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Register a new userX-ray Photons in the CO 2-1 Lacuna of NGC 2110
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Added by
Giuseppina Fabbiano
Publication date
2019
fields
Physics
and research's language is
English
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A recent ALMA study of the Seyfert 2 Active Galactic Nucleus (AGN) NGC 2110 by Rosario et al. (2019) has reported a remarkable lack of CO 2-1 emission from the circumnuclear region, where optical lines and H2 emission are observed, leading to the suggestion of excitation of the molecular clouds by the AGN. Since interaction with X-ray photons could be the cause of this excitation, we have searched the archival Chandra data for corroborating evidence. We report an extra-nuclear ~1 (~170 pc) feature found in the soft (<1.0 keV) Chandra data of the Seyfert 2 Active Galactic Nucleus (AGN) NGC 2110. This feature is elongated to the north of the nucleus and its shape matches well that of the optical lines and H2 emission observed in this region, which is devoid of CO 2-1 emission. The Chandra image completes the emerging picture of a multi-phase circumnuclear medium excited by the X-rays from the AGN, with dense warm molecular clouds emitting in H2 but depleted of CO 2-1 emission.
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We report spatial distributions of the Fe-K$alpha$ line at 6.4 keV and the CO($J$ = 2--1) line at 230.538 GHz in NGC 2110, which are respectively revealed by $Chandra$ and ALMA at $approx$ 0.5 arcsec. A $Chandra$ 6.2--6.5 keV-to-3.0--6.0 keV image suggests that the Fe-K$alpha$ emission extends preferentially in a northwest-to-southeast direction out to $sim$ 3 arcsec, or 500 pc, on each side. Spatially-resolved spectral analyses support this by finding significant Fe-K$alpha$ emission lines only in northwest and southeast regions. Moreover, their equivalent widths are found $sim$ 1.5 keV, indicative for the fluorescence by nuclear X-ray irradiation as the physical origin. By contrast, CO($J$ = 2--1) emission is weak therein. For quantitative discussion, we derive ionization parameters by following an X-ray dominated region (XDR) model. We then find them high enough to interpret the weakness as the result of X-ray dissociation of CO and/or H$_2$. Another possibility also remains that CO molecules follow a super-thermal distribution, resulting in brighter emission in higher-$J$ lines. Further follow-up observations are encouraged to draw a conclusion on what predominantly changes the inter-stellar matter properties, and whether the X-ray irradiation eventually affects the surrounding star formation as an AGN feedback.
The dust reverberation mapping is one of powerful methods to investigate the structure of the dusty tori in AGNs, and it has been performed on more than a hundred type 1 AGNs. However, no clear results have been reported on type 2 AGNs because their strong optical-UV extinction completely hides their accretion disc emission. Here we focus on an X-ray-bright type 2 AGN, NGC 2110, and utilize 2-20 keV X-ray variation monitored by MAXI to trace disc emission, instead of optical-UV variation. Comparing it with light curves in the WISE infrared (IR) W1 band ($lambda = 3.4$ $mu$m) and W2 band ($lambda = 4.6$ $mu$m) with cross-correlation analyses, we found candidates of the dust reverberation time lag at $sim60$ days, $sim130$ days, and $sim1250$ days between the X-ray flux variation and those of the IR bands. By examining the best-fitting X-ray and IR light curves with the derived time lags, we found that the time lag of $sim130$ days is most favoured. With this time lag, the relation between the time lag and luminosity of NGC 2110 is consistent with those in type 1 AGNs, suggesting that the dust reverberation in NGC 2110 mainly originates in hot dust in the torus innermost region, the same as in type 1 AGNs. As demonstrated by the present study, X-ray and IR simultaneous monitoring can be a promising tool to perform the dust reverberation mapping on type 2 AGNs.
The AGN NGC 2110 presents a peculiar case among the Seyfert 2 galaxies, as it displays also features of radio-loud objects and is classified as FR-I radio galaxy. Here we analyse simultaneous INTEGRAL and Swift data taken in 2008 and 2009. We reconstruct the spectral energy distribution in order to provide further insight. The combined X-ray spectrum is well represented by an absorbed cut-off power law model plus soft excess. Combining all available data, the spectrum appears flat (photon index 1.25 +- 0.04) with the high-energy cut-off being at 82 +- 9 keV. The intrinsic absorption is moderate (NH = 4E22 1/cm**2), the iron K-alpha line is weak (EW = 114 eV), and no reflection component is detected in the INTEGRAL spectrum. The data indicate that the X-ray spectrum is moderately variable both in flux and spectral shape. The 2008 spectrum is slightly steeper (photon index 1.5, Ec = 90 keV) with the source being brighter, and flatter in 2009 (photon index 1.4, Ec = 120 keV) in the lower flux state. The spectral energy distribution gives a bolometric luminosity of L = 2E44 erg/sec. NGC 2110 appears to be a borderline object between radio loud narrow line Seyfert 1 and radio quiet Seyfert 2. Its spectral energy distribution might indeed be dominated by non-thermal emission arising from the jet.
We present our analysis of X-ray spectral properties observed from the Seyfrert 1 galactic nucleus NGC~7469 using the RXTE and ASCA observations. We demonstrate strong observational evidence that NGC~7469 undergoes spectral transitions from the low hard state (LHS) to the intermediate state (IS) during these observations. The RXTE observations (1996--2009) show that the source was in the IS ~ 75 % of the time only, ~ 25 % of the time in the LHS. The spectra of NGC~7469 are well fitted by the so-called bulk motion Comptonization (BMC) model for all spectral states. We have established the photon index saturation level, Gamma_{sat}+2.1+/-0.1, in the Gamma versus mass accretion rate, Mdot correlation. This Gamma- Mdot correlation allows us to estimate the black hole (BH) mass in NGC~7469 to be M__BH> 3 x 10^6 solar masses assuming the distance to NGC~7469 of 70 Mpc. For this BH mass estimate, we use the scaling method taking Galactic BHs, GRO~J1655--40, Cyg~ X--1 and an extragalactic BH source, NGC~4051 as reference sources. The Gamma versus Mdot correlation revealed in NGC~7469 is similar to those in a number of Galactic and extragalactic BHs and it clearly shows the correlation along with the strong Gamma saturation at ~2.1. This is robust observational evidence for the presence of a BH in NGC~7469. We also find that the seed photon temperatures are quite low, of the order of 140-200 eV, which are consistent with a high BH mass in NGC~7469 that is more than 3x10^6 solar masses.
We investigate the photoionised X-ray emission line regions (ELRs) within the Seyfert 2 galaxy NGC 1068, to determine if there are any characteristic changes between observations taken fourteen years apart. We compare XMM-Newton observations collected in 2000 and 2014, simultaneously fitting the reflection grating spectrometer (RGS) and EPIC-pn spectra of each epoch, for the first time, with the photoionisation model, PION, in SPEX. We find that four PION components are required to fit the majority of the emission lines in the spectra of NGC 1068, with $log xi=1-4$, $log N_H>26 m^{-2}$, and $v_{out}=-100$ to $-600 kms^{-1}$ for both epochs. Comparing the ionisation state of the components shows almost no difference between the two epochs, while there is an increase in the total column density. To estimate the locations of these plasma regions from the central black hole we compare distance methods, excluding the variability arguments as there is no spectral change between observations. Although the methods are unable to constrain the distances, the locations are consistent with the narrow line region, with the possibility of the higher ionised component being part of the broad line region, but we cannot conclude this for certain. In addition, we find evidence for emission from collisionally ionised plasma, while previous analysis had suggested that collisional plasma emission was unlikely. However, although PION is unable to account for the FeXVII emission lines at 15 and 17 AA, we do not rule out that photoexcitation is a valid processes to produce these lines too. NGC 1068 has not changed, both in terms of the observed spectra or from our modelling, within the 14 year time period between observations. This suggests that the ELRs are fairly static relative to the 14 year time frame between observations, or there is no dramatic change in the black hole variability.
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