A toy model for X-ray spectral variability of active galactic nuclei

The long term X-ray spectral variability of ten active galactic nuclei (AGN) shows a positive spectral index-flux correlation for each object (Sobolewska & Papadakis 2009). An inner advection dominated accretion flow (ADAF) may connect to a thin disc/corona at a certain transition radius, which are responsible for hard X-ray emission in AGN. The ADAF is hot and its X-ray spectrum is hard, while the corona above the disc is relatively cold and its X-ray spectrum is therefore soft. The radiation efficiency of the ADAF is usually much lower than that of the thin disc. The increase of the transition radius may lead to decreases of the spectral index (i.e., a hard spectrum) and the X-ray luminosity even if the accretion rate is fixed, and vice versa. We propose that such X-ray variability is caused by the change of the transition radius. Our model calculations can reproduce the observed index-flux correlations, if the transition radius fluctuates around an equilibrium position, and the radiation efficiency of ADAFs is {\guillemotright} 5 per cent of that for a thin disc. The average spectral index-Eddington ratio correlation in the AGN sample can also be reproduced by our model calculations, if the equilibrium transition radius increases with decreasing mass accretion rate.Comment: 5 pages, accepted by MNRAS Letter

On joint analysing XMM-NuSTAR spectra of active galactic nuclei

A recently released XMM-Newton technical note has revealed a significant calibration issue between NuSTAR and XMM-Newton EPIC, and provided an empirical correction to EPIC effective area. To quantify the bias caused by the calibration issue to joint analysis of XMM-NuSTAR spectra and verify the effectiveness of the correction, in this work we perform joint-fitting of NuSTAR and EPIC-pn spectra for a large sample of 104 observation pairs of 44 X-ray bright AGN. The spectra were extracted after requiring perfect simultaneity between XMM-Newton and NuSTAR exposures (merging GTIs from two missions) to avoid bias due to rapid spectral variability of AGN. Before the correction, the EPIC-pn spectra are systematically harder than corresponding NuSTAR spectra by $\Delta \Gamma \sim 0.1$, subsequently yielding significantly underestimated cutoff energy $E_{\rm cut}$ and the strength of reflection component R when performing joint-fitting. We confirm the correction is highly effective and can commendably erase the discrepancy in best-fit $\Gamma$, $E_{\rm cut}$ and R, and thus we urge the community to apply the correction when joint-fitting XMM-NuSTAR spectra. Besides, we show that as merging GTIs from two missions would cause severe loss of NuSTAR net exposure time, in many cases joint-fitting yields no advantage compared with utilizing NuSTAR data alone. We finally present a technical note on filtering periods of high background flares for XMM-Newton EPIC-pn exposures in the Small Window mode.Comment: 14 pages, 8 figures, submitted. Comments are very welcome

A universal average spectral energy distribution for quasars from optical to extreme ultraviolet

The well-known anti-correlation between the optical/ultraviolet (UV) emission line equivalent widths of active galactic nuclei and the continuum luminosity (the so-called Baldwin effect) is a long-standing puzzle. One common hypothesis is that more luminous sources have softer spectral energy distribution (SED) in the extreme UV (EUV), as revealed by some observational studies. In this work we revisit this issue through cross-matching SDSS quasars with GALEX far-UV/near-UV catalogs and correcting the effect of a severe observational bias of significant UV detection incompleteness, i.e., the more luminous in observed-frame optical, the more likely detected in observed-frame UV. We find that, for GALEX detected quasars at 1.8 < z < 2.2, the rest-frame mean UV SED (~ 500 -- 3000 Angstrom) bewilderingly shows no luminosity dependence at log(\nu L_\nu(2200 Angstrom)) > 45 (up to 47.3), contrary to the standard thin disc model predictions and the observed Baldwin effect in this luminosity range. Probably, the universal mean UV SED is the result of a local atomic-originated process, and in fainter quasars stronger disk turbulence launching more clouds is the main origin of the Baldwin effect. After correcting for the absorption of the intergalactic medium, a rest-frame intrinsic mean EUV SED is derived from a sub-sample of bright quasars and is found to be much redder in the EUV than all previous quasar composite spectra, highlighting the significance of properly accounting for the sample incompleteness. Interestingly, the global consistence between our extremely red mean EUV SED and the line-driven wind model again supports an origin of a local physical process.Comment: 27 pages, 15 figures, author's initial version submitted to Nature Astronom