A COMPTON-THICK WIND IN THE HIGH-LUMINOSITY QUASAR, PDS 456
- Astrophysics Group, School of Physical and Geographical Sciences, Keele University, Keele, Staffordshire, ST5 5BG (United Kingdom)
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Leicester, University Road, Leicester LE1 7RH (United Kingdom)
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, Johns Hopkins University, N Charles Street, Baltimore, MD 21218 (United States)
- Astrophysics Division, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt Road, Greenbelt, MD 20771 (United States)
- Department of Physics, University of Oxford, Denys Wilkinson Building, Keble Road, Oxford OX1 3RH (United Kingdom)
- Institute of Astronomy, Madingley Road, Cambridge CB3 0HA (United Kingdom)
- Department of Physics, Technion, Haifa 32000 (Israel)
PDS 456 is a nearby (z = 0.184), luminous (L {sub bol} {approx} 10{sup 47} erg s{sup -1}) type I quasar. A deep 190 ks Suzaku observation in 2007 February revealed the complex, broadband X-ray spectrum of PDS 456. The Suzaku spectrum exhibits highly statistically significant absorption features near 9 keV in the quasar rest frame. We show that the most plausible origin of the absorption is from blueshifted resonance (1s-2p) transitions of hydrogen-like iron (at 6.97 keV in the rest frame). This indicates that a highly ionized outflow may be present moving at near relativistic velocities ({approx} 0.25c). A possible hard X-ray excess is detected above 15 keV with the Hard X-ray Detector (at 99.8% confidence), which may arise from high column density gas (N {sub H} > 10{sup 24} cm{sup -2}) partially covering the X-ray emission, or through strong Compton reflection. Here we propose that the iron K-shell absorption in PDS 456 is associated with a thick, possibly clumpy outflow, covering about 20% of 4{pi} steradian solid angle. The outflow is likely launched from the inner accretion disk, within 15-100 gravitational radii of the black hole. The kinetic power of the outflow may be similar to the bolometric luminosity of PDS 456. Such a powerful wind could have a significant effect on the co-evolution of the host galaxy and its supermassive black hole, through feedback.
- OSTI ID:
- 21313679
- Journal Information:
- Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 701, Issue 1; Other Information: DOI: 10.1088/0004-637X/701/1/493; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0004-637X
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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