arXiv subjects

A. C. Fabian

Publications and source records attributed to A. C. Fabian.

At least 703 records · Page 39Linked to original sources

arXiv2001

The intracluster iron distribution around 4C+55.16

We report on the metal distribution in the intracluster medium around the radio galaxy 4C+55.16 (z=0.24) observed with the Chandra X-ray Observatory. The radial metallicity profile shows a dramatic change at 10 arcsec (~50 kpc) in radius from half solar to twice solar at inner radii. Also found was a plume-like feature located at ~3 arcsec to the south-west of the centre of the galaxy, which is mostly accounted for by a strong enhancement of iron L emission. The X-ray spectrum of the plume is characterized by the metal abundance pattern of Type Ia supernovae (SNeIa), i.e., large ratios of Fe to alpha-elements, with the iron metallicity being unusually high at 7.9(+24/-5.0) solar (90 per cent error). How the plume has been formed is not entirely clear. The inhomogeneous iron distribution suggested in this cluster provides important clues to understanding the metal enrichment process of the cluster medium.

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arXiv2001

BeppoSAX view of NGC 526A: a Seyfert 1.9 galaxy with a flat spectrum

In the present work we report the BeppoSAX observation of the Seyfert 1.9 galaxy NGC 526A in the band 0.1-150 keV. The high energy instrument onboard, PDS, has succeeded in measuring for the first time the spectrum of this source in the 13-150 keV range. The combined analysis of all Narrow Field Instruments provides a power law spectral index of ~ 1.6 and confirms the flat spectral nature of this source. Although NGC 526A varies strongly in the 2-10 keV over period of months/years, its spectral shape remains constant over these timescales. An Fe K-alpha line, characterized by a complex structure, has been detected in the 6-7 keV range. The line, which has an equivalent width of 120 eV, is not compatible with being produced in an absorbing torus with N_H ~ 10^22 cm^-2, but most likely originates by reflection in an accretion disk viewed at an intermediate inclination angle of ~ 42 deg. The reflection component is however small (R < 0.7) and so it is not sufficient to steepen the spectrum to photon index values more typical of AGNs. Instead, we find that the data are more consistent with a flat power law spectrum cut-off at around 100 keV plus a small reflection component which could explain the observed iron line. Thus NGC 526A is the only bona-fide Seyfert 2 galaxy which maintains a "flat spectrum" even when broad band data are considered: in this sense its properties, with respect to the general class of Seyfert 2's, are analogous to those of NGC 4151 with respect to the vast majority of Seyfert 1's.

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arXiv2001

Magnetic fields in the Centaurus cluster

We present multi-frequency VLA observations of the radio galaxy PKS 1246-410 at the center of the Centaurus Cluster, and compare these results to recent Chandra observations. The unusual radio morphology of PKS 1246-410 probably results from interactions with the hot, X-ray emitting gas. This gas, along with cluster magnetic fields, also produces substantial Faraday Rotation Measures towards PKS 1246-410. We discuss these observations in the context of a sample of 14 luminous X-ray clusters with embedded radio galaxies and possible cooling flows. A correlation is found between the cooling flow rate and the maximum Faraday Rotation Measures. Magnetic fields of strength 10-40 uG are found to be common to the centers of clusters with strong cooling flows, and somewhat lower field strengths of 2-10 uG are found in the non cooling-flow clusters.

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arXiv2001

Weighing black holes with warm absorbers

We present a new technique for determining an upper limit for the mass of the black hole in active galactic nuclei showing warm absorption features. The method relies on the balance of radiative and gravitational forces acting on outflowing warm absorber clouds. It has been applied to 6 objects: five Seyfert 1 galaxies: IC 4329a, MCG-6-30-15, NGC 3516, NGC 4051 and NGC 5548; and one radio-quiet quasar: MR 2251-178. We discuss our result in comparison with other methods. The procedure could also be applied to any other radiatively driven optically thin outflow in which the spectral band covering the major absorption is directly observed.

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arXiv2001

Thunderclouds and accretion discs: a model for the spectral and temporal variability of Seyfert 1 galaxies

X-ray observations of Seyfert 1 galaxies offer the unique possibility of observing spectral variability on timescales comparable to the dynamical time of the inner accretion flow. They typically show highly variable lightcurves, with Power Density Spectra characterized by `red noise' and a break at low frequencies. Time resolved spectral analysis have established that spectral variability on the shortest timescales is important in all these sources, with the spectra getting softer at high fluxes. Here we present a model that is able to explain a number of the above mentioned properties in terms of magnetic flares shining above a standard accretion disc and producing the X-ray spectrum via inverse Compton scattering soft photons (both intrinsic and reprocessed thermal emission from the accretion disc and locally produced synchrotron radiation). We show that the fundamental heating event, likely caused by magnetic reconnection, must be compact, with typical size comparable to the accretion disc thickness and must be triggered at a height at least an order of magnitude larger than its size; the spatial and temporal distribution of flares are not random: the heating of the corona proceeds in correlated trains of events in an avalanche fashion. The amplitude of the avalanches obeys a power-law distribution and determines the size of the active regions where the spectrum is produced. With our model we simulate X-ray lightcurves that reproduce the main observational properties of the Power Density Spectra and of the X-ray continuum short-term variability of Seyfert 1 galaxies. By comparing them with observations of MGC--6-30-15, we are able to infer that the corona in this source must have a large optical depth (tau >1.5) and small average covering fraction.

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arXiv2001

Chandra observations of the galaxy cluster Abell 1835

We present the analysis of 30 ksec of Chandra observations of the galaxy cluster Abell 1835. Overall, the X-ray image shows a relaxed morphology, although we detect substructure in in the inner 30 kpc radius. Spectral analysis shows a steep drop in the X-ray gas temperature from ~12 keV in the outer regions of the cluster to ~4 keV in the core. The Chandra data provide tight constraints on the gravitational potential of the cluster which can be parameterized by a Navarro, Frenk & White (1997) model. The X-ray data allow us to measure the X-ray gas mass fraction as a function of radius, leading to a determination of the cosmic matter density of Ω_m=0.40+-0.09 h_50^-0.5. The projected mass within a radius of ~150 kpc implied by the presence of gravitationally lensed arcs in the cluster is in good agreement with the mass models preferred by the Chandra data. We find a radiative cooling time of the X-ray gas in the centre of Abell 1835 of about 3x10^8 yr. Cooling flow model fits to the Chandra spectrum and a deprojection analysis of the Chandra image both indicate the presence of a young cooling flow (~6x10^8 yr) with an integrated mass deposition rate of 230^+80_-50 M_o yr^-1 within a radius of 30 kpc. We discuss the implications of our results in the light of recent RGS observations of Abell 1835 with XMM-Newton.

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arXiv2001

Multi-wavelength observations of serendipitous Chandra sources

We describe progress in a programme to study a sample of sources typical of those which contribute a large fraction of the hard X-ray background. The sources are selected from the fields of approximately 10 ks Chandra cluster observations with follow-up in the near-infrared and optical. The X-ray data indicate that many of these are powerful, obscured sources. Two hard objects which are lensed by the cluster are good candidates for X-ray type-2 quasars, with luminosities of the order 10^{44}-10^{45} erg s^{-1} and obscuring column densities of the order 10^{23} cm^{-2}. We find that the sources are bright in the infra-red (K typically 17-18). From Keck optical spectra and photometric redshifts, we find that the host galaxies are consistent with being early-type, massive hosts at redshifts ranging from 0.2 to 3, with median redshift approximately 1.5. The two obscured quasars also have mid-infrared detections and 850-micron upper-limits implying that the surrounding dust is at warm-to-hot temperatures (T of the order of 1000 K).

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arXiv2001

Multi-wavelength observations of serendipitous Chandra X-ray sources in the field of A2390

We present optical spectra and near-infrared imaging of a sample of serendipitous X-ray sources detected in the field of Chandra observations of the A2390 cluster of galaxies. The sources have 0.5-7 keV fluxes of 0.6-8 x 10^{-14} erg cm^{-2} s^{-1} and lie around the break in the 2-10 keV source counts. They therefore are typical of sources dominating the X-ray Background in that band. Twelve of the fifteen targets for which we have optical spectra show emission lines, most of which have soft X-ray spectra. Including photometric redshifts and published spectra we have redshifts for seventeen of the sources, ranging from z~0.2 up to z~3 with a peak between z=1-2. Ten of our sources have hard X-ray spectra indicating a spectral slope flatter than that of a typical unabsorbed quasar. Two hard sources that are gravitationally lensed by the foreground cluster are obscured quasars, with intrinsic 2-10 keV luminosities of 0.2-3 x 10^{45} erg/s and absorbing columns of N_H>10^{23} cm^{-2}. Both were detected by ISO, showing that the absorbed flux emerges in the far-infrared.

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arXiv2001

X-ray Reflection By Photoionized Accretion Discs

We present the results of reflection calculations that treat the relevant physics with a minimum of assumptions. The temperature and ionization structure of the top five Thomson depths of an illuminated disc are calculated while also demanding that the atmosphere is in hydrostatic equilibrium. In agreement with Nayakshin, Kazanas & Kallman, we find that there is a rapid transition from hot to cold material in the illuminated layer. However, the transition is usually not sharp so that often we find a small but finite region in Thomson depth where there is a stable temperature zone at T \sim 2 x 10^{6} K due to photoelectric heating from recombining ions. As a result, the reflection spectra often exhibit strong features from partially-ionized material, including helium-like Fe K lines and edges. We find that due to the highly ionized features in the spectra these models have difficulty correctly parameterizing the new reflection spectra. There is evidence for a spurious $R-Γ$ correlation in the ASCA energy range, where $R$ is the reflection fraction for a power-law continuum of index $Γ$, confirming the suggestion of Done & Nayakshin that at least part of the R-Gamma correlation reported by Zdziarski, Lubinski & Smith for Seyfert galaxies and X-ray binaries might be due to ionization effects. Although many of the reflection spectra show strong ionized features, these are not typically observed in most Seyfert and quasar X-ray spectra.

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arXiv2001

Ionized Iron Lines in X-ray Reflection Spectra

We present results from new calculations of the X-ray reflection spectrum from ionized accretion discs. These computations improve on our previous models by including the condition of hydrostatic balance in the vertical direction, following the work of Nayakshin, Kazanas & Kallman. We find that an ionized Fe K$α$ line is prominent in the reflection spectra for a wide variety of physical conditions. The results hold for both gas and radiation pressure dominated discs and when the metal abundances have been varied.

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arXiv2001

Revealing the Dusty Warm Absorber in MCG--6-30-15 with the Chandra HETG

We present detailed evidence for a warm absorber in the Seyfert 1 galaxy MCG--6-30-15 and dispute earlier claims for relativistic O line emission. The HETG spectra show numerous narrow, unresolved (FWHM < 200 km/s) absorption lines from a wide range of ionization states of N, O, Mg, Ne, Si, S, Ar, and Fe. The O VII edge and 1s^2--1snp resonance line series to n=9 are clearly detected at rest in the AGN frame. We attribute previous reports of an apparently highly redshifted O VII edge to the 1s^2--1snp (n > 5) O VII resonance lines, and a neutral Fe L absorption complex. The shape of the Fe L feature is nearly identical to that seen in the spectra of several X-ray binaries, and in laboratory data. The implied dust column density agrees with that obtained from reddening studies, and gives the first direct X-ray evidence for dust embedded in a warm absorber. The O VIII resonance lines and weak edge are also detected, and the spectral rollover below 2 keV is explained by the superposition of numerous absorption lines and edges. We identify, for the first time, a KLL resonance in the O VI photoabsorption cross section, giving a measure of the O VI column density. The O VII (f) emission detected at the systemic velocity implies a covering fraction of ~5% (depending on the observed vs. time-averaged ionizing flux). Our observations show that a dusty warm absorber model is not only adequate to explain all the spectral features > 0.48 keV (< 26 Å) the data REQUIRE it. This contradicts the interpretation of Branduardi-Raymont et al. (2001) that this spectral region is dominated by highly relativistic line emission from the vicinity of the black hole.

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arXiv2001

Magnetic Fields in the 3C 129 Cluster

We present multi-frequency VLA observations of the two radio galaxies 3C 129 and 3C 129.1 embedded in a luminous X-ray cluster. These radio observations reveal a substantial difference in the Faraday Rotation Measures (RMs) toward 3C 129.1 at the cluster center and 3C 129 at the cluster periphery. After deriving the density profile from available X-ray data, we find that the RM structure of both radio galaxies can be fit by a tangled cluster magnetic field with strength 6 microGauss extending at least 3 core radii (450 kpc) from the cluster center. The magnetic field makes up a small contribution to the total pressure (5%) in the central regions of the cluster. The radio morphology of 3C 129.1 appears disturbed on the southern side, perhaps by the higher pressure environment. In contrast with earlier claims for the presence of a moderately strong cooling flow in the 3C 129 cluster, our analysis of the X-ray data places a limit on the mass deposition rate from any such flow of <1.2 Msun/yr.

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arXiv2001

Nuclear obscuration in the high-ionization Seyfert 2 galaxy Tol 0109-383

We report the BeppoSAX detection of a hard X-ray excess in the X-ray spectrum of the classical high-ionization Seyfert 2 galaxy Tol0109-383. The X-ray emission of this source observed below 7 keV is dominated by reflection from both cold and ionized gas, as seen in the ASCA data. The excess hard X-ray emission is presumably due to the central source absorbed by an optically thick obscuring torus with N(H)~2e24 cm-2. The strong cold X-ray reflection, if it is produced at the inner surface of the torus, is consistent with the picture where much of the inner nucleus of Tol0109-383 is exposed to direct view, as indicated by optical and infrared properties. However, the X-ray absorption must occur at small radii in order to hide the central X-ray source but leave the optical high-ionization emission line region unobscured. This may also be the case for objects like the Seyfert 1 galaxy Mrk231.

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arXiv2001

Deep Sky Objects and the X-ray Background

Deep observations of the X-ray Sky have now resolved most of the X-ray Background. Obscured active galaxies are a key component. The obscured objects which dominate at fluxes above $10^{-15}\ergpcmsqps$ are discussed and models in which the growth of wind-blowing active nuclei determine both black hole and galaxy mass are presented. The power from accretion is large and can easily influence the gas in a host galaxy, as well as heat the intergalactic medium.

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arXiv2001

X-rays and accretion discs as probes of the strong gravity of black holes

The observations and interpretation of broad iron lines in the X-ray spectra of Seyfert 1 galaxies are reviewed. The line profiles observed from MCG--6-30-15 and NGC 3516 show extended red wings to the line explained by large gravitational redshifts. The results are consistent with the emission expected from an X-ray irradiated flat accretion disc orbiting very close to a black hole. Results from XMM-Newton and Chandra are presented and the possibility of broad oxygen lines discussed.

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arXiv2001

A hard X-ray constraint on the presence of an AGN in the ultra-luminous infrared galaxy Arp220

We present X-ray results on the ultraluminous infrared galaxy Arp220 obtained with BeppoSAX. The X-ray emission up to 10 keV is detected. No significant signal is detected with the PDS detector in the higher energy band. The 2-10 keV emission has a hard spectrum (photon-index of 1.7), similar to M82, and a luminosity of 1e41 erg/s. A population of X-ray binaries may be a major source of this X-ray emission. The upper limit of an iron K line equivalent width at 6.4 keV is ~600 eV. This observation imposes so far the tightest constraint on an active nucleus if present in Arp220. We find that a column density of X-ray absorption must exceed 10**25 cm-2 for an obscured active nucleus to be significant in the energetics, and the covering factor of the absorption should be almost unity. The underluminous soft X-ray starburst emission may need a good explanation, if the bolometric luminosity is primarily powered by a starburst.

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arXiv2001

The interaction of radio sources and cooling flows

The X-ray emission in many clusters of galaxies shows a central peak in surface brightness coincident with a drop in temperature. These characterize a cooling flow. There is often a radio source also at the centre of such regions. Data from Chandra now enables us to map the interaction between the radio source and the intracluster medium. Preliminary work shows no sign of heating of the gas beyond the radio lobes, which are often devoid of cooler gas and so appear as holes. In the case of the Perseus cluster around 3C84, the coolest X-ray emitting gas occurs immediately around the inner radio lobes.

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arXiv2001

A Complete Relativistic Ionized Accretion Disc in Cygnus X-1

The galactic black hole candidate Cygnus X-1 is observed to be in one of two X-ray spectral states; either the low/hard (low soft X-ray flux and a flat power law tail) or high/soft (high blackbody-like soft X-ray flux and a steep power law tail) state. The physical origin of these two states is unclear. We present here a model of an ionized accretion disc, the spectrum of which is blurred by relativistic effects, and fit it to the ASCA, Ginga and EXOSAT data of Cygnus X-1 in both spectral states. We confirm that relativistic blurring provides a much better fit to the low/hard state data and, contrary to some previous results, find the data of both states to be consistent with an ionized thin accretion disc with a reflected fraction of unity extending to the innermost stable circular orbit around the black hole. Our model is an alternative to those which, in the low/hard state, require the accretion disc to be truncated at a few tens of Schwarzschild radii, within which there is a Thomson-thin, hot accretion flow. We suggest a mechanism that may cause the changes in spectral state.

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