Abstract

Contributed Talk - Splinter JungeAG

Monday, 12 September 2022, 17:10   (SFG 1010 / virtual JAG)

Changing velocity of X-ray corona of Active Galactic Nucleus NGC 1365

Amy Joyce(1), Thomas Dauser(1), Peter Kretschmar(2), Felix Fuerst(2), Joern Wilms(1)
1: Dr. Karl Remeis Sternwarte and ECAP Friedrich-Alexander-Universitaet Erlangen-Nuernberg, Bamberg, Germany. 2: ESAC, Madrid, Spain

X-ray reflection spectroscopy is used to study the effects of strong gravity in the innermost regions of AGN. In the lamppost model, the corona, a source of hard X-rays, is modeled as a point source on the rotation axis of the black hole. Radiation is emitted towards the accretion disk and is reflected; the main reflection feature is the iron Kɑ emission line at ~6.4 keV. In sources where reflection takes place at the inner disk, this line is broadened by relativistic effects; by modeling this line, and the whole relativistic reflection spectrum, we can directly measure the spin of the black hole. Using the latest relxill model, we can now measure the outflow velocity of the corona, assuming that it originates at the base of a relativistic jet. Returning radiation, i.e., radiation that has been reflected and returned to the disk, is also taken into account. We fit this model to multiple simultaneous XMM-Newton and NuSTAR observations of NGC 1365 to uncover the nature of its corona. As a better constrained coronal geometry reduces the systematic uncertainties of the model fitting, we can then make more accurate spin measurements.