Multiwavelength campaign on Mrk 509 X. Lower limit on the distance of the absorber from HST COS and STIS spectroscopy

Simple item page
dc.contributorVirginia Techen
dc.contributor.authorArav, Nahumen
dc.contributor.authorBorguet, Benoit C. J.en
dc.contributor.authorKriss, G. A.en
dc.contributor.authorKaastra, J. S.en
dc.contributor.authorBehar, E.en
dc.contributor.authorCappi, M.en
dc.contributor.authorCostantini, E.en
dc.contributor.authorDetmers, R. G.en
dc.contributor.authorEbrero, J.en
dc.contributor.authorMehdipour, M.en
dc.contributor.authorPaltani, S.en
dc.contributor.authorPetrucci, P. O.en
dc.contributor.authorPinto, C.en
dc.contributor.authorPonti, G.en
dc.contributor.authorSteenbrugge, K. C.en
dc.contributor.authorde Vries, C. P.en
dc.contributor.authorBianchi, S.en
dc.contributor.departmentPhysicsen
dc.date.accessed2013-12-05en
dc.date.accessioned2013-12-06T13:58:46Zen
dc.date.available2013-12-06T13:58:46Zen
dc.date.issued2012-08en
dc.description.abstractAims. Active galactic nuclei (AGN) often show evidence of photoionized outflows. A major uncertainty in models for these outflows is the distance (R) to the gas from the central black hole. In this paper we use the HST/COS data from a massive multi-wavelength monitoring campaign on the bright Seyfert I galaxy Mrk 509, in combination with archival HST/STIS data, to constrain the location of the various kinematic components of the outflow. Methods. We compare the expected response of the photoionized gas to changes in ionizing flux with the changes measured in the data using the following steps: 1) We compare the column densities of each kinematic component measured in the 2001 STIS data with those measured in the 2009 COS data; 2) We use time-dependent photionization calculations with a set of simulated lightcurves to put statistical upper limits on the hydrogen number density (nH) that are consistent with the observed small changes in the ionic column densities; 3) From the upper limit on nH, we calculate a lower limit on the distance to the absorber from the central source via the prior determination of the ionization parameter. Our method offers two improvements on traditional timescale analysis. First, we account for the physical behavior of AGN lightcurves. Second, our analysis accounts for the quality of measurement in cases where no changes are observed in the absorption troughs. Results. The very small variations in trough ionic column densities (mostly consistent with no change) between the 2001 and 2009 epochs allow us to put statistical lower limits on R between 100–200 pc for all the major UV absorption components at a confidence level of 99%. These results are mainly consistent with the independent distance estimates derived for the warm absorbers from the simultaneous X-ray spectra. Based on the 100–200 pc lower limit for all the UV components, this absorber cannot be connected with an accretion disc wind. The outflow might have originated from the disc, but based on simple ballistic kinematics, such an event had to occur at least 300 000 years ago in the rest frame of the source.en
dc.description.sponsorshipNASA through grants from the Space Telescope Science Institute 12022en
dc.description.sponsorshipNASA NAS5-26555en
dc.description.sponsorshipESA Member Statesen
dc.description.sponsorshipUSA (NASA)en
dc.description.sponsorshipNWO, The Netherlands Organization for Scientific Researchen
dc.description.sponsorshipUK Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC)en
dc.description.sponsorshipNASA/XMM-Newton Guest Investigator grant NNX09AR01Gen
dc.description.sponsorshipNSF 0837880en
dc.description.sponsorshipISFen
dc.description.sponsorshipASI-INAF I/088/06/0en
dc.description.sponsorshipCNESen
dc.description.sponsorshipFrench GDR PCHEen
dc.description.sponsorshipEU Marie Curie Intra-European Fellowship FP7-PEOPLE-2009-IEF-254279en
dc.description.sponsorshipComite Mixto ESO - Gobierno de Chileen
dc.identifier.citationArav, N. ; Edmonds, D. ; Borguet, B. ; et al., Aug. 2012. “Multiwavelength campaign on Mrk 509 X. Lower limit on the distance of the absorber from HST COS and STIS spectroscopy,” ASTRONOMY & ASTROPHYSICS 544:A33. DOI: 10.1051/0004-6361/201118501en
dc.identifier.doihttps://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/201118501en
dc.identifier.issn0004-6361en
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10919/24429en
dc.identifier.urlhttp://www.aanda.org/articles/aa/pdf/2012/08/aa18501-11.pdfen
dc.language.isoen_USen
dc.publisherEDP Sciencesen
dc.rightsIn Copyrighten
dc.rights.urihttp://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/en
dc.subjectquasars: absorption linesen
dc.subjectquasars: generalen
dc.subjectquasars: individual: Mrk 509en
dc.subjectgalaxies: Seyferten
dc.subjectactive galactic nucleien
dc.subjectquasar outflow contributionen
dc.subjectphysical conditionsen
dc.subjectionized-gasen
dc.subjecttelescope observationsen
dc.subjectultraviolet-spectrumen
dc.subjectechelle observationsen
dc.subjectabsorption-linesen
dc.subjectseyfert-galaxiesen
dc.subjectrayen
dc.subjectvariabilityen
dc.subjectAstronomy & Astrophysicsen
dc.titleMultiwavelength campaign on Mrk 509 X. Lower limit on the distance of the absorber from HST COS and STIS spectroscopyen
dc.title.serialAstronomy & Astrophysicsen
dc.typeArticle - Refereeden

Files

Original bundle
Now showing 1 - 1 of 1
Thumbnail Image
Name:
aa18501-11.pdf
Size:
1.32 MB
Format:
Adobe Portable Document Format
Description:
Main article
Download

Collections

Scholarly Works, Physics