X-RAY ABSORPTION AND OPTICAL EXTINCTION IN THE PARTIALLY OBSCURED SEYFERT NUCLEUS IN MRK 1393

Journal Article · Wed Apr 15 04:00:00 EDT 2009 · Astronomical Journal (New York, N.Y. Online)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1088/0004-6256/137/4/4002; COUNTRY OF INPUT: INTERNATIONAL ATOMIC ENERGY AGENCY (IAEA)· OSTI ID:21269231

Wang, T G; Zhou, H Y; Dong, X B; Lu, H L ^[1]; Grupe, D ^[2]; Yuan, W ^[3]

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1. Center for Astrophysics, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui, 230026 (China)
2. Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, Pennsylvania State University, 525 Davey Lab, University Park, PA 16802 (United States)
3. National Astronomical Observatories/Yunnan Observatory, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming, Yunnan 650011 (China)

We present a detailed study of the X-ray and optical spectra of the luminous Seyfert galaxy Mrk 1393, which revealed variable partial obscuration of the active nucleus. The X-ray spectra obtained by XMM-Newton and Swift show moderate absorption with a column density around 3 x 10{sup 21} cm{sup -2}, consistent with a dust-reddening interpretation of the steep Balmer decrement seen in recent optical spectra. The X-ray flux in the 0.5-2 keV band during the XMM-Newton observation in 2005, and Swift observation in 2006 was a factor of 6 brighter than that of the ROSAT All Sky Survey in 1991. In the past four years, the broad-H{alpha} line brightened by a factor of 4 accompanied by a decrease in the Balmer decrement. A comparison with literature spectra reveals variations in the dust extinction on timescales of several years, suggesting that the obscuring material are very close to the active nucleus. These observations indicate that a dust-to-gas ratio as high as the Galactic value can be present in moderately thick gas in the vicinity of the central engine within a few parsecs. We suggest that the obscuring material may be debris disrupted from the dusty torus.

• OSTI ID: 21269231
• Journal Information: Astronomical Journal (New York, N.Y. Online), Journal Name: Astronomical Journal (New York, N.Y. Online) Journal Issue: 4 Vol. 137; ISSN 1538-3881
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS
99 GENERAL AND MISCELLANEOUS
ABSORPTION
ABSORPTION SPECTRA
DUSTS
QUASARS
SEYFERT GALAXIES
X-RAY GALAXIES
X-RAY SPECTRA