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arXiv 2008.03284astro-ph.HEastro-ph.GA
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不只是更亮时更软:NGC 4051中X射线幂律谱的变化

More than softer-when-brighter: the X-Ray powerlaw spectral variability in NGC 4051

Yun-Jing Wu, Jun-Xian Wang, Zhen-Yi Cai, Jia-Lai Kang, Teng Liu, Zheng Cai

摘要:

在中到高吸积率下,活动星系核的幂律X射线谱在变亮时通常显得较软,其基本机制尚不清楚。利用XMM-牛顿观测和排除光子$<$ 2 keV,以避免污染的软过剩,在这项工作中,我们仔细检查的幂律光谱变化的NCG 4051从两个新的方面。我们首先发现,一个最好的拟合“软时,明亮”的关系是统计上不足以解释所观察到的光谱变异,和间隔偏离的经验关系是清楚地看到在光曲线的2 - 4 keV/4 - 10 keV计数率比。这些偏差不仅在单个XMM-牛顿曝光之间,而且在单个XMM-牛顿曝光之内都可以看到,这与日冕几何形状或内部结构的随机变化(时间尺度短至$\sim$ 1 ks)相一致,此外还有那些平滑的“越亮越软”趋势。我们进一步发现,随着时间尺度的减小(从$\sim$ 100 ks下降到0.5 ks),“越亮越软”的趋势逐渐减弱。这些发现表明,幂律光谱斜率并不仅仅由其亮度决定。我们提出了一个两层的几何结构,包括耀斑/纳米耀斑的顶部的内盘和嵌入扩展的日冕(加热的耀斑,在类比太阳日冕)来解释的意见与其他观测文献中的线索。快速的光谱变化可能是由于个别耀斑/纳米耀斑,而缓慢的驱动的全球活动的内部盘区域的变化(类似于太阳活动的变化,但不是吸积率)伴随着加热/冷却和膨胀/收缩的扩展日冕。

英文摘要:

The powerlaw X-ray spectra of active galactic nuclei at moderate to high accretion rates normally appear softer when they brighten, for which the underlying mechanisms are yet unclear. Utilizing XMM-Newton observations and excluding photons $<$ 2 keV to avoid contamination from the soft excess, in this work we scrutinize the powerlaw spectral variability of NCG 4051 from two new aspects. We first find that a best-fit "softer-when-brighter" relation is statistically insufficient to explain the observed spectral variabilities, and intervals deviated from the empirical relation are clearly visible in the light curve of 2 -- 4 keV/4 -- 10 keV count rate ratio. The deviations are seen not only between but also within individual XMM-Newton exposures, consistent with random variations of the corona geometry or inner structure (with timescales as short as $\sim$ 1 ks), in addition to those behind the smooth "softer-when-brighter" trend. We further find the "softer-when-brighter" trend gradually weakens with the decreasing timescale (from $\sim$ 100 ks down to 0.5 ks). These findings indicate that the powerlaw spectral slope is not solely determined by its brightness. We propose a two-tier geometry, including flares/nano-flares on top of the inner disc and an embedding extended corona (heated by the flares, in analogy to solar corona) to explain the observations together with other observational clues in literature. Rapid spectral variabilities could be due to individual flares/nano-flares, while slow ones are driven by the variations in the global activity of inner disc region (akin to the variation of solar activity, but not the accretion rate) accompanied with heating/cooling and inflation/contraction of the extended corona.

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