Molecular gas in Arches cloud located near the Arches cluster is one of the emitters of K-$α$ line of neutral iron and X-ray continuum in the Galactic center (GC). Similarly to the cloud Sgr B2, another well-known emitter of the iron line in the GC, the Arches cloud demonstrates temporal decline of the X-ray emission. The most natural origin of this emission is irradiation of primary photons of an X-ray flare from a distant source, most likely Sgr A*. However, recent observations of the Arches cloud discovered variations of equivalent width of the 6.4 keV iron line, which indicated that the X-ray emission from the cloud is a combination of two components with different origin and different equivalent width, one of which is time-variable, while the other is stationary during the period of observations. We considered two different scenarios: a) this emission is formed by reflection from two clouds, which are at some distance from each other, when they are irradiated by two different flares; and b) the other scenario assumes a combination of X-ray fluxes produced in the same cloud by reflection of primary photons and by subrelativistic cosmic rays. We present restrictions for both model and conditions at which these scenarios can be realized. Although none of the models can be completely ruled out, we find that the X-ray reflection model requires less assumption and therefore is the most viable.
The iron line at 6.4 keV provides a valuable spectral diagnostic in several fields of X-ray astronomy. It often results from the reprocessing of external X-rays by a neutral or low-ionized medium, but it can also be excited by impacts of low-energy cosmic rays. This paper aims to provide signatures allowing identification of radiation from low-energy cosmic rays in X-ray spectra showing the 6.4 keV line. We study in detail the production of nonthermal line and continuum X-rays by interaction of accelerated electrons and ions with a neutral ambient gas. Corresponding models are then applied to …
We present results of long NuSTAR (200 ks) and XMM-Newton (100 ks) observations of the Arches stellar cluster, a source of bright thermal (kT~2 keV) X-rays with prominent Fe XXV K_alpha 6.7 keV line emission and a nearby molecular cloud, characterized by an extended non-thermal hard X-ray continuum and fluorescent Fe K_alpha 6.4 keV line of a neutral or low ionization state material around the cluster. Our analysis demonstrates that the non-thermal emission of the Arches cloud underwent a dramatic change, with its homogeneous morphology, traced by fluorescent Fe K_alpha line emission, vanishin…
We present the results of eight years of XMM-Newton observations of the region surrounding the Arches cluster in the Galactic Center. We study the spatial distribution and temporal behaviour of the Fe-Ka line emission with the objective of identifying the likely source of the excitation. We investigate the variability of the 6.4-keV line emission of four clouds through spectral fitting of the EPIC MOS data with the use of a modelled background, which avoids many of the systematics inherent in local background subtraction. We also employ spectral stacking of both EPIC PN and MOS data to search …
Recent NuSTAR and XMM-Newton observations of the molecular cloud around the Arches stellar cluster demonstrate a dramatic change both in morphology and intensity of its non-thermal X-ray emission, similar to that observed in many molecular clouds of the Central Molecular Zone at the Galactic Center. These variations trace the propagation of illuminating fronts, presumably induced by past flaring activities of Sgr A$^{\star}$. In this paper we present results of a long NuSTAR observation of the Arches complex in 2016, taken a year after the previous XMM+NuSTAR observations which revealed a stro…
Direct detection of the non-thermal X-ray emission from the Arches star cluster
Space Research Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences（俄罗斯科学院空间研究所）；Ioffe Institute（约费研究所）；Univ. Grenoble Alpes, CNRS, IPAG（格勒诺布尔阿尔卑斯大学，法国国家科学研究中心，IPAG）
The origin of the iron fluorescent line at 6.4 keV from an extended region surrounding the Arches cluster is debated and the non-variability of this emission up to 2009 has favored the low-energy cosmic-ray origin over a possible irradiation by hard X-rays. By probing the variability of the Arches cloud non-thermal emission in the most recent years, including a deep observation in 2012, we intend to discriminate between the two competing scenarios. We perform a spectral fit of XMM-Newton observations collected from 2000 to 2013 in order to build the Arches cloud lightcurve corresponding to bot…
The Arches cluster is a young, densely packed massive star cluster in our Galaxy that shows a high level of star formation activity. The nature of the extended non-thermal X-ray emission around the cluster remains unclear. The observed bright Fe K_alpha line emission at 6.4 keV from material that is neutral or in a low ionization state can be produced either by X-ray photoionization or by cosmic-ray particle bombardment or both. In this paper we report on the first detection of the extended emission around the Arches cluster above 10 keV with the NuSTAR mission, and present results on its morp…
The NuSTAR mission performed a long (200 ks) observation of the Arches stellar cluster in 2015. The emission from the cluster represents a mixture of bright thermal (kT~2 keV) X-rays and the extended non-thermal radiation of the molecular cloud around the cluster. In this work we describe the method used to decouple spatially confused emission of the stellar cluster and the molecular cloud in the NuSTAR data.
Using RXTE/ASM archival data, we investigate the behaviour of the spectral hardness ratio as a function of X-ray luminosity in a sample of six transient X-ray pulsars (EXO 2030+375, GX 304-1, 4U 0115+63, V 0332+63, A 0535+26 and MXB 0656-072). In all sources we find that the spectral hardness ratio defined as $F_{5-12\mathrm{keV}}/ F_{1.33-3\mathrm{keV}}$ increases with the ASM flux (1.33--12 keV) at low luminosities and then saturates or even slightly decreases above some critical X-ray luminosity falling into the range $\sim(3-7)\times10^{37}$~erg~s$^{-1}$. Two-dimensional structure of accre…
A detailed analysis of a long XMM-Newton observation of the Narrow Line Seyfert 1 galaxy 1H0707-495 is presented, including spectral fitting, spectral variability and timing studies. The two main features in the spectrum are the drop at ~ 7 keV and a complex excess below 1 keV. These are well described by two broad, K and L, iron lines. Alternative models based on absorption, although they may fit the high energy drop, cannot account for the 1 keV complexity and the spectrum as a whole. Spectral variability shows that the spectrum is composed of at least two components, which are interpreted a…
We report the discovery of a broad emission feature at ~0.7 keV in the spectra of the ultra-compact X-ray binary 4U 1543-624, obtained with the high-resolution spectrographs of the XMM-Newton and Chandra satellites. We confirm the presence of the feature in the broad band MOS2 spectrum of the source. As suggested before in the literature, the donor star in this source is a CO or ONe white dwarf, which transfers oxygen-rich material to the accretor, conceivably a neutron star. The X-rays reprocessed in this oxygen-rich accretion disc could give a reflection spectrum with O VIII Ly alpha as the …
We present a comprehensive study of the emission spectra from accreting sources. We use our new reflection code to compute the reflected spectra from an accretion disk illuminated by X-rays. This set of models covers different values of ionization parameter, solar iron abundance and photon index for the illuminating spectrum. These models also include the most complete and recent atomic data for the inner-shell of the iron and oxygen isonuclear sequences. We concentrate our analysis to the 2-10 keV energy region, and in particular to the iron K-shell emission lines. We show the dependency of t…
Astronomical Institute of the Czech Academy of Sciences（捷克科学院天文研究所）；Université de Strasbourg, CNRS, Observatoire Astronomique de Strasbourg, UMR 7550（斯特拉斯堡大学、法国国家科学研究中心、斯特拉斯堡天文台）；INAF Istituto di Astrofisica e Planetologia Spaziali（意大利国家天体物理研究所）；Dipartimento di Fisica e Astronomia, Università degli Studi di Padova（帕多瓦大学物理与天文学系）；Dipartimento di Matematica e Fisica, Università degli Studi Roma Tre（罗马第三大学数学与物理系）；Nicolaus Copernicus Astronomical Center, Polish Academy of Sciences（波兰科学院尼古拉·哥白尼天文中心）
We report on the discovery and energy dependence of hard phase lags in the 2.14 Hz pulsed profiles of GRO J1744-28. We used data from XMM-Newton and NuSTAR. We were able to well constrain the lag spectrum with respect to the softest (0.3--2.3 keV) band: the delay shows increasing lag values reaching a maximum delay of $\sim$ 12 ms, between 6 and 6.4 keV. After this maximum, the value of the hard lag drops to 7 ms, followed by a recovery to a plateau at 9 ms for energies above 8 keV. NuSTAR data confirm this trend up to 30 keV, but the measurements are statistically poorer, and therefore, less …
We evaluate the emission that must arise due to reflection of the putative collimated X-ray radiation of SS 433 by atomic gas and molecular clouds in the Galactic plane and compare the predicted signal with existing RXTE and ASCA data for the region of interest. Assuming that the intrinsic X-ray spectrum of SS 433 is similar to that of ultraluminous X-ray sources (ULXs), we obtain an upper limit of $\sim 2\times 10^{39}$ erg s$^{-1}$ on its total (angular-integrated) luminosity in the 2--10 keV energy band, which is only weakly dependent on the half-opening angle, $Θ_r$, of the emission cone. …
We describe the analysis of the seven broad-band X-ray continuum observations of the archetypal Seyfert 1 galaxy NGC 5548 that were obtained with XMM-Newton or Chandra, simultaneously with high-energy (> 10 keV) observations with NuSTAR and INTEGRAL. These data were obtained as part of a multiwavelength campaign undertaken from the summer of 2013 till early 2014. We find evidence of a high-energy cut-off in at least one observation, which we attribute to thermal Comptonization, and a constant reflected component that is likely due to neutral material at least a few light months away from the c…
There is now abundant evidence that the luminosity of the Galactic super-massive black hole (SMBH) has not always been as low as it is nowadays. The observation of varying non-thermal diffuse X-ray emission in molecular complexes in the central 300 pc has been interpreted as delayed reflection of a past illumination by bright outbursts of the SMBH. The observation of different variability timescales of the reflected emission in the Sgr A molecular complex can be well explained if the X-ray emission of at least two distinct and relatively short events (i.e. about 10 years or less) is currently …
The accretion-powered X-ray pulsar 4U 1626--67 is one of the few highly magnetized pulsars that accretes through Roche-lobe overflow from a low-mass companion. The characteristics of its broadband spectrum are similar to those of X-ray pulsars hosted in a high-mass X-ray binary systems, with a broad resonant cyclotron scattering feature (CRSF) at $\sim$37 keV. In this work, we examine the pulse-resolved and the pulse-averaged broadband spectrum using data from NuSTAR and Swift. We use the Becker & Wolff model of bulk+thermal Comptonization to infer key physical parameters of the accretion colu…
The First X-ray Polarimetry of GRS 1739--278 Reveals Its Rapidly Spinning Black Hole
State Key Laboratory of Particle Astrophysics, Institute of High Energy Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences（中国科学院高能物理研究所粒子天体物理国家重点实验室）；University of Chinese Academy of Sciences（中国科学院大学）；Astronomical Institute of the Czech Academy of Sciences（捷克科学院天文研究所）；Department of Astronomy, University of Geneva（日内瓦大学天文系）；Fluid and Complex Systems Centre, Coventry University（考文垂大学流体与复杂系统中心）；INAF—Istituto di Astrofisica e Planetologia Spaziali（意大利国家天体物理研究所空间天体物理学和行星科学研究所）；Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Southampton（南安普顿大学物理与天文系）；Dipartimento di Matematica e Fisica, Università degli Studi Roma Tre（罗马第三大学数学与物理系）；NASA Marshall Space Flight Center（美国国家航空航天局马歇尔太空飞行中心）
The shape of the ion energy spectra plays a critical role toward determining the ion energetics, the acceleration mechanisms and the possible sources of different plasma and suprathermal ion populations. The determination of the exact shape of the total particle spectrum, provide the necessary means to address the inner heliosheath (IHS) dynamics. Apart from various modeling efforts, a direct fit to the measured ion spectra for an extended energy range of $\sim$0.11 to 344 MeV has not been performed to date. We use an extended set of combined 0.11-55 keV ENA measurements from the Interstellar …
A large fraction of accreting black hole and neutron stars systems present clear evidence of the reprocessing of X-rays in the atmosphere of an optically-thick accretion disk. The main hallmarks of X-ray reflection include fluorescent K-shell emission lines from iron ($\sim 6.4-6.9$ keV), the absorption iron K-edge ($\sim 7-9$ keV), and a broad featureless component known as the Compton hump ($\sim 20-40$ keV). This Compton hump is produced as the result of the scattering of high-energy photons ($E \gtrsim 10$ keV) of the relatively colder electrons ($T_e \sim 10^5-10^7$ K) in the accretion di…
We present an analysis of the 3-79 keV NuSTAR spectrum of the low-luminosity active galactic nucleus NGC 7213. In agreement with past observations, we find a lower limit to the high-energy cut-off of Ec > 140 keV, no evidence for a Compton-reflected continuum, and the presence of an iron Kalpha complex, possibly produced in the broad-line region. From the application of the MYTorus model, we find that the line-emitting material is consistent with the absence of a significant Compton reflection if arising from a Compton-thin torus of gas with a column density of 5.0(+2.0,-1.6) cm^-2. We report …
MCG-6-30-15 is the archetypal example of a type I active galaxy showing broad "red-wing" emission in its X-ray spectrum at energies below the 6.4 keV Fe K-alpha emission line and a continuum excess above 20 keV. Miller et al. (2008) showed that these spectral features could be caused by clumpy absorbing material, but Reynolds et al. (2009) have argued that the observed Fe K-alpha line luminosity is inconsistent with this explanation unless the global covering factor of the absorber(s) is very low. However, the Reynolds et al. calculation effectively considers the only source of opacity to be t…
We present a broadband (~0.5-79 keV) spectral and temporal analysis of multiple NuSTAR observations combined with archival Suzaku and Chandra data of NGC4945, the brightest extragalactic source at 100 keV. We observe hard X-ray (> 10 keV) flux and spectral variability, with flux variations of a factor 2 on timescales of 20 ksec. A variable primary continuum dominates the high energy spectrum (>10 keV) in all the states, while the reflected/scattered flux which dominates at E< 10 keV stays approximately constant. From modelling the complex reflection/transmission spectrum we derive a Compton de…
Ark 564 is an archetypal Narrow line Seyfert 1 that has been well observed in soft X-rays from 0.3-10 keV, revealing a steep spectrum, strong soft excess, iron K emission line and dramatic variability on the order of hours. Because of its very steep spectrum, observations of the source above 10 keV have been sparse. We report here on the first NuSTAR observation of Ark 564. The source was observed for 200 ks with NuSTAR, 50 ks of which were concurrent with Suzaku observations. NuSTAR and Suzaku observed a dramatic flare, in which the hard emission is clearly delayed with respect to the soft em…
We have investigated the X-ray spectral properties of a sample of 138 X-ray sources detected serendipitously in $XMM-Newton$ observations of the Galactic plane, at an intermediate to faint flux level. We divide our sample into 5 subgroups according to the spectral hardness of the sources, and stack (i.e. co-add) the individual source spectra within each subgroup. As expected these stacked spectra show a softening trend from the hardest to the softest subgroups, which is reflected in the inferred line-of-sight column density. The spectra of the three hardest subgroups are characterized by a har…
The bursting pulsar, GRO J1744-28, went again in outburst after $\sim$18 years of quiescence in mid-January 2014. We studied the broad-band, persistent, X-ray spectrum using X-ray data from a XMM-Newton observation, performed almost at the peak of the outburst, and from a close INTEGRAL observation, performed 3 days later, thus covering the 1.3-70.0 keV band. The spectrum shows a complex continuum shape that cannot be modelled with standard high-mass X-ray pulsar models, nor by two-components models. We observe broadband and peaked residuals from 4 to 15 keV, and we propose a self-consistent i…
Current models of the spectrum of X-rays reflected from accretion disks around black holes and other compact objects are commonly calculated assuming that the density of the disk atmosphere is constant within several Thomson depths from the irradiated surface. An important simplifying assumption of these models is that the ionization structure of the gas is completely specified by a single, fixed value of the ionization parameter $ξ$, which is the ratio of the incident flux to the gas density. The density is typically fixed at $n_e=10^{15}$ cm$^{-3}$. Motivated by observations, we consider hig…
MCG-6-30-15, at a distance of 37 Mpc (z=0.008), is the archetypical Seyfert 1 galaxy showing very broad Fe K$α$ emission. We present results from a joint NuSTAR and XMM-Newton observational campaign that, for the first time, allows a sensitive, time-resolved spectral analysis from 0.35 keV up to 80 keV. The strong variability of the source is best explained in terms of intrinsic X-ray flux variations and in the context of the light bending model: the primary, variable emission is reprocessed by the accretion disk, which produces secondary, less variable, reflected emission. The broad Fe K$α$ p…
We present analysis of the long-term X-ray spectral variability of Seyfert galaxies as observed by Swift, which provides well-sampled observations over a much larger flux range and a much longer timescale than any other X-ray observatory. We examine long-term variability of three AGN: NGC 1365 (see Connolly et al. 2014), Mkn 335 and NGC 5548. At high fluxes, the 0.5-10 keV spectra soften with increasing flux, as seen previously within the 2-10 keV band. However, at very low fluxes the sources also become very soft. We have fitted a number of models to the data and find that both intrinsic lumi…
We report on observations of NGC1068 with NuSTAR, which provide the best constraints to date on its $>10$~keV spectral shape. We find no strong variability over the past two decades, consistent with its Compton-thick AGN classification. The combined NuSTAR, Chandra, XMM-Newton, and Swift-BAT spectral dataset offers new insights into the complex reflected emission. The critical combination of the high signal-to-noise NuSTAR data and a spatial decomposition with Chandra allow us to break several model degeneracies and greatly aid physical interpretation. When modeled as a monolithic (i.e., a sin…
The fundamental parameters describing the coronal spectrum of an accreting black hole are the slope $Γ$ of the power-law continuum and the energy $E_{cut}$ at which it rolls over. Remarkably, this parameter can be accurately measured for values as high as 1 MeV by modeling the spectrum of X-rays reflected from a black hole accretion disk at energies below 100 keV. This is possible because the details in the reflection spectrum, rich in fluorescent lines and other atomic features, are very sensitive to the spectral shape of the hardest coronal radiation illuminating the disk. We show that fitti…
We present here the results of our analysis of X-ray properties of Seyfert 2 galaxy NGC 3281, based on the observational data obtained by XMM-Newton and INTEGRAL within the energy ranges 0.2-12 keV and 20-150 keV, respectively. The XMM-Newton spectrum of this object is presented for the first time. We show that fitting the X-ray spectrum of this galaxy with models based on the reflection from the disc with infinite column density yields non-physical results. More appropriate fit takes into account both transmitted and reflected emission, passed through a gas-dusty torus-like structure. Keeping…
We exploit XMM-Newton archival data in a study of the extended X-ray emission emanating from the Galactic Centre (GC) region. EPIC-pn and EPIC-MOS observations, with a total exposure approaching 0.5 and 1 Ms respectively, were used to create mosaiced images of a 100 pc x 100 pc region centred on Sgr A* in four bands covering the 2-10 keV energy range. We have also constructed a set of narrow-band images corresponding to the neutral iron fluorescence line at 6.4 keV and the K-shell lines at 6.7 keV and 6.9 keV from helium-like and hydrogenic iron. We use a combination of spatial and spectral in…
AXPs and SGRs constitute a special population of young neutron stars, which are thought to be magnetars, i.e., neutron stars with super-strong magnetic fields (10^14 - 10^15 G). Assuming that AXPs and SGRs accrete matter from a fallback disk, we attempt to explain the energy-dependent pulse profiles of AXP 4U 0142+61, as well as its phase-dependent energy spectra. In the fallback disk model, the Thomson optical depth along the accretion funnel is significant and bulk-motion Comptonization operates efficiently. This is enhanced by resonant cyclotron scattering. The thus scattered photons escape…
We present results from a study of a nuclear emission of a nearby radio galaxy, 4C+29.30, over a broad 0.5-200 keV X-ray band. This study used new XMM-Newton (~17 ksec) and Chandra (~300 ksec) data, and archival Swift/BAT data from the 58-month catalog. The hard (>2 keV) X-ray spectrum of 4C+29.30 can be decomposed into an intrinsic hard power-law (Gamma ~ 1.56) modified by a cold absorber with an intrinsic column density N_{H,z} ~ 5x10^{23} cm^{-2}, and its reflection (|Omega/2pi| ~ 0.3) from a neutral matter including a narrow iron Kalpha emission line at the rest frame energy ~6.4 keV. The …
As a space X-ray imaging mission dedicated to time-domain astrophysics, the Einstein Probe (EP) carries two kinds of scientific payloads, the wide-field X-ray telescope (WXT) and the follow-up X-ray telescope (FXT). FXT utilizes Wolter-I type mirrors and the pn-CCD detectors. In this work, we investigate the in-orbit background of FXT based on Geant4 simulation. The impact of various space components present in the EP orbital environment are considered, such as the cosmic photon background, cosmic ray primary and secondary particles (e.g. protons, electrons and positrons), albedo gamma rays, a…
In a dwarf nova, the accretion disk around the white dwarf is a source of ultraviolet, optical, and infrared photons, but is never hot enough to emit X-rays. Observed X-rays instead originate from the boundary layer between the disk and the white dwarf. As the disk switches between quiescence and outburst states, the 2-10 keV X-ray flux is usually seen to be anti-correlated with the optical brightness. Here we present RXTE monitoring observations of two dwarf novae, VW Hyi and WW Cet, confirming the optical/X-ray anti-correlation in these two systems. However, we do not detect any episodes of …
We present the first joint NuSTAR and NICER observations of the ultra-compact X-ray binary (UCXB) 4U 1543$-$624 obtained in 2020 April. The source was at a luminosity of $L_{0.5-50\ \mathrm{keV}} = 4.9 (D/7\ \mathrm{kpc})^{2}\times10^{36}$ ergs s$^{-1}$ and showed evidence of reflected emission in the form of an O VIII line, Fe K line, and Compton hump within the spectrum. We used a full reflection model, known as xillverCO, that is tailored for the atypical abundances found in UCXBs, to account for the reflected emission. We tested the emission radii of the O and Fe line components and conclu…
Since 1996 the blast wave driven by SN 1987A has been interacting with the dense circumstellar material, which provides us with a unique opportunity to study the early evolution of a newborn supernova remnant (SNR). Based on the XMM-Newton RGS and EPIC-pn X-ray observations from 2007 to 2019, we investigated the post-impact evolution of the X-ray emitting gas in SNR 1987A. The hot plasma is represented by two non-equilibrium ionization components with temperature of $\sim0.6$ keV and $\sim2.5$ keV. The low-temperature plasma has a density $\sim2400$ cm$^{-3}$, which is likely dominated by the …
We show that X-ray reverberation mapping can be used to measure the distance to type 1 active galactic nuclei (AGNs). This is because X-ray photons originally emitted from the `corona' close to the black hole irradiate the accretion disc and are re-emitted with a characteristic `reflection' spectrum that includes a prominent $\sim 6.4$ keV iron emission line. The shape of the reflection spectrum depends on the irradiating flux, and the light-crossing delay between continuum photons observed directly from the corona and the reflected photons constrains the size of the disc. Simultaneously model…
We report on the \nustar{} observation of the Z-type neutron star low-mass X-ray binary Cygnus X--2 performed on 7 January 2015. During this observation, the source exhibited sudden decrease in count rate (dips) and stronger variability in $3-79\kev$ X-ray lightcurve. The hardness-intensity diagram shows that the source remained in the so-called \quotes{normal branch} of the Z-track, although an extended \quotes{flaring branch} is observed during the dips. The source was in a soft spectral state with the $3-45\kev$ luminosity of $L\simeq(0.5-1.1)\times 10^{38}$ erg s$^{-1}$, assuming a distanc…
Polarization of reflected X-ray emission from the Sgr A molecular complex: multiple flares, multiple sources?
Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität Muenchen（慕尼黑路德维希-马克西米利安大学）；Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics（马普天体物理研究所）；Space Research Institute (IKI)（太空研究所）；INAF Istituto di Astrofisica e Planetologia Spaziali（意大利国家天体物理学和行星学研究所）；NASA Marshall Space Flight Center（美国宇航局马歇尔太空飞行中心）；Université de Strasbourg（斯特拉斯堡大学）；CNRS, Observatoire Astronomique de Strasbourg（法国国家科学研究中心斯特拉斯堡天文台）；Astronomical Institute of the Czech Academy of Sciences（捷克科学院天文研究所）；Center for Astrophysics, Harvard & Smithsonian（哈佛史密森尼天体物理中心）
We present the results of X-ray spectral and timing analyses of the closest gamma-ray emitting narrow-line Seyfert 1 ($γ$-NLS1) galaxy, 1H 0323+342. We use observations from a recent, simultaneous XMM-Newton/NuSTAR campaign. As in radio-quiet NLS1s, the spectrum reveals a soft excess at low energies ($\lesssim2$ keV) and reflection features such as a broad iron K emission line. We also find evidence of a hard excess at energies above $\sim35$ keV that is likely a consequence of jet emission. Our analysis shows that relativistic reflection is statistically required, and using a combination of m…
We present two new NuSTAR observations of the narrow line Seyfert 1 (NLS1) galaxy Mrk 766 and give constraints on the two scenarios previously proposed to explain its spectrum and that of other NLS1s: relativistic reflection and partial covering. The NuSTAR spectra show a strong hard (>15 keV) X-ray excess, while simultaneous soft X-ray coverage of one of the observations provided by XMM-Newton constrains the ionised absorption in the source. The pure reflection model requires a black hole of high spin ($a>0.92$) viewed at a moderate inclination ($i=46^{+1}_{-4}$ degrees). The pure partial cov…
The narrow Fe K$α$ line is one of the main signatures of the reprocessing of X-ray radiation from the material surrounding supermassive black holes, and it has been found to be omnipresent in the X-ray spectra of active galactic nuclei (AGN). In this work we study the characteristics of the narrow Fe K$α$ line in different types of AGN. Using the results of a large Suzaku study we find that Seyfert 2s have on average lower Fe K$α$ luminosities than Seyfert 1s for the same 10-50 keV continuum luminosity. Simulating dummy Sy1s and Sy2s populations using physical torus models of X-ray reflected e…
We present results from a 20 ks XMM-Newton DDT observation of the radio-load quasar CFHQS J142952+544717 at z=6.18, whose extreme X-ray luminosity was recently revealed by the SRG/eROSITA telescope in the course of its first all-sky survey. The quasar has been confidently detected with a total of $\sim 1400$ net counts in the 0.2-10 keV energy band (1.4 to 72 keV in the object's rest frame). Its measured spectrum is unusually soft and can be described by an absorbed power-law model with a photon index of $Γ= 2.5\pm0.2$. There are no signs of a high-energy cutoff or reflected component, with an…
Strong iron fluorescence at 6.4 keV and hard-X-ray emissions from giant molecular clouds in the Galactic center region have been interpreted as reflections of a past outburst of the Sgr A* supermassive black hole. Careful treatment of multiple interactions of photons in a complicated geometry is essential to modeling the reprocessed emissions from the dense clouds. We develop a new calculation framework of X-ray reflection from molecular clouds based on Monte Carlo simulations for accurate interpretation of high-quality observational data. By utilizing this simulation framework, we present the…
X-ray reflection off dense molecular clouds in the Galactic Centre region has established itself as a powerful probe for the past activity record of the supermassive black hole Sgr A* on a timescale of a few hundred years. Detailed studies of the reflection signal from individual clouds allow us to estimate parameters of the brightest flare(s) and explore properties of the dense gas distribution inside and around them. On the other hand, wide area surveys covering the full Central Molecular Zone (CMZ) are crucial to spot brightening of the new clouds and long-term decay of the flux from the on…
We disentangle X-ray disk reflection from complex line-of-sight absorption in the nearby Seyfert NGC 4151, using a suite of Suzaku, NuSTAR, and XMM-Newton observations. Extending upon earlier published work, we pursue a physically motivated model using the latest angle-resolved version of the lamp-post geometry reflection model relxillCp_lp together with a Comptonization continuum. We use the long-look simultaneous Suzaku/NuSTAR observation to develop a baseline model wherein we model reflected emission as a combination of lamp-post components at the heights of 1.2 and 15.0 gravitational radii…
In 2013 we conducted a large multi-wavelength campaign on the archetypical Seyfert 1 galaxy NGC 5548. Unexpectedly, this usually unobscured source appeared strongly absorbed in the soft X-rays during the entire campaign, and signatures of new and strong outflows were present in the almost simultaneous UV HST/COS data. Here we carry out a comprehensive spectral analysis of all available XMM-Newton observations of NGC 5548 (for a total of ~763 ks) in combination with 3 simultaneous NuSTAR obs. We obtain a best-fit composed by i) a weakly varying flat (Gamma~1.5-1.7) power-law component; ii) a co…
We report on the short and long term X-ray properties of the bright nearby Seyfert 2 galaxy NGC 2992, which was extensively observed with Swift, XMM-Newton and NuSTAR. Swift targeted the source more than 100 times between 2019 and 2021 in the context of two monitoring campaigns. Both time-averaged and time-resolved analyses are performed, and we find that the short-to-long term spectral properties of NGC 2992 are dominated by a highly variable nuclear continuum. The source varied in the 2-10 keV energy band from 0.6 to 12 $\times$ 10$^{-11}$ erg cm$^{-2}$ s$^{-1}$ during the two year long Swif…
Rapid X-ray phase-dependent flux enhancement in the archetype classical Cepheid star $δ$~Cep was observed by XMM-Newton and Chandra. We jointly analyse thermal and non-thermal components of the time-resolved X-ray spectra prior to, during and after the enhancement. A comparison of the time scales of shock particle acceleration and energy losses is consistent with the scenario of a pulsation-driven shock wave traveling into the stellar corona and accelerating electrons to $\sim$ GeV energies and with Inverse Compton (IC) emission from the UV stellar background leading to the observed X-ray enha…
