X-RAY CHARACTERISTICS OF NGC 3516: A VIEW THROUGH THE COMPLEX ABSORBER
- Department of Physics, University of Maryland Baltimore County, Baltimore, MD 21250 (United States)
- Department of Physics, University of Oxford, Denys Wilkinson Building, Keble Road, Oxford OX1 3RH (United Kingdom)
- Department of Physics, Institute for Astrophysics and Computational Sciences, Catholic University of America, Washington, DC 20064 (United States)
- Astrophysics Group, School of Physical and Geographical Sciences, Keele University, Keele, Staffordshire ST5 5BG (United Kingdom)
We consider new Suzaku data for NGC 3516 taken during 2009 along with other recent X-ray observations of the source. The cumulative characteristics of NGC 3516 cannot be explained without invoking changes in the line-of-sight absorption. Contrary to many other well-studied Seyfert galaxies, NGC 3516 does not show a positive lag of hard X-ray photons relative to soft photons over the timescales sampled. In the context of reverberation models for the X-ray lags, the lack of such a signal in NGC 3516 is consistent with flux variations being dominated by absorption changes. The lack of any reverberation signal in such a highly variable source disfavors intrinsic continuum variability in this case. Instead, the colorless flux variations observed at high flux states for NGC 3516 are suggested to be a consequence of Compton-thick clumps of gas crossing the line of sight.
- OSTI ID:
- 21576785
- Journal Information:
- Astrophysical Journal, Journal Name: Astrophysical Journal Journal Issue: 1 Vol. 733; ISSN ASJOAB; ISSN 0004-637X
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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