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Title: NUSTAR and SUZAKU X-ray spectroscopy of NGC 4151: Evidence for reflection from the inner accretion disk

Journal Article · · The Astrophysical Journal (Online)
 [1];  [2];  [3];  [4];  [5];  [6];  [5];  [7];  [2];  [8];  [9];  [2];  [9];  [10];  [9];  [11];  [12];  [12];  [13];  [9] more »;  [9];  [14] « less
  1. Boston Univ., Boston, MA (United States)
  2. Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, Cambridge, MA (United States)
  3. Georgia Inst. of Technology, Atlanta, GA (United States)
  4. Pontificia Univ. Catolica de Chile, Santiago (Chile); Millennium Institute of Astrophysics, Santiago (Chile); Space Science Institute, Boulder, CO (United States)
  5. Univ. of California, Berkeley, CA (United States)
  6. Technical Univ. of Denmark, Lyngby (Denmark)
  7. Dr. Karl Remis-Observatory and Erlangen Centre for Astroparticle Physics, Bamberg (Germany)
  8. Univ. of Cambridge, Cambridge (United Kingdom)
  9. California Inst. of Technology (CalTech), Pasadena, CA (United States)
  10. Columbia Univ., New York, NY (United States)
  11. SLAC National Accelerator Lab., Menlo Park, CA (United States)
  12. Univ. degli Studi Roma Tre, Roma (Italy)
  13. Univ. of Maryland, College Park, MD (United States)
  14. Univ. of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI (United States)
+ Show Author Affiliations

We present X-ray timing and spectral analyses of simultaneous 150 ks Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array (NuSTAR) and Suzaku X-ray observations of the Seyfert 1.5 galaxy NGC 4151. We disentangle the continuum emission, absorption, and reflection properties of the active galactic nucleus (AGN) by applying inner accretion disk reflection and absorption-dominated models. With a time-averaged spectral analysis, we find strong evidence for relativistic reflection from the inner accretion disk. We find that relativistic emission arises from a highly ionized inner accretion disk with a steep emissivity profile, which suggests an intense, compact illuminating source. We find a preliminary, near-maximal black hole spin $$a\gt 0.9$$ accounting for statistical and systematic modeling errors. We find a relatively moderate reflection fraction with respect to predictions for the lamp post geometry, in which the illuminating corona is modeled as a point source. Through a time-resolved spectral analysis, we find that modest coronal and inner disk reflection (IDR) flux variation drives the spectral variability during the observations. As a result, we discuss various physical scenarios for the IDR model and we find that a compact corona is consistent with the observed features.

Research Organization:
SLAC National Accelerator Lab., Menlo Park, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA); USDOE Office of Science (SC)
Grant/Contract Number:
AC02-76SF00515
OSTI ID:
1313953
Report Number(s):
SLAC-PUB-16789; arXiv:1504.07950
Journal Information:
The Astrophysical Journal (Online), Vol. 806, Issue 2; ISSN 1538-4357
Publisher:
Institute of Physics (IOP)Copyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 47 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

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Cited By (16)

X-ray/UV/optical variability of NGC 4593 with Swift: reprocessing of X-rays by an extended reprocessor journal August 2018
The lamppost model: effects of photon trapping, the bottom lamp, and disc truncation journal April 2018
X-ray time lags in AGN: inverse-Compton scattering and spherical corona model journal May 2019
Fe–K LINE TIME VARIABILITY AND Ni ABUNDANCE OF DISTANT REFLECTORS IN SEYFERT GALAXIES journal April 2016
Swift Monitoring of NGC 4151: Evidence for a Second X-Ray/UV Reprocessing journal May 2017
X-Ray Structure between the Innermost Disk and Optical Broad-line Region in NGC 4151 journal September 2018
NuStar Hard X-Ray View of Low-luminosity Active Galactic Nuclei: High-energy Cutoff and Truncated Thin Disk journal January 2019
Implications of the Warm Corona and Relativistic Reflection Models for the Soft Excess in Mrk 509 journal January 2019
On Constraining the Growth History of Massive Black Holes via Their Distribution on the Spin–Mass Plane journal March 2019
Spectral Properties of NGC 4151 and the Estimation of Black Hole Mass Using TCAF Solution journal May 2019
Revisiting the Spectral and Timing Properties of NGC 4151 journal October 2019
Fe-K Line Time variability and Ni abundance of Distant Reflector in Seyfert Galaxies text January 2016
Swift monitoring of NGC 4151: Evidence for a Second X-ray/UV Reprocessing text January 2017
X-ray/UV/optical variability of NGC 4593 with Swift: Reprocessing of X-rays by an extended reprocessor text January 2017
The lamppost model: effects of photon trapping, the bottom lamp and disc truncation text January 2018
NuSTAR Hard X-ray View of Low-luminosity Active Galactic Nuclei: High-energy Cutoff and Truncated Thin Disk text January 2018

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Related Subjects

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS
astrophysics
ASTRO
GRQC
accretion
accretion disks
black hole physics
galaxies: active
galaxies: individual (NGC 4151)
galaxies: Seyfert
X-rays: galaxies