arXiv subjects

A. -M. Dumont

Publications and source records attributed to A. -M. Dumont.

25 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

arXiv2002

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.

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arXiv2000

Modelling of the X-ray broad absorption features in Narrow-Line Seyfert 1s

We investigate the origin of the broad absorption features detected near 1-1.4 keV in several Narrow Line Seyfert 1 galaxies, by modelling the absorbing medium with various physical parameters, using the ionization code PEGAS. The observed properties of the X-ray absorption features can be reproduced by taking into account the peculiar soft X-ray excess which is well fitted by a blackbody plus an underlying power law. We equally stress that the emission coming from the absorbing medium (related to the covering factor) has a strong influence on the resulting X-ray spectrum, in particular on the apparent position and depth of the absorption features. A non-solar iron abundance may be required to explain the observed deep absorption. We also investigate the influence of an additional collisional ionization process (hybrid case) on the predicted absorption features.

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arXiv2000

A code for optically thick and hot photoionized media

We describe a code designed for hot media {(T $\ge$} a few 10$^4$ K), optically thick to Compton scattering. It computes the structure of a plane-parallel slab of gas in thermal and ionization equilibrium, illuminated on one or on both sides by a given spectrum. Contrary to the other photoionization codes, it solves the transfer of the continuum and of the lines in a two stream approximation, without using the local escape probability formalism to approximate the line transfer. We stress the importance of taking into account the returning flux even for small column densities (10$^{22}$ cm$^{-2}$), and we show that the escape probability approximation can lead to strong errors in the thermal and ionization structure, as well as in the emitted spectrum, for a Thomson thickness larger than a few tenths. The transfer code is coupled with a Monte Carlo code which allows to take into account Compton and inverse Compton diffusions, and to compute the spectrum emitted up to MeV energies, in any geometry. Comparisons with {\sc{cloudy}} show that it gives similar results for small column densities. Several applications are mentioned.

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arXiv2000

X-ray emitting-absorbing media in Seyfert 1 galaxies

Seyfert galaxies have been shown to exhibit a large variety of features in their X-ray spectra from which the environment of the central engine can be deduced. We focus on the two following aspects: the Warm Absorber, mainly responsible of the soft X-ray properties, and the reprocessing/reflecting plasma medium at the origin of the iron Kalpha fluorescent line. The physical parameters and the location of the so-called Warm Absorber (WA), a photoionized medium along the line of sight to the nuclear region, are more strongly constrained by optical coronal lines than by the oxygen edges observed in the soft X-rays and produced by the WA. The photoionization models also predict the intensities of the X-ray emission lines which are going to be detected with the new generation of X-ray satellites. An alternative model to the relativistic accretion disc is proposed to explain the profile of the X-ray iron Kalpha line observed in the Seyfert 1. This line can be formed in the framework of a quasi-spherical accretion of optically thick clouds. An optically thick photoionization code coupled with a Monte-Carlo code has been developed to compute the entire spectrum from the IR to the hard X-rays for a close geometry with a large covering factor. The multiple Compton reflections allow to reproduce the redshifted broad iron line as detected in several Seyfert 1 galaxies and in MCG-6-30-15.

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arXiv2000

Accretion and Emission Processes in AGN: the UV-X Connection

The main characteristics of the average spectrum of radio quiet AGN in the UV and X-ray range are reviewed, and the emission mechanisms are discussed in the framework of accretion disk models, in particular the ``irradiated cold relativistic disk". It is shown that some problems arise in confronting the predictions of the model to the observations. We propose an alternative model in terms of a hot disk surrounded by a cold Compton thick medium. Finally we mention problems with remote regions of the accretion disk.

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arXiv1999

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).

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arXiv1998

Cloud model of the mean quasar spectrum

We assume a distribution of clouds optically thick for electron scattering (OTCM) which are moderately optically thin for absorption and we consider them as a model of the mean quasar spectrum of Laor et al. (1997). We show that the model is particularly sensitive to the value of the ionization parameter $ξ$ and that for $ξ\sim 500$ the model well reproduces the optical/UV/X-ray mean quasar spectrum, in agreement with the estimates of the ionization parameter based on the energy of the iron $K_α$ line. We cannot definitively reject synchrotron emission as a source of primary radiation but we favor the model in which the hard X-ray emission is produced by Compton scattering of soft photons in a central hot medium surrounded by cool clouds. In such a model clouds are located typically at the distance of $\sim 12 R_{Schw}$, with the covering factor about 0.88 and the radius of hot plasma is $\sim 9 R_{Schw}$. The model explains optical/UV emission as predominantly due to the dark sides of the clouds and the soft X-ray emission as due to the reflection by the irradiated sides of the clouds. Therefore, atomic features are expected in these bands although they are hardly present in the observational data. The kinematical effects connected with the cloud motion affect those features but do not remove them. The level of the primary emission required to model the mean quasar spectrum is too low to reproduce the equivalent width of the iron K$_α$ line correctly but more detailed computations may resolve this problem.

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