42 research outputs found

    Radiatively-driven clumpy X-ray absorbers in the NLS1 galaxy IRAS 13224-3809

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    Recent radiation-magnetohydrodynamic simulations of active galactic nuclei predict the presence of the disk winds, which may get unstable and turn into fragmented clumps far from the central black hole. These inner winds and the outer clumps may be observed as the ultrafast outflows (UFOs) and the partial absorbers, respectively. However, it is challenging to observationally constrain their origins because of the complicated spectral features and variations. To resolve such degeneracies of the clumpy absorbers and other components, we developed a novel ``spectral-ratio model fitting'' technique that estimates the variable absorbing parameters from the ratios of the partially absorbed spectra to the non-absorbed one, canceling the complex non-variable spectral features. We applied this method to the narrow-line Seyfert 1 galaxy \iras observed by \xmm in 2016 for \sim1.5 Ms. As a result, we found that the soft spectral variation is mostly caused by changes in the partial covering fraction of the mildly-ionized clumpy absorbers, whose outflow velocities are similar to those of the UFO (\sim0.2--0.3 cc). Furthermore, the velocities of the clumpy absorbers and UFOs increase similarly with the X-ray fluxes, consistent with the change in the UV-dominant continuum flux. We also discovered a striking correlation between the clump covering fraction and the equivalent width of the UFO absorption lines, which indicates that increasing the outflow in the line-of-sight lead to more prominent UFOs and more partial absorption. These findings strongly suggest that the clumpy absorbers and the UFO share the same origin, driven by the same UV-dominant continuum radiation.Comment: 18 pages, 13 figures, accepted for publication in Ap

    Warm Absorbers in the Radiation-driven Fountain Model of Low-mass Active Galactic Nuclei

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    To investigate the origins of the warm absorbers in active galactic nuclei (AGNs), we study the ionization-state structure of the radiation-driven fountain model in a low-mass AGN and calculate the predicted X-ray spectra utilizing the spectral synthesis code Cloudy. The spectra show many absorption and emission line features originating in the outflowing ionized gas. The O viii 0.654 keV lines are produced mainly in the polar region much closer to the supermassive black hole than the optical narrow-line regions. The absorption measure distribution of the ionization parameter (ξ) at a low inclination spreads over 4 orders of magnitude in ξ, indicating the multiphase ionization structure of the outflow, as actually observed in many type 1 AGNs. We compare our simulated spectra with the high energy resolution spectrum of the narrow-line Seyfert 1 galaxy NGC 4051. The model reproduces slowly outflowing (a few hundred kilometers per second) warm absorbers. However, the faster components with a few thousand kilometers per second observed in NGC 4051 are not reproduced. The simulation also underproduces the intensity and width of the O viii 0.654 keV line. These results suggest that the ionized gas launched from subparsec or smaller regions inside the torus, which is not included in the current fountain model, must be an important ingredient of the warm absorbers with a few thousand kilometers per second. The model also consistently explains the Chandra/HETG spectrum of the Seyfert 2 galaxy Circinus

    X-ray time lag evaluation of MAXI J1820+070 with a differential cross-correlation analysis

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    MAXI J1820++070 is a transient black hole binary (BHB) discovered on 2018 March 11. The unprecedented rich statistics brought by the NICER X-ray telescope allows detailed timing analysis up to \sim1~kHz uncompromised by the photon shot noise. To estimate the time lags, the Fourier analysis was applied, which led to two different conclusions for the system configuration; one supporting the lamp-post configuration with a stable accretion disk extending close to the innermost stable circular orbit and the other supporting the truncated accretion disk contracting with time. Using the same data set, we present the results based on the cross-correlation function (CCF). The CCF is calculated between two different X-ray bands and one side is subtracted from the other side, which we call the differential CCF (dCCF). The soft and hard lags respectively of \sim0.03 and 3~s are clearly identified without being diluted by the spectral mixture, demonstrating the effectiveness of the dCCF analysis. The evolution of these lags is tracked, along with spectral changes for the first 120~days since the discovery. Both the dCCF and spectral fitting results are interpreted that the soft lag is a reverberation lag between the Comptonized emission and the soft excess emission and that the hard lag is between the disk black body emission and the Comptonized emission. The evolution of these lags is in line with the picture of the truncated disk contracting with time.Comment: 12 pages, 12 figure

    Spectral Modeling of the Supersoft X-ray Source CAL87 based on Radiative Transfer Codes

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    Super Soft X-ray Sources (SSS) are white dwarf (WD) binaries that radiate almost entirely below \sim1~keV. Their X-ray spectra are often complex when viewed with the X-ray grating spectrometers, where numerous emission and absorption features are intermingled and hard to separate. The absorption features are mostly from the WD atmosphere, for which radiative transfer models have been constructed. The emission features are from the corona surrounding the WD atmosphere, in which incident emission from the WD surface is reprocessed. Modeling the corona requires different solvers and assumptions for the radiative transfer, which is yet to be achieved. We chose CAL87, a SSS in the Large Magellanic Cloud, which exhibits emission-dominated spectra from the corona as the WD atmosphere emission is assumed to be completely blocked by the accretion disk. We constructed a radiative transfer model for the corona using the two radiative transfer codes; xstar for a one-dimensional two-stream solver and MONACO for a three-dimensional Monte Carlo solver. We identified their differences and limitations in comparison to the spectra taken with the Reflection Grating Spectrometer onboard the XMM-Newton satellite. We finally obtained a sufficiently good spectral model of CAL87 based on the radiative transfer of the corona plus an additional collisionally ionized plasma. In the coming X-ray microcalorimeter era, it will be required to interpret spectra based on radiative transfer in a wider range of sources than what is presented here.Comment: 15 pages, 15 figures, ApJ in pres

    活動銀河核の鉄KバンドにおけるX線スペクトルの変動性について

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    学位の種別: 課程博士審査委員会委員 : (主査)東京大学教授 河野 孝太郎, 東京大学准教授 蜂 巣泉, 東京大学准教授 原 弘久, 京都大学准教授 上田 佳宏, 愛媛大学教授 寺島 雄一University of Tokyo(東京大学

    Geometry of the X-ray source 1H 0707–495

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    Aims. We investigate the constraints on the size and location of the X-ray source in 1H 0707–495 determined from the shape of the relativistically smeared reflection from the accretion disc. Methods. We developed a new code to model an extended X-ray source and we applied this code to all archival XMM observations of 1H 0707–495. Results. In contrast to earlier works we find that the relativistic reflection in this source is not consistent with an extended uniform corona. Instead, we find that the X-ray source must be very compact, at most a gravitational radius in size, and located at most a few gravitational radii from the black-hole horizon. A uniform extended corona produces an emissivity that is similar to a twice-broken power-law, but the inner emissivity is fixed by the source geometry rather than being a free parameter. In 1H0707–495, the reflection from the inner disc is much stronger than expected for a uniformly extended source. Including the effect of ionised absorption from the wind does not change this conclusion, but including scattered emission (and more complex absorption) from the wind can dramatically change the reflection parameters
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