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Implications of the Warm Corona and Relativistic Reflection Models for the Soft Excess in Mrk 509We present the analysis of the first Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array observations (∼220 ks), simultaneous with the last Suzaku observations (∼50 ks), of the active galactic nucleus of the bright Seyfert 1 galaxy Mrk 509. The time-averaged spectrum in the 1–79 keV X-ray band is dominated by a power-law continuum (Γ ∼ 1.8–1.9), a strong soft excess around 1 keV, and signatures of X-ray reflection in the form of Fe K emission (∼6.4 keV), an Fe K absorption edge (∼7.1 keV), and a Compton hump due to electron scattering (∼20–30 keV). We show that these data can be described by two very different prescriptions for the soft excess: a warm (kT ∼ 0.5–1 keV) and optically thick (τ ∼ 10–20) Comptonizing corona or a relativistically blurred ionized reflection spectrum from the inner regions of the accretion disk. While these two scenarios cannot be distinguished based on their fit statistics, we argue that the parameters required by the warm corona model are physically incompatible with the conditions of standard coronae. Detailed photoionization calculations show that even in the most favorable conditions, the warm corona should produce strong absorption in the observed spectrum. On the other hand, while the relativistic reflection model provides a satisfactory description of the data, it also requires extreme parameters, such as maximum black hole spin, a very low and compact hot corona, and a very high density for the inner accretion disk. Deeper observations of this source are thus necessary to confirm the presence of relativistic reflection and further understand the nature of its soft excess.
Document ID
20210010925
Acquisition Source
Goddard Space Flight Center
Document Type
Reprint (Version printed in journal)
Authors
Javier Garcia ORCID
(Dr. Karl Remeis-Sternwarte Bamberg, Germany)
Erin Kara ORCID
(University of Maryland, College Park College Park, Maryland, United States)
Dominic Walton ORCID
(University of Cambridge Cambridge, United Kingdom)
Tobias Beuchert
(University of Amsterdam Amsterdam, Noord-Holland, Netherlands)
Thomas Dauser ORCID
(University of Erlangen-Nuremberg Erlangen, Bayern, Germany)
Efrain Gatuzz ORCID
(European Southern Observatory Garching bei München, Germany)
Mislav Baloković ORCID
(Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States)
James F. Steiner ORCID
(Massachusetts Institute of Technology Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States)
Francesco Tombesi
(University of Maryland, College Park College Park, Maryland, United States)
Riley M. T. Connors ORCID
(California Institute of Technology Pasadena, California, United States)
Timothy R. Kallman ORCID
(Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, Maryland, United States)
Fiona A. Harrison ORCID
(California Institute of Technology Pasadena, California, United States)
Andrew Fabian ORCID
(University of Cambridge Cambridge, United Kingdom)
Jörn Wilms ORCID
(Dr. Karl Remeis-Sternwarte Bamberg, Germany)
Daniel Stern ORCID
(Jet Propulsion Lab La Cañada Flintridge, California, United States)
Lauranne Lanz ORCID
(Dartmouth College Hanover, New Hampshire, United States)
Claudio Ricci ORCID
(Diego Portales University Santiago, Chile)
David Ballantyne ORCID
(Georgia Institute of Technology Atlanta, Georgia, United States)
Date Acquired
March 4, 2021
Publication Date
January 24, 2019
Publication Information
Publication: Astrophysical Journal
Publisher: IOP Publishing / American Astronomical Society
Volume: 871
Issue: 1
Issue Publication Date: January 20, 2019
ISSN: 0004-6256
e-ISSN: 1538-3881
Subject Category
Astronomy
Astrophysics
Funding Number(s)
WBS: 399131
CONTRACT_GRANT: 80GSFC17M0002
CONTRACT_GRANT: NNG08FD60C
CONTRACT_GRANT: NNX15AV31G
CONTRACT_GRANT: 80NSSC177K0515
CONTRACT_GRANT: PF5-160144
CONTRACT_GRANT: NNX15AP24G
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Portions of document may include copyright protected material.
Technical Review
External Peer Committee
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