The nature and origin of Seyfert warm absorbers

By A. Blustin, M. Page, S. Fuerst, G. Branduardi‐Raymont, C. E. Ashton. 2004

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We collate the results of recent high resolution X-ray spectroscopic observations of 23 AGN, and use the resulting information to try to provide answers to some of the main open questions about warm absorbers: where do they originate, what effect do they have on their host galaxies, and what is their importance within the energetics and dynamics of the AGN system as a whole? We find that the warm absorbers of nearby Seyferts and certain QSOs are most likely to originate in outflows from the dusty torus, and that the kinetic luminosity of these outflows accounts for well under 1% of the bolometric luminosities of the AGN. Our analysis supports, however, the view that the relativistic outflows recently observed in two PG quasars have their origin in accretion disc winds, although the energetic importance of these outflows is similar to that of the Seyfert warm absorbers. We find that the observed soft X-ray absorbing ionisation phases fill less than 10% of the available volume. Finally, we show that the amount of matter processed through an AGN outflow system, over the lifetime of the AGN, is probably large enough to have a significant influence on the evolution of the host galaxy and of the AGN itself.

Subfields: Astronomy and Astrophysics

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/01c8e5ec3a4a2ebfa25c7d4381519b2110bb13fc

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Citations in the corpus

Powerful Outflows and Feedback from Active Galactic Nuclei (2015, background): “L, with outflow velocities of several hundred km s−1 (Blustin et al. 2005, McKernan et al. 2007).”
Spectral changes during dipping in low-mass X-ray binaries due to highly-ionized absorbers (2005, background): “Since dipping sources are simply normal LMXBs viewed from close to the orbital plane, this also implies that ionized absorbers, frequent in microquasars and AGNs (e.g., Reynolds 1997; Blustin et al. 2005), are also a common feature of LMXBs.”
On why the iron K-shell absorption in AGN is not a signature of the local warm/hot intergalactic medium (2008, background): “However, most AGN (except blazars) have intrinsic columns of warm absorbing gas in their nuclei, and the fact that this is generally connected to a nuclear outflow(Blustin et al 2005) complicates separating this intrinsic absorptin from extrinsic line–of–sight material using velocity information.”
Constraining the properties of AGN host galaxies with spectral energy distribution modelling (2015, background): “There is indeed increasing observational evidence for AGN-driven winds at both the local Universe and high redshift (e.g Crenshaw et al. 2003; Blustin et al. 2005; Tombesi et al. 2010, 2012; Saez & Chartas 2011; Lanzuisi et al. 2012; Cicone et al. 2012, 2014; Harrison et al. 2014).”
On the origin of soft X-rays in obscured AGN: answers from high-resolution spectroscopy with XMM–Newton (2006, result): “Interestingly enough, these values are in good agreement with the column densities measured in “warm absorbers” observed along the lines of sight to unobscured AGN (Blustin et al. 2003; Steenbrugge et al. 2005; Blustin et al. 2005).”
Evidence for ultra-fast outflows in radio-quiet AGNs - I. Detection and statistical incidence of Fe K-shell absorption lines (2010, methodology): “…parameters can not be constrained with the 4–10 keV EPIC pn spectra, we used the typical parameters already reported in the literature, i.e. a column density in the rangeNH≃1021– 1022 cm−2 and an ionization parameter in the interval logξ≃0– 3 erg s−1 cm (Blustin et al. 2005; McKernan et al. 2007).”
Global Radiation-Magnetohydrodynamic Simulations of Black-Hole Accretion Flow and Outflow: Unified Model of Three States (2009, background): “They seem to manifest themselves by warm absorptions features of active galactic nuclei and by blue-shifted absorption lines in the black hole binaries (BHBs) (Blustin et al. 2005; Cappi 2006; Kubota et al. 2007).”
DISCOVERY OF ULTRA-FAST OUTFLOWS IN A SAMPLE OF BROAD-LINE RADIO GALAXIES OBSERVED WITH SUZAKU (2010, background): “…and the conservation of the total mass, we can roughly estimate the mass loss rate Ṁout associated to the fast outflows, Ṁout = 4πCr 2nmpv (e.g., Blustin et al. 2005; McKernan et al. 2007), where v is the outflow velocity, n is the absorber number density, r is the radial distance, mp is the…”
The multi-phase winds of Markarian 231: from the hot, nuclear, ultra-fast wind to the galaxy-scale, molecular outflow (2015, background): “In X-rays mildly ionized warm absorbers with velocities of ∼500-1000 km s−1 are observed in more than half of AGN (Piconcelli et al. 2005; Blustin et al. 2005; McKernan et al. 2007).”
The Suzaku View of Highly Ionized Outflows in AGN. 1; Statistical Detection and Global Absorber Properties (2012, background): “…evidence for discrete absorption lines and photoelectric edges in their soft-band (E < 3 keV) spectra (e.g. Reynolds 1997; Crenshaw et al. 2003; Blustin et al. 2005), with typical lineof-sight velocities ranging from a few hundred to around a thousand km s−1 (Blustin et al. 2005; McKernan et…”
DRIVING OUTFLOWS WITH RELATIVISTIC JETS AND THE DEPENDENCE OF ACTIVE GALACTIC NUCLEUS FEEDBACK EFFICIENCY ON INTERSTELLAR MEDIUM INHOMOGENEITY (2012, background): “These AGNs are said to contain “warm absorbers” (Blustin et al. 2005; McKernan et al. 2007).”
EVIDENCE FOR ULTRA-FAST OUTFLOWS IN RADIO-QUIET ACTIVE GALACTIC NUCLEI. II. DETAILED PHOTOIONIZATION MODELING OF Fe K-SHELL ABSORPTION LINES (2011, background): “In fact, these absorbers are usually less ionized, are outflowing with velocities lower than∼1000 km/s and are supposed to have a different physical origin (e.g., Blustin et al. 2005; McKernan et al. 2007).”
Unification of X-ray winds in Seyfert galaxies: from ultra-fast outflows to warm absorbers (2012, methodology): “…the WAs, we note that the fact that the line of sight projected location of some of them is of the order of the putative obscuring torus at the base of the type 1/type 2 unification models does not necessarily mean that they are produced there, for instance as inferred by Blustin et al. (2005).”
The Compact, Conical, Accretion-Disk Warm Absorber of the Seyfert 1 Galaxy NGC 4051 and Its Implications for IGM-Galaxy Feedback Processes (2007, background): “…left weak residuals in the region between 12-14 Å where Fe L-shell lines are intense, suggesting the possible presence of a second ionization component, as has been found for other Seyfert 1 galaxies (e.g. Steenbrugge et al. 2003; Krongold et al. 2003; Blustin et al. 2005, Costantini et al. 2006).”
The soft X-ray/NLR connection: a single photoionized medium? (2005, background): “The so-called ‘warm absorbers’ are often observed in the spectra of Seyfert 1s and are thought to be located between the Broad Line Region (BLR) and the torus (see e.g. Blustin et al. 2005, and references therein).”