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The Nustar Spectrum of Mrk 335: Extreme Relativistic Effects Within Two Gravitational Radii of the Event Horizon?We present 3-50 keV NuSTAR observations of the active galactic nuclei Mrk 335 in a very low flux state. The spectrum is dominated by very strong features at the energies of the iron line at 5-7 keV and Compton hump from 10-30 keV. The source is variable during the observation, with the variability concentrated at low energies, which suggesting either a relativistic reflection or a variable absorption scenario. In this work, we focus on the reflection interpretation, making use of new relativistic reflection models that self consistently calculate the reflection fraction, relativistic blurring and angle-dependent reflection spectrum for different coronal heights to model the spectra. We find that the spectra can be well fitted with relativistic reflection, and that the lowest flux state spectrum is described by reflection alone, suggesting the effects of extreme light-bending occurring within approx. 2 gravitational radii (RG) of the event horizon. The reflection fraction decreases sharply with increasing flux, consistent with a point source moving up to above 10 RG as the source brightens. We constrain the spin parameter to greater than 0.9 at the 3(sigma) confidence level. By adding a spin-dependent upper limit on the reflection fraction to our models, we demonstrate that this can be a powerful way of constraining the spin parameter, particularly in reflection dominated states. We also calculate a detailed emissivity profile for the iron line, and find that it closely matches theoretical predictions for a compact source within a few RG of the black hole.
Document ID
20160001395
Acquisition Source
Goddard Space Flight Center
Document Type
Reprint (Version printed in journal)
External Source(s)
Authors
Parker, M. L.
(Institute of Astronomy Cambridge, United Kingdom)
Wilkins, D. R.
(Saint Mary's Univ. Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada)
Fabian, A. C.
(Institute of Astronomy Cambridge, United Kingdom)
Grupe, D.
(Pennsylvania State Univ. University Park, PA, United States)
Dauser, T.
(Remeis Observatory Bamberg, Germany)
Matt, G.
(Universita degli Studi Rome Rome, Italy)
Harrison, F. A.
(California Inst. of Tech. Pasadena, CA, United States)
Brenneman, L.
(Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics Cambridge, MA, United States)
Boggs, S. E.
(California Univ. Berkeley, CA, United States)
Christensen, F. E.
(Technical Univ. of Denmark Lyngby, Denmark)
Craig, W. W.
(Lawrence Livermore National Lab. Livermore, CA, United States)
Gallo, L. C.
(Saint Mary's Univ. Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada)
Hailey, C. J.
(Columbia Univ. New York, NY, United States)
Kara, E.
(Institute of Astronomy Cambridge, United Kingdom)
Komossa, S.
(Max-Planck-Inst. fuer Radioastronomie Bonn, Germany)
Marinucci, A.
(Universita degli Studi Rome Rome, Italy)
Miller, J. M.
(Michigan Univ. Ann Arbor, MI, United States)
Risaliti, G.
(National Inst. for Astrophysics Astronomical Observatory (INAF) Trieste, Italy)
Stern, D.
(Jet Propulsion Lab., California Inst. of Tech. Pasadena, CA, United States)
Walton, D. J.
(California Inst. of Tech. Pasadena, CA, United States)
Zhang, W. W.
(NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD United States)
Date Acquired
February 2, 2016
Publication Date
July 25, 2014
Publication Information
Publication: Monthly Notices of Royal Astronomical Society
Publisher: Oxford University Press on behalf of the Royal Astronomical Society
Volume: 443
Issue: 2
ISSN: 1365-8711
Subject Category
Astrophysics
Report/Patent Number
GSFC-E-DAA-TN24160
ISSN: 1365-8711
Report Number: GSFC-E-DAA-TN24160
Funding Number(s)
CONTRACT_GRANT: NAS5-00136
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Public Use Permitted.
Keywords
galaxies: active aEuro" galaxies: individual: Mrk 335 aEuro" galaxies: Seyfert
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