Nustar and Suzaku X-Ray Spectroscopy Of Ngc 4151: Evidence For Reflection From The Inner Accretion Disk

M. L. Keck, L. W. Brenneman, D. R. Ballantyne, F. Bauer, S. E. Boggs, Finn Erland Christensen, W. W. Craig, T. Dauser, M. Elvis, A. C. Fabian

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    Abstract

    We present X-ray timing and spectral analyses of simultaneous 150 ks Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array (NuSTAR) and Suzaku X-ray observations of the Seyfert 1.5 galaxy NGC 4151. We disentangle the continuum emission, absorption, and reflection properties of the active galactic nucleus (AGN) by applying inner accretion disk reflection and absorption-dominated models. With a time-averaged spectral analysis, we find strong evidence for relativistic reflection from the inner accretion disk. We find that relativistic emission arises from a highly ionized inner accretion disk with a steep emissivity profile, which suggests an intense, compact illuminating source. We find a preliminary, near-maximal black hole spin accounting for statistical and systematic modeling errors. We find a relatively moderate reflection fraction with respect to predictions for the lamp post geometry, in which the illuminating corona is modeled as a point source. Through a time-resolved spectral analysis, we find that modest coronal and inner disk reflection (IDR) flux variation drives the spectral variability during the observations. We discuss various physical scenarios for the IDR model and we find that a compact corona is consistent with the observed features.
    Original languageEnglish
    Article number149
    JournalAstrophysical Journal
    Volume806
    Issue number2
    ISSN0004-637X
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 2015

    Keywords

    • Accretion
    • Accretion disks
    • Black hole physics
    • Galaxies: active
    • Galaxies: individual (NGC 4151)
    • Galaxies: Seyfert
    • X-rays: galaxies

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