High-density disc reflection spectroscopy of low-mass active galactic nuclei
| Autor: | Mallick, L., Fabian, A. C., García, J. A., Tomsick, J. A., Parker, M. L., Dauser, T., Wilkins, D. R., De Marco, B., Steiner, J. F., Connors, R. M. T., Mastroserio, G., Markowitz, A. G., Pinto, C., Alston, W. N., Lohfink, A. M., Gandhi, P. |
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| Rok vydání: | 2022 |
| Předmět: | |
| Druh dokumentu: | Working Paper |
| DOI: | 10.1093/mnras/stac990 |
| Popis: | The standard alpha-disc model predicts an anti-correlation between the density of the inner accretion disc and the black hole mass times square of the accretion rate, as seen in higher mass ($M_{\rm BH}>10^{6} M_{\odot}$) active galactic nuclei (AGNs). In this work, we test the predictions of the alpha-disc model and study the properties of the inner accretion flow for the low-mass end ($M_{\rm BH}\approx 10^{5-6}M_{\odot}$) of AGNs. We utilize a new high-density disc reflection model where the density parameter varies from $n_{\rm e}=10^{15}$ to $10^{20}$ cm$^{-3}$ and apply it to the broadband X-ray (0.3-10 keV) spectra of the low-mass AGN sample. The sources span a wide range of Eddington fractions and are consistent with being sub-Eddington or near-Eddington. The X-ray spectra reveal a soft X-ray excess below $\sim 1.5$ keV which is well modeled by high-density reflection from an ionized accretion disc of density $n_{\rm e}\sim 10^{18}$ cm$^{-3}$ on average. The results suggest a radiation pressure-dominated disc with an average of 70% fraction of the disc power transferred to the corona, consistent with that observed in higher mass AGNs. We show that the disc density higher than $10^{15}$ cm$^{-3}$ can result from the radiation pressure compression when the disc surface does not hold a strong magnetic pressure gradient. We find tentative evidence for a drop in black hole spin at low-mass regimes. Comment: 20 pages, 10 figures, 6 tables. Accepted for publication in MNRAS |
| Databáze: | arXiv |
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