A rapidly variable narrow X-ray iron line in Mkn 841

Petrucci, Pierre-Olivier; Henri, G.; Maraschi, L.; Ferrando, P.; Matt, Giorgio; Mouchet, M.; Perola, C.; Collin, S.; Dumont, A. M.; Haardt, Francesco; Koch-Miramond, L.

doi:10.1051/0004-6361:20020534

Cited by 52 publications

(66 citation statements)

References 23 publications

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“…4.3. Concerning the iron line, the 2005 observations confirm the apparent line variability already observed in 2001 (Petrucci et al 2002;Longinotti et al 2004). The best fits reported in Table 2 To decrease the number of degrees of freedom, we choose to follow the fitting procedure of Longinotti et al (2004).…”

Section: Phenomenological Analysissupporting

confidence: 59%

“…Moreover, the narrow shape of the line constrains the emitting region to be sufficiently small. There are growing evidences of such variable narrow emission features in the X-ray spectra of several AGN in the literature Porquet et al 2004;Petrucci et al 2002;Tombesi et al 2007). The common scheme to explain these components suppose the presence of transient magnetic flares briefly illuminating a localized part (hot spot) of the accretion disc and producing the iron line by fluorescence.…”

Section: +003mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Unveiling the broad band X-ray continuum and iron line complex in Mrk 841

Petrucci¹,

Ponti

Matt

et al. 2007

A&A

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Context. Mrk 841 is a bright Seyfert 1 galaxy known to harbor a strong soft excess and a variable Kα iron line. Historical UV, X and γ-rays observations show clear variation of its spectrum in flux and in shape on a monthly time scale. Aims. Mrk 841 has been observed during 3 different periods (January 2001, January 2005 and July 2005) by XMM-Newton for a total cumulated exposure time of ∼108 ks. We present in this paper a broad band spectral analysis of the complete EPIC-pn data sets. These are the best observations so far for the study of the soft excess and iron line complex in this source. Methods. We use different methods of data analysis including model-independent methods (spectral ratios, rms, ...) as well as model fitting. We were able to test two different models for the soft excess, a relativistically blurred photoionized reflection (ref model) and a relativistically smeared ionized absorption (abs model). The continuum is modeled by a simple cut-off power law and we also add a neutral reflection. Results. These observations confirm the presence of a soft excess and iron line and reveal extreme and puzzling spectral and temporal behaviors. The 0.5-3 keV soft X-ray flux decreases by a factor 3 between 2001 and 2005 and the line shape appears to be a mixture of broad and narrow components, the former being variable on small (ks) time scale while the later is consistent with being constant. Consequently the physical interpretation of the line profile variability is quite different, resulting from the variability of the broad line component in ref and from the variability of the absorbing medium in abs. This study also reveals the sporadic presence of relativistically redshifted narrow iron lines, one of them being detected at 4.8 keV in the EPIC-pn instruments at more than 98.5% confidence level. If interpreted as the blue horn of a relativistically distorted neutral iron line, the large redshift implies the presence of a Kerr black hole.

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Section: Phenomenological Analysissupporting

confidence: 59%

Section: +003mentioning

confidence: 99%

Unveiling the broad band X-ray continuum and iron line complex in Mrk 841

Petrucci¹,

Ponti

Matt

et al. 2007

A&A

Self Cite

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“…Unresolved iron lines have been now quite commonly discovered both in Chandra grating (Yaqoob et al 2001;Kaspi et al 2002) and in XMM-Newton observations (Gondoin et al 2001a,b;Reeves et al 2001;Petrucci et al 2002;O'Brien et al 2001). The two most plausible possibilities are Compton-reflection by matter far off the central engine (e.g., the "torus"), or gas clouds in the Broad Line Regions.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…the discussion in O' Brien et al 2001), or may develop a hot "skin" (Nayakshin et al 2000;Ballantyne et al 2001), which may contribute to the iron line profile through transitions of highly ionized stages. Observations with the Chandra high-energy gratings (Yaqoob et al 2001;Kaspi et al 2002;Weaver 2001, and references therein) and with XMM-Newton (Gondoin et al 2001a,b;Pounds et al 2001;Petrucci et al 2002) have often unveiled narrow line components. When measured at the currently highest possible energy resolution, their intrinsic velocities are consistent with the width of the optical broad lines, suggesting an origin in the same medium.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The history of the iron K_αline profile in the Piccinotti AGN ESO 198-G24

Guainazzi

2003

A&A

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Abstract. This paper presents ASCA (July 1997), XMM-Newton (December 2000) and BeppoSAX (January 2001) observations of the Piccinotti Seyfert 1 galaxy ESO 198-G24. The BeppoSAX 0.1-200 keV spectrum exhibits reprocessing features, probably produced by an X-ray illuminated, relativistic accretion disk subtending a solid angle < ∼ 2π. During the XMMNewton observation the fluorescent iron K α line profile (centroid energy E c 6.4 keV) was broad and twice as bright as in the BeppoSAX observation. An additional emission feature (E c 5.7 keV), detected at the 96.3% confidence level, may be part of a relativistic, double-peaked profile. By contrast, in the earlier ASCA observation the line profile is dominated by a remarkably narrow "core" (intrinsic width, σ < 50 eV). If this component is produced by reflection off the inner surface of a molecular torus, its large Equivalent Width ( 300 eV) most likely represents the "echo" of a previously brighter flux state, in agreement with the dynamical range covered by the historical X-ray light curve in ESO 198-G24.

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“…We detect a rapidly variable narrow neutral Fe Kα line (Petrucci et al 2002, hereafter P02) between OBS1 and OBS2. The line flux reaches a maximum during the first observation and is significantly reduced in the second one (cf.…”

Section: A Rapidly Variable Narrow Iron Linementioning

confidence: 92%