Iron K Line Variability in the Low-Luminosity AGN NGC 4579

We present results of new ASCA observations of the low-luminosity AGN (LLAGN) NGC 4579 obtained in 1998 December 18 and 28, and we report on detection of variability of an iron K emission line. The X-ray luminosities in the 2-10 keV band for the two observations are nearly identical, L(sub X) approximately = 2 x 10(exp 4l) ergs/s, but they are approximately 35% larger than that measured in 1995 July by Terashima et al. (1998). An Fe K emission line is detected at 6.39 +/- 0.09 keV (source rest frame) which is lower than the line energy 6.73(sup +0.13, sub -0.12) keV in the 1995 observation. If we fit the Fe lines with a blend of two Gaussians centered at 6.4 keV and 6.73 KeV, the intensity of the 6.7 keV line decreased, while the intensity of the 6.4 keV line increased, within an interval of 3.5 years. This variability rules out thermal plasmas in the host galaxy as the origin of the ionized Fe line in this LLAGN. The detection and variability of the 6.4 keV line suggest that an optically thick standard accretion disk is present and subtends a large solid angle viewed from the nucleus at the Eddington ratio of L(sub Bol)/L(sub Eddington) approximately 2 x 10(exp -3) (Ho 1999). A broad disk-line profile is not clearly seen and the structure of the innermost part of accretion disk remains unclear.