X-Ray Absorption in Active Galactic Nuclei
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Università degli Studi di Milano Bicocca Dipartimento di Fisica G. Occhialini Corso di Dottorato in Fisica e Astronomia Ciclo XXVI X-ray absorption in Active Galactic Nuclei Tesi di Dottorato di Elena M Tutor: Monica C Valentina B Roberto D C preparata presso INAF-Osservatorio Astronomico di Brera Data Dissertazione: 28 Settembre 2015 Anno Accademico 2013-2014 “ Far away there in the sunshine are my highest aspirations. I may not reach them, but I can look up and see their beauty, believe in them, and try to follow where they lead.” Louisa May Alcott Dedico questa tesi a mio padre. List of Figures 1.1 Composite quasar spectrum .......................... 11 1.2 Example of Seyfert 1s and Seyfert 2s spectra ................. 13 1.3 Baldwin diagnostic diagram ......................... 14 1.4 Example of FRI and FRII radio galaxies ................... 17 1.5 X-ray spectrum of an AGN, for different column densities .......... 18 1.6 Comparison of the optical spectra of a Sy2, NLS1 and a Sy1 ........ 20 1.7 Example of the optical spectrum of a BL LAC source ............ 21 1.8 Unified Model of AGN scheme ........................ 26 1.9 NGC 7582: variability of the X-ray spectrum during Suzakumonitoring campaign ................................... 29 1.10 NGC 1356: variability of the absorption in the X-ray spectrum ....... 30 1.11 High resolution spectrum of the BAL PHL 5200 ............... 31 1.12 Sketch of the Elvis (2000) model ....................... 32 1.13 Sketch of the model by Risaliti et al. (2002) to account for X-ray absorp- tion variability in Seyfert 2s .......................... 35 1.14 Classification of AGN in the different unified schemes ............ 37 2.1 Typical X-ray spectrum of a type 1 AGN, showing the various spectral components frequently observed together with the average total spectrum. 41 2.2 Left panel: first X-ray spectra of the QSO MR 2251-178. Right panel: Incident and emergent spectra obtained using a warm absorber model. 42 2.3 X-ray reflection spectrum from a neutral, constant density illuminated slab. 45 2.4 Model representing the typical X-ray reflection spectrum where the Fe Kα doublet, the Fe Kβ, the Fe K edge and the Compton hump are shown. 47 2.5 Several effects that act on the profile of an emission line. .......... 49 2.6 Left panel: iron line profile produced by an accretion disc around a non spinning (Schwarzschild) black hole, for three different inclination. The re- gion of the disc producing the profile is assumed to extend from 6rg to 30rg. Right panel: comparison of the line profiles produced by a Schwarzschild black hole and a Kerr Black hole. ....................... 50 2.7 Reflection spectra produced by an ionized slab (with ionization parameter ξ) 52 2.8 Soft X-ray spectrum (below 2 keV) of the QSO MR2251-178, in the form of residuals with respect to the continuum, as observed by the Chandra Medium Energy Grating in 2011. ...................... 56 2.9 Schematic diagram of a stratified accretion disc wind. ............ 58 3.1 NGC 454 in a 1.75 1.75 arcmin image taken from the Hubble Space × Telescope. ................................... 62 3.2 NGC 454 as seen by ESO 3.6m telescope .................. 63 3.3 Optical spectrum of NGC 454 East. ..................... 64 4 List of Figures 3.4 Optical spectrum of NGC 454 West. ..................... 64 3.5 Left panel:XMM-Newton EPIC-pn image (0.5–10 keV) with superimposed the Suzaku XIS extraction region. Right Panel: Digital Sky Survey (DSS) optical image with overlaid the XMM-Newton PN 0.5–10 keV contours. 66 3.6 Ratio between the Suzaku and Swift data and the unabsorbed power-law model used to fit Suzaku data in the 2–5 keV energy range. ......... 70 3.7 Unfolded Suzaku spectrum, showing separately the different components of the best-fit model. ............................. 73 3.8 Comparison between the Suzaku XIS, HXD, Swift-BAT and the XMM- Newton data showing the dramatic change in the curvature in the 3–6 keV energy range. ................................. 74 3.9 Residuals of the XMM-Newton data in the range 4–8 keV with respect to the spectral model discussed in section 3.3.2, showing an absorption feature at about 6.7 keV and a spectral curvature in the 5–6 keV range. 75 4.1 Nordic Optical Telescope images of Mrk 348 ................ 84 4.2 Top panel: Digital Sky Survey (DSS) optical image; Bottom panel: Optical spectrum of Mrk 348 as reported by Marcha et al. (1996). ......... 85 4.3 XMM-Newton EPIC-pn and Suzaku XIS-0 images of Mrk 348. ....... 89 4.4 Data/model ratio between the Suzaku data and a basic continuum model composed of an absorbed and an additional unabsorbed power law, show- ing the iron line profile. ............................ 91 4.5 Data/model ratio in the soft X-ray energy region to the Suzaku data and the model including the reflection component (modelled with ). ..... 93 4.6 Data/model ratio in the 4–8 keV energy region between the Suzaku data and the model including the reflection component (modelled with ). 94 4.7 Data/model ratio in the 4–8 keV energy region between the Suzaku data and the model including an ionised absorber. ................. 96 4.8 Suzaku 0.5–70 keV data and best-fit model of Mrk 348. ........... 99 4.9 Comparison between the X-ray emission measured with Suzaku in 2008 (black data points) and XMM-Newton (red data points) in 2002. 102 4.10 Comparison of the measured values of NHin ASCA observation (Awaki et al. 2000), in RXTE observation during the time lag from 1997 to 2011 (Akylas et al. 2002 and A. Markowitz in prep. for the 2011 data) and the NH measured from Suzaku and XMM-Newton observations (this work). 105 5.1 Possible absorption scenario for the Suzaku (upper panel) and XMM- Newton (lower panel) observations of NGC 454 ...............113 5.2 Possible absorption scenario for the Suzaku (upper panel) and XMM- Newton (lower panel) observations of Mrk 348 ...............114 A.1 Diagram of the XMM-Newton spacecraft (adapted from the ESA website). 118 A.2 Representation of the path followed by radiation incident on the XMM- Newton X-ray telescope mirrors, with the pn camera in focus. ........118 List of Figures 5 A.3 Operating modes of the MOS-CCD cameras. ................120 A.4 PSFs for the MOS1, MOS2 and the pn X-ray telescopes, for the same source.121 A.5 Design of the RGS (Brinkman et al. 1998) ..................122 A.6 (a) Schematic image of the Suzaku satellite in orbit (b) Side view of Suzaku with the internal structures (Mitsuda et al. 2007). ..............126 A.7 Scheme of the XIS CCD ...........................127 A.8 XIS2 field, showing the calibration sources. .................128 A.9 Picture and scheme of the HXD (Kokubun et al. 2007). ...........129 A.10 Scheme of the Swift observatory (Gehrels et al. 2004). ...........131 A.11 Scheme of the Burst Alert Telescope (BAT) (Gehrels et al. 2004) . 132 A.12 Table reporting the main features of the BAT instrument (Barthelmy et al. 2005). .....................................133 A.13 Scheme of the Swift X-ray Telescope (XRT, Burrows et al. 2005). 134 A.14 Table reporting the main parameter of UVOT (Roming et al. 2005). 135 List of Tables 1.1 Classification scheme of AGN ........................ 22 3.1 Summary of the Suzaku and XMM-Newton parameters for the best-fit mod- els described in Section 3.3.1, and 3.3.2.1. ................. 72 3.2 Summary of the Suzaku and XMM-Newton parameters using the model described in Section 3.3.3. ...................... 80 4.1 Summary of the X-ray emission lines detected in the 2–8 keV spectrum of Suzaku. .................................... 98 4.2 Model parameters of the two possible scenarios (described in Sec. 4.3 to explain the variation of the Fe Kα emission line intensity between Suzaku and XMM-Newton observations. .......................104 4.3 Summary of the Suzaku and XMM-Newton parameters for the best-fit mod- els described in section 4.2.1.2, and 4.3. ...................106 A.1 Main characteristics of XMM-Newton (see The XMM-Newton Users’ Handbook for further details). ........................124 A.2 Comparison of the main XMM-Newton properties with the other X-ray missions ...................................125 A.3 Main features of the Suzaku spacecraft and instruments ...........130 A.4 Table with the main features of the Swift X-ray Telescope (XRT, Burrows et al. 2005). ..................................134 Contents 1 Introduction 7 1.1 Active Galactic Nuclei ............................ 7 1.2 Classification ................................. 10 1.2.1 Classification based on bolometric luminosity ............ 10 1.2.2 Classification based on optical spectra: Type 1 and Type 2 AGN . 12 1.2.3 Classification based on Radio emission properties .......... 15 1.2.4 X-ray classification .......................... 16 1.2.5 Subclasses .............................. 19 1.3 AGN Unification ............................... 22 1.3.1 Unification Scheme .......................... 23 1.4 Insights on AGN structure from X-ray absorption variability ........ 27 1.5 Alternative models .............................. 31 1.5.1 Elvis (2000) unified scheme ..................... 31 1.5.2 Risaliti (2002) model ......................... 34 1.5.3 Elitzur (2007) model: torus model and clumpy unification ..... 34 1.5.4 Torus disk-wind model: basis for a “grand unification scheme”? . 37 2 The X-ray spectrum 39 2.1 X-ray primary continuum ........................... 40 2.2 The reprocessed X-ray spectrum ....................... 43 2.2.1 Reflection ............................... 44 2.3 Fluorescence emission lines ......................... 46 2.3.1 Ionised reflection ........................... 50 2.4 X-ray absorption ............................... 51 2.4.1 Cold X-ray absorption: Compton-thin and Compton-thick matter . 51 2.5 Ionised absorption ............................... 53 2.5.1 Warm absorbers ..........................