Evidence for an emerging disc wind and collimated outflow during an X-ray flare in the narrow-line Seyfert 1 galaxy Mrk 335

Abstract

A triggered 140 ks XMM-Newton observation of the narrow-line Seyfert 1 (NLS1) Mrk 335 in December 2015 caught the active galaxy at its lowest X-ray flux since 2007. The NLS1 is relatively quiescent for the first ∼ 120 ks of the observation before it flares in brightness by a factor of about five in the last 20 ks. Although only part of the flare is captured before the observation is terminated, the data reveal significant differences between the flare and quiescent phases. During the low-flux state, Mrk 335 demonstrates a reflection-dominated spectrum that results from a compact corona around a Kerr black hole. In addition to the rapid brightening, the flare is further described by spectral softening and a falling reflection fraction that are consistent with previous observations advocating at least part of the corona in Mrk 335 could be the base of an aborted jet. The spectrum during the flaring interval reveals several residuals between the 2 − 3σ level that could be attributed to absorption lines from a highly ionised plasma that is moving outward at v ∼ 0.12c. It could be that the increased luminosity during the flare enhances the radiation pressure sufficiently to launch a possible wind. If the wind is indeed responding to the change in corona luminosity then it must be located within ∼ 80 r g . The escape velocity at this distance is comparable to the estimated wind velocity. If confirmed, this is the first example of a radio-quiet AGN exhibiting behaviour consistent with both diffuse and collimated outflow.

The nuclear environment of the NLS1 Mrk 335: Obscuration of the X-ray line emission by a variable outflow

“…However, the fact that the spectrum is still dominated by photoionised emission means in 2019, at least 6 months after the descent into the low flux state, means that the line emitting region must be located at least 6 light months (0.1 pc) from the X-ray source, so we can discount this possibility. The broad iron line measured in other observations (Parker et al 2014a;Gallo et al 2015Gallo et al , 2019) also argues against a fully face-on configuration, as this would produce a relatively narrow line (although the inner disk does not necessarily have to be aligned with the larger AGN system, e.g. Middleton et al 2016).…”

“…These features are usually interpreted as evidence for absorption from so-called ultrafast outflows (UFOs), winds with velocities of ∼ 0.03 − 0.3c. Indeed, (Gallo et al 2019) found tentative evidence for such blueshifted absorption in Mrk 335, with a velocity of ∼ 0.12c. While some such detections are confirmed at huge statistical significance (e.g.…”

Testing the Kerr Metric with X-Ray Reflection Spectroscopy of Mrk 335 Suzaku Data

“…An added detector advantage of Suzaku XIS is that it had relatively lower intrinsic background contamination compared to EPIC cameras (Jansen et al 2001), by construction. Gallo et al (2013), with a combined ∼200 ks 2009 XMM Newton exposure time, show weak constraints on a * (similar to Walton et al 2013) with a deeper analysis of the intermediate-flux data. The remaining datasets (all in low-flux state) have much lower effective exposures and net counts for both satellite missions, in addition to significant warm absorber modification (likely to heighten inter-component degeneracies) of the reflection data.…”

“…In order to avoid pathologies in the spacetime, the following limits on α 13 and α 22 are imposed (Johannsen 2013;Bambi et al 2017): Grier et al 2012). First detected in X-rays by UHURU (Tananbaum et al 1978), Mrk 335 has been observed and studied numerous times by various X-ray observatories like ASCA, Swift, Suzaku, XMM Newton and NuSTAR (e.g., Ballantyne et al 2001;Gondoin et al 2002;Crummy et al 2006;Grupe et al 2007;Longinotti et al 2007;O'Neill et al 2007;Larsson et al 2008;Grupe et al 2008;Patrick et al 2011;Grupe et al 2012;Gallo et al 2013;Walton et al 2013;Longinotti et al 2013;Parker et al 2014;Gallo et al 2015;Wilkins & Gallo 2015;Keek & Ballantyne 2016;Beheshtipour et al 2017;Ballantyne 2017;Gallo et al 2019). It is an extremely variable source, exhibiting more than a factor of 10 fluctuation in the X-ray flux over the past 15 years.…”

Line shapes in narrow-line Seyfert 1 galaxies: a tracer of physical properties?

“…This phenomenon is believed to be the driver of the EV1 properties of AGN, and it actually accounts for many attributes of NLS1s. Strong disk winds are often observed in these sources (e.g., Jin et al, 2017a,b;Gallo et al, 2019), and the high Eddington ratio could also be responsible for the bulk outflowing motion often observed in their NLR Marziani et al, 2003;Komossa et al, 2008).…”