X-Ray Spectral Variability of Seyfert 2 Galaxies
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Astronomy & Astrophysics manuscript no. Seyfert c ESO 2018 February 27, 2018 X-ray spectral variability of Seyfert 2 galaxies Hern´andez-Garc´ıa, L.1; Masegosa, J.1; Gonz´alez-Mart´ın, O.2; M´arquez, I.1 1 Instituto de Astrof´ısica de Andaluc´ıa, CSIC, Glorieta de la Astronom´ıa, s/n, 18008 Granada, Spain e-mail: [email protected] 2 Centro de radioastronom´ıa y Astrof´ısica (CRyA-UNAM), 3-72 (Xangari), 8701, Morelia, Mexico Received XXXX; accepted YYYY ABSTRACT Context. Variability across the electromagnetic spectrum is a property of active galactic nuclei (AGN) that can help constrain the physical properties of these galaxies. Nonetheless, the way in which the changes happen and whether they occur in the same way in every AGN are still open questions. Aims. This is the third in a series of papers with the aim of studying the X-ray variability of different families of AGN. The main purpose of this work is to investigate the variability pattern(s) in a sample of optically selected Seyfert 2 galaxies. Methods. We use the 26 Seyfert 2s in the V´eron-Cetty and V´eron catalog with data available from Chandra and/or XMM–Newton public archives at different epochs, with timescales ranging from a few hours to years. All the spectra of the same source were simultaneously fitted, and we let different parameters vary in the model. Whenever possible, short-term variations from the analysis of the light curves and/or long-term UV flux variations were studied. We divided the sample into Compton-thick and Compton-thin candidates to account for the degree of obscuration. When transitions between Compton-thick and thin were obtained for different observations of the same source, we classified it as a changing-look candidate. Results. Short-term variability at X-rays was studied in ten cases, but variations are not found. From the 25 analyzed sources, 11 show long-term variations. Eight (out of 11) are Compton-thin, one (out of 12) is Compton-thick, and the two changing-look candidates are also variable. The main driver for the X-ray changes is related to the nuclear power (nine cases), while variations at soft energies or related to absorbers at hard X-rays are less common, and in many cases these variations are accompanied by variations in the nuclear continuum. At UV frequencies, only NGC 5194 (out of six sources) is variable, but the changes are not related to the nucleus. We report two changing-look candidates, MARK 273 and NGC 7319. Conclusions. A constant reflection component located far away from the nucleus plus a variable nuclear continuum are able to explain most of our results. Within this scenario, the Compton-thick candidates are dominated by reflection, which suppresses their continuum, making them seem fainter, and they do not show variations (except MARK 3), while the Compton-thin and changing-look candidates do. Key words. Galaxies: active – X-rays: galaxies – Ultraviolet: galaxies 1. Introduction and the sources are known as Compton-thick (Maiolino et al. 1998). It is widely accepted that active galactic nuclei (AGN) are pow- In fact, X-rays are a suitable tool for studying AGN be- ered by accretion onto a supermassive black hole (SMBH, Rees cause they are produced very close to the SMBH and because ff 1984). Among them, the di erent classes of Seyfert galaxies of the much smaller effect of obscuration at these frequencies / (type 1 type 2) have led to postulating a unified model (UM) than at UV, optical, or near-IR. Numerous studies have been for all AGN (Antonucci 1993; Urry & Padovani 1995). Under made at X-ray frequencies to characterize the spectra of Seyfert this scheme, the SMBH is fed by the accretion disk that is sur- galaxies (e.g., Turner et al. 1997; Risaliti 2002; Guainazzi et al. rounded by a dusty torus. This structure is responsible for ob- 2005b,a; Panessa et al. 2006; Cappi et al. 2006; Noguchi et al. scuring the region where the broad lines are produced (known 2009; LaMassa et al. 2011; Brightman & Nandra 2011a). The arXiv:1505.01166v3 [astro-ph.GA] 26 May 2015 as broad line region, BLR) in type 2 objects, while the region present work is focused on Seyfert 2 galaxies, which represent where the narrow lines are produced (narrow line region, NLR) ∼ 80% of all AGN (Maiolino & Rieke 1995). The works men- ff is still observed at optical frequencies. The di erence between tioned above have shown that the spectra of these objects are ff type 1 and 2 objects is therefore due to orientation e ects. characterized by a primary power-law continuum with a pho- / In agreement with the UM, the type 1 type 2 classifications toelectric cut-off, a thermal component, a reflected component, at X-ray frequencies are based on the absorption column den- and an iron emission line at 6.4 keV. It is important to appropi- sity, NH , because it is related with the obscuring material along ately account for the physical parameters of their spectra in order our line of sight (Maiolino et al. 1998); therefore, we observe a 22 −2 to constrain physical properties of the nuclei. Seyfert 1 if NH < 10 cm , i.e., unobscured view of the inner Given that variability across the electromagnetic spectrum parts of the AGN, and a type 2 if the column density is higher, is a property of all AGN, understanding these variations offers i.e., obscured view through the torus (e.g., Risaliti et al. 2002). an exceptional opportunity to constrain the physical characteris- × 24 −2 When NH > 1.5 10 cm , the absorbing column density is tics of AGN, which are known to show variations on timescales higher than the inverse of the Compton-scattering cross-section, ranging from a few days to years (Peterson 1997). The first sys- 1 Hern´andez-Garc´ıa et al.: X-ray variability of Seyfert 2s Table 1: General properties of the sample galaxies. 1 Name RA DEC Dist. NGal mV Morph. HBLR Ref. (J2000) (J2000) (Mpc) (1020 cm−2) type (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7) (8) (9) MARK 348 0 48 47.2 31 57 25 63.90 5.79 14.59 S0-a ✓ 1 NGC 424 1 11 27.7 -38 5 1 47.60 1.52 14.12 S0-a ✓ 1 MARK 573 1 43 57.8 2 20 59 71.30 2.52 14.07 S0-a ✓ 1 NGC 788 2 1 6.5 - 6 48 56 56.10 2.11 12.76 S0-a ✓ 1 ESO 417-G06 2 56 21.5 -32 11 6 65.60 2.06 14.30 S0-a - MARK 1066 2 59 58.6 36 49 14 51.70 9.77 13.96 S0-a ✗ 2 3C 98.0 3 58 54.5 10 26 2 124.90 10.20 15.41 E - MARK 3 6 15 36.3 71 2 15 63.20 9.67 13.34 S0 ✓ 1 MARK 1210 8 4 5.9 5 6 50 53.60 3.45 13.70 - ✓ 2 NGC 3079 10 1 58.5 55 40 50 19.10 0.89 12.18 SBcd ✗ 2 IC 2560 10 16 19.3 -33 33 59 34.80 6.40 13.31 SBb - NGC 3393 10 48 23.4 -25 9 44 48.70 6.03 13.95 SBa - NGC 4507 12 35 36.5 -39 54 33 46.00 5.88 13.54 Sab ✓ 1 NGC 4698 12 48 22.9 8 29 14 23.40 1.79 12.27 Sab - NGC 5194 13 29 52.4 47 11 41 7.85 1.81 13.47 Sbc ✗ 2 MARK 268 13 41 11.1 30 22 41 161.50 1.37 14.66 S0-a - MARK 273 13 44 42.1 55 53 13 156.70 0.89 14.91 Sab - Circinus 14 13 9.8 -65 20 17 4.21 74.40 12.1 Sb ✓ 1 NGC 5643 14 32 40.7 -44 10 28 16.90 7.86 13.60 Sc ✗ 2 MARK 477 14 40 38.1 53 30 15 156.70 1.05 15.03 E? ✓ 2 IC 4518A 14 57 41.2 -43 7 56 65.20 8.21 15. Sc - ESO 138-G01 16 51 20.5 -59 14 11 36.00 13.10 13.63 E-S0 - NGC 6300 17 16 59.2 -62 49 5 14.43 7.76 13.08 SBb - NGC 7172 22 2 1.9 -31 52 8 33.90 1.48 13.61 Sa ✗ 2 NGC 7212 22 7 2.0 10 14 0 111.80 5.12 14.8 Sb ✓ 1 NGC 7319 22 36 3.5 33 58 33 77.25 6.15 13.53 Sbc - (Col. 1) Name, (Col. 2) right ascension, (Col. 3) declination, (Col. 4) distance, (Col. 5) galactic absorption, (Col. 6) aparent magni- tude in the Johnson filter V from V´eron-Cetty & V´eron (2010), (Col. 7) galaxy morphological type from Hyperleda, (Col. 8) hidden broad polarized lines detected, and (Col. 9) its refs.: (1) V´eron-Cetty & V´eron (2010); and (2) Gu & Huang (2002). 1All distances are taken from the NED and correspond to the average redshift-independent distance estimates. tematic variability study of Seyfert 2 galaxies was performed ability in different families of AGN. In Hern´andez-Garc´ıa et al. by Turner et al. (1997) using ASCA data. Their results show that (2013, 2014), this study was made for LINERs, while the study short-term variability (from hours to days) is not common in of Seyfert 1 and the comparison between different families of Seyfert 2s, in contrast to what is observed in Seyfert 1 (e.g., AGN will be presented in forthcoming papers.