a black hole mass estimator in blazars with extreme care only. Our results strengthen the idea according to which $gamma$-NLS1s are smaller and younger version of flat-spectrum radio quasars, in which both a Seyfert and a blazar component co-exist.
Before the launch of the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope satellite only two classes of active galactic nuclei (AGN) were known to generate relativistic jets and thus to emit up to the $gamma$-ray energy range: blazars and radio galaxies, both hosted in giant elliptical galaxies. The discovery by the Large Area Telescope (LAT) on-board the Fermi satellite of variable $gamma$-ray emission from a few radio-loud narrow-line Seyfert 1 galaxies (NLSy1) revealed the presence of an emerging third class of AGN with powerful relativistic jets. Considering that NLSy1 are usually hosted in late-type galaxies with relatively small black hole masses, this finding opened new challenging questions about the nature of these objects, the disc/jet connection, the emission mechanisms at high energies, and the formation of relativistic jets. In this review, I will discuss the broad-band properties of the $gamma$-ray-emitting NLSy1 included in the Fourth Fermi LAT source catalog, highlighting major findings and open questions regarding jet physics, black hole mass estimation, host galaxy and accretion process of these sources in the Fermi era.
We report the analysis of all Swift observations available up to 2019 April of $gamma$-ray-emitting narrow-line Seyfert 1 galaxies (NLSy1). The distribution of X-ray luminosities (and fluxes) indicates that the jet radiation significantly contributes to their X-ray emission, with Doppler boosting making values higher than other radio-loud NLSy1. The 0.3-10 keV photon indices are on average harder with respect to radio-quiet and radio-loud NLSy1, confirming a dominant jet contribution in X-rays. However, the lower variability amplitude with respect to blazars and the softening of the spectrum in some periods suggests that also the corona radiation contributes to the X-ray emission. In optical and ultraviolet (UV) significant flux changes have been observed on daily, weekly, and monthly time-scale, providing a clear indication of the significant contribution of the jet radiation in this part of spectrum. A strong correlation between X-ray, UV, and optical emission and simultaneous flux variations have been observed in 1H 0323+342, SBS 0846+513, PMN J0948+0022 as expected in case the jet radiation is the dominant mechanism. Correlated multiband variability favours the jet-dominated scenario also in FBQS J1644+2619 and PKS 2004-447. The summed X-ray Telescope spectra of 1H 0323+342, SBS 0846+513, PMN J0948+0022, and FBQS J1644+2619 are well fitted by a broken power law with a break around 2 keV. The spectrum above 2 keV is dominated by the non-thermal emission from a beamed relativistic jet, as suggested by the hard photon index. A Seyfert-like feature like the soft X-ray excess has been observed below 2 keV, making these $gamma$-ray-emitting NLSy1 different from typical blazars.
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