No Arabic abstract
We present XMM-Newton observations of the Seyfert 1 AGN H0557-385. We have conducted a study into the warm absorber present in this source, and using high-resolution RGS data we find that the absorption can be characterised by two phases: a phase with log ionisation parameter xi of 0.50 (where xi is in units of ergs cm/s) and a column of 0.2e21 cm^-2, and a phase with log xi of 1.62 and a column of 1.3e22 cm^-2. An iron K alpha line is detected. Neutral absorption is also present in the source, and we discuss possible origins for this. On the assumption that the ionised absorbers originate as an outflow from the inner edge of the torus, we use a new method for finding the volume filling factor. Both phases of H0557-385 have small volume filling factors (< 1%). We also derive the volume filling factors for a sample of 23 AGN using this assumption and for the absorbers with log xi > 0.7 we find reasonable agreement with the filling factors obtained through the alternative method of equating the momentum flow of the absorbers to the momentum loss of the radiation field. By comparing the filling factors obtained by the two methods, we infer that some absorbers with log xi < 0.7 occur at significantly larger distances from the nucleus than the inner edge of the torus.
XMM-Newton spectra of five red, 2MASS AGN, selected from a sample observed by Chandra to be relatively X-ray bright and to cover a range of hardness ratios, confirm the presence of substantial absorbing material in three sources with optical classifications ranging from Type 1 to Type 2. A flat (hard), power law continuum is observed in the other two. The combination of X-ray absorption and broad optical emission lines suggests either a small (nuclear) absorber or a favored viewing angle so as to cover the X-ray source but not the broad emission line region (BELR). A soft excess is detected in all three Type 1 sources. We speculate that this may arise in an extended region of ionised gas, perhaps linked with the polarised (scattered) optical light present in these sources. The spectral complexity revealed by XMM-Newton emphasizes the limitations of the low S/N chandra data. The new results strengthen our earlier conclusions that the observed X-ray continua of red AGN are unusually hard at energies >2 keV. Their observed spectra are consistent with contributing significantly to the missing hard/absorbed population of the Cosmic X-ray Background (CXRB) although their intrinsic power law slopes are typical of broad-line (Type 1) AGN (Gamma ~1.7-1.9). This suggests that the missing X-ray-absorbed CXRB population may include Type 1 AGN/QSOs in addition to the Type 2 AGN generally assumed.
We present spin-resolved X-ray data of the neutron star binary Her X-1. We find evidence that the Iron line at 6.4 keV originates from the same location as the blackbody X-ray component. The line width and energy varies over both the spin period and the 35 day precession period. We also find that the correlation between the soft and hard X-ray light curves varies over the 35 day period.
We present the spectral analysis of an early XMM-Newton observation of the luminous Seyfert 1 galaxy Markarian 509. We find the hard (2-10 keV) continuum slope, including reflection, to be somewhat flatter ($Gamma=1.75$) than for a typical BLS1. The most obvious feature in the hard X-ray spectrum is a narrow emission line near 6.4 keV, with an equivalent width of 50 eV. The energy and strength of this line is consistent with fluorescence from `neutral iron in the molecular torus, and we note the emerging ubiquity of this feature in XMM-Newton and Chandra observations of Seyfert 1 galaxies over a wide luminosity range. We also find evidence for a second emission line at 6.7-6.9 keV, which we attempt to model by reflection from a highly ionised disc. A `soft excess, evident as an upward curvature in the continuum flux below 1.5 keV, cannot be explained solely by enhanced reflection from the ionised disc. The RGS spectrum shows only weak discrete emission and absorption features in the soft X-ray spectrum, supporting our conclusion that the soft excess emission in Mkn 509 represents the high energy portion of optically thick, thermal emission from the inner accretion disc.
We present an XMM-Newton observation of NGC 7469, including studies of the X-ray and UV variability, 0.2-10 keV spectral continuum, Fe K-alpha emission line and the first-ever high-resolution X-ray spectrum of the soft X-ray warm absorber. We compare the properties of this X-ray warm absorber with the UV warm absorber as seen in a FUSE observation one year previously. The 0.2-10 keV spectral continuum is best fitted by a power-law plus two blackbody model. An Fe K-alpha emission line is visible which consists of a single narrow component and is well-modelled by a simple gaussian. Narrow absorption and emission lines in the soft X-ray RGS spectrum demonstrate the existence of a multi-phase warm absorber with a range in log xi of ~ 2 to ~ -2 where xi is in erg cm s^-1. The warm absorber is blueshifted by several hundred km s^-1. The highest-ionisation phase of the absorber is the best constrained and has an overall equivalent Hydrogen column of order 10^20 cm^-2; we find that its ionisation parameter is consistent with that of the warm emitter which generates the narrow emission lines. We identify this high ionisation absorber with the low-velocity phase of the UV absorber observed by FUSE.
We present the analysis of multi-wavelength XMM-Newton data from the Seyfert galaxy NGC 3783, including UV imaging, X-ray and UV lightcurves, the 0.2-10 keV X-ray continuum, the iron K-alpha emission line, and high-resolution spectroscopy and modelling of the soft X-ray warm absorber. The 0.2-10 keV spectral continuum can be well reproduced by a power-law at higher energies; we detect a prominent Fe K-alpha emission line, with both broad and narrow components, and a weaker emission line at 6.9 keV which is probably a combination of Fe K-beta and Fe XXVI. We interpret the significant deficit of counts in the soft X-ray region as being due to absorption by ionised gas in the line of sight. This is demonstrated by the large number of narrow absorption lines in the RGS spectrum from iron, oxygen, nitrogen, carbon, neon, argon, magnesium, silicon and sulphur. The wide range of iron states present in the spectrum enables us to deduce the ionisation structure of the absorbing medium. We find that our spectrum contains evidence of absorption by at least two phases of gas: a hotter phase containing plasma with a log ionisation parameter xi (where xi is in erg cm/s) of 2.4 and greater, and a cooler phase with log xi centred around 0.3. The gas in both phases is outflowing at speeds of around 800 km/s. The main spectral signature of the cold phase is the Unresolved Transition Array (UTA) of M-shell iron, which is the deepest yet observed; its depth requires either that the abundance of iron, in the cold phase, is several times that of oxygen, with respect to solar abundances, or that the absorption lines associated with this phase are highly saturated. The cold phase is associated with ionisation states that would also absorb in the UV.