The structure and radiation spectra of illuminated accretion discs in AGN. I. Moderate illumination

We present detailed computations of the vertical structure of an accretion disc illuminated by hard X-ray radiation with the code {\sc titan-noar} suitable for Compton thick media. The energy generated via accretion is dissipated partially in the cold disc as well as in the X-ray source. We study the differences between the case where the X-ray source is in the form of a lamp post above the accretion disc and the case of a heavy corona. We consider radiative heating via Comptonization together with heating via photo-absorption on numerous heavy elements as carbon, oxygen, silicon, iron. The transfer in lines is precisely calculated. A better description of the heating/cooling through the inclusion of line transfer, a correct description of the temperature in the deeper layers, a correct description of the entire disc vertical structure, as well as the study of the possible coronal pressure effect, constitute an improvement in comparison to previous works. We show that exact calculations of hydrostatic equilibrium and determination of the disc thickness has a crucial impact on the optical depth of the hot illuminated zone. We assume a moderate illumination where the viscous flux equals the X-ray radiation flux. A highly ionized skin is created in the lamp post model, with the outgoing spectrum containing many emission lines and ionization edges in emission or absorption in the soft X-ray domain, as well as an iron line at $\sim 7$ keV consisting of a blend of low ionization line from the deepest layers and hydrogen and helium like resonance line from the upper layers, and almost no absorption edge, contrary to the case of a slab of constant density.A full heavy corona completely suppresses the highly ionized zone on the top of the accretion disc and in such case the spectrum is featureless.Comment: 16 pages, 20 figures, corrected two sentences, accepted by MNRA

X-ray Variability of AGN and the Flare Model

Short-term variability of X-ray continuum spectra has been reported for several Active Galactic Nuclei. Significant X-ray flux variations are observed within time scales down to 10^3-10^5 seconds. We discuss short variability time scales in the frame of the X-ray flare model, which assumes the release of a large hard X-ray flux above a small portion of the accretion disk. The resulting observed X-ray spectrum is composed of the primary radiation and of a reprocessed Compton reflection component that we model with numerical radiative transfer simulations. The incident hard X-rays of the flare will heat up the atmosphere of the accretion disk and hence induce thermal expansion. Eventually, the flare source will be surrounded by an optically thick medium, which should modify the observed spectra.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures, accepted proceedings for a talk at the conference "AGN variability from the X-rays to the radio", June 2004, Crimean Observator

Obscuration model of Variability in AGN

There are strong suggestions that the disk-like accretion flow onto massive black hole in AGN is disrupted in its innermost part (10-100 Rg), possibly due to the radiation pressure instability. It may form a hot optically thin quasi spherical (ADAF) flow surrounded by or containing denser clouds due to the disruption of the disk. Such clouds might be optically thick, with a Thompson depth of order of 10 or more. Within the frame of this cloud scenario (Collin-Souffrin et al. 1996, Czerny & Dumont 1998), obscuration events are expected and the effect would be seen as a variability. We consider expected random variability due to statistical dispersion in location of clouds along the line of sight for a constant covering factor. We discuss a simple analytical toy model which provides us with the estimates of the mean spectral properties and variability amplitude of AGN, and we support them with radiative transfer computations done with the use of TITAN code of Dumont, Abrassart & Collin (1999) and NOAR code of Abrassart (1999).Comment: to appear in Proc. of 5th Compton Symposium on Gamma-Ray Astronomy and Astrophysic

Double-Peaked Broad Emission Lines in NGC 4450 and Other LINERs

Spectra taken with HST reveal that NGC 4450 emits Balmer emission lines with displaced double peaks and extremely high-velocity wings. This characteristic line profile, previously seen in a few nearby LINERs and in a small fraction of broad-line radio galaxies, can be interpreted as a kinematic signature of a relativistic accretion disk. We can reproduce the observed profile with a model for a disk with a radial range of 1000-2000 gravitational radii and inclined by 27 degrees along the line of sight. The small-aperture HST data also allow us to detect, for the first time, the featureless continuum at optical wavelengths in NGC 4450; the nonstellar nucleus is intrinsically very faint, with M_B = -11.2 mag for D = 16.8 Mpc. We have examined the multiwavelength properties of NGC 4450 collectively with those of other low-luminosity active nuclei which possess double-peaked broad lines and find a number of common features. These objects are all classified spectroscopically as "type 1" LINERs or closely related objects. The nuclear luminosities are low, both in absolute terms and relative to the Eddington rates. All of them have compact radio cores, whose strength relative to the optical nuclear emission places them in the league of radio-loud active nuclei. The broad-band spectral energy distributions of these sources are most notable for their deficit of ultraviolet emission compared to those observed in luminous Seyfert 1 nuclei and quasars. The double-peaked broad-line radio galaxies Arp 102B and Pictor A have very similar attributes. We discuss how these characteristics can be understood in the context of advection-dominated accretion onto massive black holes.Comment: To appear in The Astrophysical Journal. Latex, 15 pages, embedded figures and tabl

The origin of emission and absorption features in Ton S180 Chandra observations

We present new interpretation of Ton S180 spectrum obtained by {\it Chandra} Spectrometer (Low Energy Transmission Grating). Several narrow absorption lines and a few emission disk lines have been successfully fitted to the data. We have not found any significant edges accompanying line emission. We propose the interpretation of narrow lines consistent with the paper recently written by Krolik (2002), where warm absorber is strongly inhomogeneous. Such situation is possible in so called multi-phase medium, where regions with different ionization states, densities and temperatures may coexist in thermal equilibrium under constant pressure. We illustrate this scenario with theoretical spectra of radiation transfered through a stratified cloud with constant pressure (instead of constant density) computed by code {\sc titan} in plane parallel approximation. Detected spectral features are faint and their presence do not alter the broad band continuum. We model the broad band continuum of Ton S180 assuming an irradiated accretion disk with a dissipative warm skin. The set of parameters appropriate for the data cannot be determined uniquely but models with low values of the black hole mass have too hot and radially extended warm skin to explain the formation of soft X-ray disk lines seen in the data.Comment: accepted to Ap