arXiv subjects

Barbara De Marco

Publications and source records attributed to Barbara De Marco.

26 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

arXiv2020

A dynamic black hole corona in an active galaxy through X-ray reverberation mapping

X-ray reverberation echoes are assumed to be produced in the strongly distorted spacetime around accreting supermassive black holes. This signal allows us to spatially map the geometry of the inner accretion flow - a region which cannot yet be spatially resolved by any telescope - and provides a direct measure of the black hole mass and spin. The reverberation timescale is set by the light travel path between the direct emission from a hot X-ray corona and the reprocessed emission from the inner edge of the accretion disc. However, there is an inherent degeneracy in the reverberation signal between black hole mass, inner disc radius and height of the illuminating corona above the disc. Here, we use a long X-ray observation of the highly-variable active galaxy, IRAS 13224-3809, to track the reverberation signal as the system evolves on timescales of a day. With the inclusion of all the relativistic effects, modelling reveals that the height of the X-ray corona increases with increasing luminosity, providing a dynamic view of the inner accretion region. This simultaneous modelling allows us to break the inherent degeneracies and obtain an independent timing-based estimate for the mass and spin of the black hole. The uncertainty on black hole mass is comparable to the leading optical reverberation method, making X-ray reverberation a powerful technique, particularly for sources with low optical variability.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2020

An extreme Ultraluminous X-ray source X-1 in NGC 5055

Aims. We analyzed multi-epoch X-ray data of the Ultraluminous X-ray source (ULX) NGC 5055 X-1, with luminosity up to $2.32\times10^{40}\ \rm erg\ s^{-1}$, in order to constrain the physical parameters of the source. Methods. We performed timing and spectral analysis of Chandra and XMM-Newton observations. We used spectral models which assume the emission is from an accreting black hole system. We fit the data with a multicolor disk (MCD) combined with a powerlaw (PL) or a thermal Comptonization (NTHCOMP) component, and compared those fits with a slim disk model. Results. The lightcurves of the source do not show significant variability. From the hardness ratios (3-10 keV/0.3-3 keV flux) we infer that the source is not spectrally variable. We found that the photon index is tightly, positively correlated with the unabsorbed 0.3-10 keV flux and the hydrogen column density. Furthermore, the temperature emissivity profile indicates a deviation from the standard sub-Eddington thin disk model. The source shows an inverse correlation between luminosity and inner disk temperature in all fitted models. Conclusions. Our analysis favors the source to be in an ultraluminous soft state. The positive correlations between the photon index and the flux, and between the photon index and the hydrogen column density may suggest the source is accreting at high Eddington ratios and might indicate the presence of a wind. The inverse luminosity relation with the inner disk temperature for all spectral models may indicate that the emission is geometrically beamed by an optically thick outflow.

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arXiv2020

Two major constraints on the inner radii of accretion disks

The Stefan-Boltzmann law yields a fundamental constraint on the geometry of inner accretion disks in black-hole X-ray binaries. It follows from considering the irradiating flux and the effective temperature of the inner parts of the disk, which implies that a strong quasi-thermal component with the average energy higher than that of a blackbody at the effective temperature has to be present whenever relativistic Fe K fluorescence and reflection features are observed. The apparent absence of such quasi-thermal component with the color temperature of $\sim$1 keV in high-luminosity hard states is not compatible with a strongly irradiated disk extending close to the innermost stable circular orbit. Instead, the disk should be either truncated at a relatively large radius or irradiated by a corona at a large height, which would reduce the effective temperature and bring it to an agreement with the data. We also study constraints on disk/corona models following from comparing the disk densities fitted in literature using variable-density reflection codes with those calculated by us from the ionization parameter, the luminosity and the disk inner radius. We find that the fitted densities are much higher/lower in the hard/soft state of binaries, implying significant problems with the used assumptions and methods.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2020

Reverberation Reveals the Truncated Disc in the Hard State of GX 339-4

The nature and geometry of the hard state in black hole binaries is controversial. The broadband continuum spectrum and fast variability properties can be explained in a model where the inner disc evaporates into a geometrically thick, hot flow. However these models are challenged by the persistent detection of an extremely broad iron line, which requires that the disc extends down to the last stable orbit of a high spin black hole. This line width can be considerably reduced if the Comptonisation continuum is multi-component rather than single temperature, but such models are highly degenerate. Here we show a specific model of a radially stratified continuum coupled to a model of propagating fluctuations, fit to some of the best hard state data from GX 339-4. This full spectral-timing model can fit the time averaged spectrum, the power spectra in different energy bands, and the frequency dependent lags between these bands. For the first time we also include disc reverberation and show that this same spectral-timing model successfully \textit{predicts} the lag-energy spectra on all timescales. This gives a more robust method to determine the inner radius of the disc, which is of order $20~R_g$, i.e. significantly truncated. This opens up the way to use the fast variability spectral-timing data to trace the source geometry of black hole binaries in all states.

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arXiv2019

Comparison of spectral models for disc truncation in the hard state of GX 339-4

We probe models of disc truncation in the hard spectral state of an outburst of the well-known X-ray transient GX 339--4. We test a large number of different models of disc reflection and its relativistic broadening, using two independent sets of codes, and apply it to a \textit{Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer} spectrum in the rising part of the hard state of the 2010/11 outburst. We find our results to be significantly model-dependent. While all of the models tested show best-fits consistent with truncation, some models allow the disc to extend close to the innermost stable circular orbit (ISCO) and some require substantial disc truncation. The different models yield a wide range in best-fit values for the disc inclination. Our statistically best model has a physical thermal Comptonization primary continuum, requires the disc to be truncated at a radius larger than or equal to about two ISCO radii for the maximum dimensionless spin of 0.998, and predicts a disc inclination in agreement with that of the binary. Our preferred models have moderate Fe abundance, $\gtrsim$2 times solar. We have also tested the effect of increasing the density of the reflecting medium. We find it leads to an increase in the truncation radius, but also to an increase in the Fe abundance, opposite to a previous finding.

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arXiv2018

Accretion in Strong Field Gravity with eXTP

In this paper we describe the potential of the enhanced X-ray Timing and Polarimetry (eXTP) mission for studies related to accretion flows in the strong field gravity regime around both stellar-mass and supermassive black-holes. eXTP has the unique capability of using advanced 'spectral-timing-polarimetry' techniques to analyze the rapid variations with three orthogonal diagnostics of the flow and its geometry, yielding unprecedented insight into the inner accreting regions, the effects of strong field gravity on the material within them and the powerful outflows which are driven by the accretion process.

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arXiv2017

The response of relativistic outflowing gas to the inner accretion disk of a black hole

Active galactic nucleus (AGN) feedback is the process by which supermassive black holes in the centres of galaxies may moderate the growth of their hosts. Gas outflows from supermassive black holes release huge quantities of energy into the interstellar medium, clearing the surrounding gas. The most extreme of these, the ultra-fast outflows (UFOs), are the subset of X-ray detected outflows with velocities higher than 10,000 km/s, believed to originate in relativistic disc winds, a few hundred gravitational radii from the black hole. The absorption features produced by these outflows are variable, but no clear link has been found between the behaviour of the X-ray continuum and the energy or equivalent width of the outflow features due to the long time-scales of quasar variability. Here, we present the detection of multiple absorption lines from an extreme ultra-fast gas flow in the X-ray spectrum of the active galactic nucleus IRAS 13224-3809, at 0.236+/-0.006 times the speed of light (71,000 km/s), where the absorption is strongly anti-correlated with the emission from the inner regions of the accretion disk. If the gas flow is identified as a genuine outflow then it is in the fastest 5 per cent of such winds, and its variability is hundreds of times faster than in other variable winds, allowing us to observe in hours what would take months in a quasar. We find signatures of the wind simultaneously in both low and high energy detectors, which are consistent with a single ionized outflow, linking the two phenomena. The detection of the wind responding to the emission from the inner disk demonstrates a connection between accretion processes occurring on very different scales, with the X-rays from within a few gravitational radii of the black hole ionizing the relativistically outflowing gas as the flux rises.

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arXiv2016

Multi-wavelength campaign on NGC7469 I. The rich 640 ks RGS spectrum

Outflows in active galaxies (AGNs) are common, although their launching mechanism, location, and physical impact on the host galaxy remain controversial. We conducted a multiwavelength six-month campaign to observe the nearby Seyfert galaxy NGC 7469 with several observatories in order to better understand and quantify the outflow in this AGN. We report on the time-integrated line-resolved X-ray spectrum of NGC 7469 obtained with the Reflection Grating Spectrometer (RGS) on board XMM-Newton. We use the RGS spectrum to discern the many AGN outflow components. A global fit is applied to obtain their physical parameters. We find that the AGN wind can be well described by three narrow velocity components at -650, -950, and -2050 km/s. The RGS clearly resolves the -20 50 km/s component in C5+ Ly$α$, while the -650 km/s and -950 km/s velocities are blended. Similar velocities are resolved in the UV. The H-equivalent column densities of these components are, respectively, NH = 7x10^20, 2.2x10^21, and 10^20 cm^-2, for a total of 3x10^21 cm^-2. The -650 km/s component shows a broad ionisation distribution. We identify a photo-ionised emission component blue-shifted by -450 km/s which we ascribe to the same outflow that produces the absorption lines. The elemental abundance ratios of C, N, Ne, S, and Fe to O in the outflow tend to be between 1 - 2 times solar. Preliminary estimates of the absorber distance from the AGN center suggest it is at least a few pc away from the center, but more advanced methods need to be applied in order to obtain better constraints. The complex X-ray spectrum of NGC 7469 demonstrates the richness of high energy phenomena taking place in AGN cores. The subtle spectroscopic differences between the various components require deep, high-resolution observations, such as the present RGS spectrum, if one is to resolve them and perform quantitative plasma diagnostics.

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