ROSAT PSPC observations of Cygnus-A : X-ray spectra of the cooling flow and hot spots

We present a {\it ROSAT} Position Sensitive Proportional Counter (PSPC) observation of the powerful radio galaxy Cygnus-A. The X-ray emission in the {\it ROSAT} band is dominated by thermal emission from the hot intracluster medium of the associated cluster. Image deprojection confirms the existence of a significant cluster cooling flow with total mass deposition rate of $\sim 250\,{\rm M}_\odot\,{\rm yr}^{-1}$ and a (Hubble time) cooling radius of $\sim 180$\,kpc. Spectral data show the gradient in the emission-weighted mean temperature with the temperature decreasing towards the centre of the cluster. We also find signatures of the radio source: in particular, we detect the X-ray emission from the western radio hot spot previously found by the {\it ROSAT} High Resolution Imager (HRI). We find the emission from the hot spot to be hard and discuss the physical implications of this result.Comment: uuencoded compressed postscript. The preprint is also available at http://www.ast.cam.ac.uk/preprint/PrePrint.htm

Special relativistic effects on the strength of the fluorescent K-alpha iron line from black hole accretion disks

The broad iron K$\alpha$ emission line, commonly seen in the X-ray spectrum of Seyfert nuclei, is thought to originate when the inner accretion disk is illuminated by an active disk-corona. We show that relative motion between the disk and the X-ray emitting material can have an important influence on the observed equivalent width (EW) of this line via special relativistic aberration and Doppler effects. We suggest this may be relevant to understanding why the observed EW often exceeds the prediction of the standard X-ray reflection model. Several observational tests are suggested that could disentangle these special relativistic effects from iron abundance effects.Comment: 5 pages, 3 postscript figures. Accepted for publication in MNRAS (pink pages). Also available at http://rocinante.Colorado.EDU/~chris/html_papers/special/special.htm

An extended multi-zone model for the MCG-6-30-15 warm absorber

The variable warm absorber seen with {\em ASCA} in the X-ray spectrum of MCG$-$6-30-15 shows complex time behaviour in which the optical depth of OVIII anticorrelates with the flux whereas that of OVII is unchanging. The explanation in terms of a two zone absorber has since been challenged by {\em BeppoSAX} observations. These present a more complicated behaviour for the OVIII edge. We demonstrate here that the presence of a third, intermediate, zone can explain all the observations. In practice, warm absorbers are likely to be extended, multi-zone regions of which only part causes directly observable absorption edges at any given time.Comment: 5 pages, 6 figures, accepted for publication in MNRA

Energetic Impact of Jet Inflated Cocoons in Relaxed Galaxy Clusters

Jets from active galactic nuclei (AGN) in the cores of galaxy clusters have the potential to be a major contributor to the energy budget of the intracluster medium (ICM). To study the dependence of the interaction between the AGN jets and the ICM on the parameters of the jets themselves, we present a parameter survey of two-dimensional (axisymmetric) ideal hydrodynamic models of back-to-back jets injected into a cluster atmosphere (with varying Mach numbers and kinetic luminosities). We follow the passive evolution of the resulting structures for several times longer than the active lifetime of the jet. The simulations fall into roughly two classes, cocoon-bounded and non-cocoon bounded sources. We suggest a correspondence between these two classes and the Faranoff-Riley types. We find that the cocoon-bounded sources inject significantly more entropy into the core regions of the ICM atmosphere, even though the efficiency with which energy is thermalized is independent of the morphological class. In all cases, a large fraction (50--80%) of the energy injected by the jet ends up as gravitational potential energy due to the expansion of the atmosphere.Comment: 12 pages, Accepted for publication in Ap

An RXTE study of M87 and the core of the Virgo cluster

We present hard X-ray observations of the nearby radio galaxy M87 and the core of the Virgo cluster using the Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer. These are the first hard X-ray observations of M87 not affected by contamination from the nearby Seyfert 2 galaxy NGC4388. Thermal emission from Virgo's intracluster medium is clearly detected and has a spectrum indicative of kT=2.5keV plasma with approximately 25% cosmic abundances. No non-thermal (power-law) emission from M87 is detected in the hard X-ray band, with fluctuations in the Cosmic X-ray Background being the limiting factor. Combining with ROSAT data, we infer that the X-ray spectrum of the M87 core and jet must be steep (Gamma_core>1.90$ and Gamma_jet>1.75), and we discuss the implications of this result. In particular, these results are consistent with M87 being a mis-aligned BL-Lac object.Comment: 8 pages, 2 postscript figures. Accepted for publication in Ap

The matter content of the jet in M87: evidence for an electron-positron jet

Recent observations have allowed the geometry and kinematics of the M87 jet to be tightly constrained. We combine these constraints with historical Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI) results and the theory of synchrotron self-absorbed radio cores in order to investigate the physical properties of the jet. Our results strongly suggest the jet to be dominated by an electron-positron (pair) plasma. Although our conservative constraints cannot conclusively dismiss an electron-proton plasma, the viability of this solution is extremely vulnerable to further tightening of VLBI surface brightness limits. The arguments presented, coupled with future high-resolution multi-frequency VLBI studies of the jet core, will be able to firmly distinguish these two possibilities.Comment: 8 pages, 1 ps figure. Revised and accepted for publication in MNRA

Warm absorbers in active galactic nuclei

Recent {\it ASCA} observations confirm the presence of X-ray absorption due to partially ionized gas in many Seyfert 1 galaxies; the so-called warm absorber. Constraints on the location of the warm material are presented with the conclusion that this material lies at radii coincident with, or just outside, the broad-line region. The stability of this warm material to isobaric perturbations under the assumptions of thermal and photoionization equilibrium is also studied. It is shown that there is a remarkably small range of ionization parameter, $\xi$, for which the warm absorber state is stable. The robustness of this result to changes in the shape of the primary continuum, the assumed density and optical depth is investigated. Given the constraints on the location and the stability properties of the material, several models for the environments of Seyfert nuclei are discussed. These attempt to explain the presence of significant amounts of partially ionized material. In particular, various models of the broad-line region are discussed. The simple two-phase model of the broad-line region proves to be unsatisfactory. A model of the broad-line region is presented in which a turbulent, hot intercloud medium is mechanically heated. Turbulent mixing layers could then give rise to warm absorption features. Finally, a model is discussed in which the warm absorber is due to a steady state, radiatively driven outflow.Comment: 10 pages (including figures) uuencoded compressed Postscript file. Accepted for publication in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Societ