A long look at MCG-5-23-16 with NuSTAR. I. relativistic reflection and coronal properties

Abderahmen Zoghbi, G Matt, J. M. Miller, A. M. Lohfink, D. J. Walton, D. R. Ballantyne, J. A. García, D. Stern, Michael J. Koss, D. Farrah, F. A. Harrison, S. E. Boggs, Finn Erland Christensen, W. Craig, C. J. Hailey, W. W. Zhang

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    Abstract

    MCG-5-23-16 was targeted in early 2015 with a half mega-second observing campaign using NuSTAR. Here we present the spectral analysis of these data sets along with an earlier observation and study the relativistic reflection and the primary coronal source. The data show strong reflection features in the form of both narrow and broad iron lines plus a Compton reflection hump. A cutoff energy is significantly detected in all exposures. The shape of the reflection spectrum does not change in the two years spanned by the observations, suggesting a stable geometry. A strong positive correlation is found between the cutoff energy and both the hard X-ray flux and spectral index. The measurements imply that the coronal plasma is not at the runaway electron-positron pair limit, and instead contains mostly electrons. The observed variability in the coronal properties is driven by a variable optical depth. A constant heating-to-cooling ratio is measured, implying that there is a feedback mechanism in which a significant fraction of the photons cooling the corona are due to reprocessed hard X-rays.
    Original languageEnglish
    Article number2
    JournalAstrophysical Journal
    Volume836
    Issue number1
    Number of pages12
    ISSN0004-637X
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 2017

    Keywords

    • Black hole physics
    • Galaxies: active
    • Galaxies: individual (MCG-5-23-16)
    • Galaxies: Seyfert

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