The Chandra High-Energy Transmission Grating Observation of an X-Ray Ionization Cone in Markarian 3

By M. Sako, S. Kahn, F. Paerels, D. Liedahl. 2000

141 citations recorded by the source corpus.

We present a preliminary analysis of the first high-resolution X-ray spectrum of a Seyfert 2 galaxy, Markarian 3, obtained with the High-Energy Transmission Grating Spectrometer on board the Chandra X-Ray Observatory. The high-energy spectrum (λ ≲ 4 Å) is dominated by reflection of the active galactic nucleus continuum radiation in a cold, optically thick medium and contains bright Kα fluorescent lines from iron and silicon as well as weak, blended lines from sulfur and magnesium. The soft X-ray emission (4 Å ≲ λ ≲ 23 Å) is spatially extended along the [O III] ionization cone and shows discrete signatures of emission following recombination and photoexcitation produced in a warm photoionized region. The measured iron L line fluxes indicate that emission from collisionally ionized plasma is almost completely negligible and does not contribute significantly to the total energy budget of the X-ray emission. We find that significant fractions of the H- and He-like resonance lines, as well as the observed iron L lines, are produced through reemission from the warm absorbing medium observed in Seyfert 1 galaxies. Its X-ray spectral properties are qualitatively consistent with those of a typical Seyfert 1 galaxy viewed at a different orientation and provide further convincing evidence for the existence of an obscured Seyfert 1 nucleus in Mrk 3.

Subfields: Astronomy and Astrophysics, Instrumentation

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/ab343659bb8e77cf4353708c7862bf353ed11e6a

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In Astronomy and Astrophysics

1. H. Netzer
2. M. Guainazzi
3. S. Bianchi
4. G. Garmire
5. M. Chiaberge
6. G. Matt
7. N. Brickhouse
8. L. V. Speybroeck

In Instrumentation

1. H. Netzer
2. M. Guainazzi
3. S. Bianchi
4. E. Jiménez-Bailón
5. L. V. Speybroeck
6. S. Murray
7. S. Mathur
8. G. Garmire

Citations in the corpus

• XMM-Newton Reflection Grating Spectrometer Observations of Discrete Soft X-Ray Emission Features from NGC 1068 (2002, methodology): “This distribution in ¼ LX=ner2 could be due to spatial stratification of ionization zones in a single-density cone (Sako et al. 2000a) or a broad density distribution at each radius.”
• Revisiting the Unified Model of Active Galactic Nuclei (2015, methodology): “…NLRs supplemented by Chandra and XMM-Newton high resolution spectroscopy, clearly indicate X-ray line emission, mostly Ovii570 eV , that generally overlaps with the [O iii] bicone (Sako et al. 2000; Ogle et al. 2000; Kinkhabwala et al. 2002; Bianchi, Guainazzi & Chiaberge 2006; Wang et al. 2011a).”
• X-ray obscuration and obscured AGN in the local universe (2005, background): “In a few bright, nearby Seyfert 2s, for which high resolution spectroscopic measurements have been possible (Sako et al. 2000, Sambruna et al. 2001, Kinkhabwala et al. 2002), soft X-rays are dominated by emission lines from highly ionized species due mainly to recombination and resonant scattering…”
• On the origin of soft X-rays in obscured AGN: answers from high-resolution spectroscopy with XMM–Newton (2006, background): “High-resolution spectra unveiled signatures of photoionized plasma in a few bright objects: NGC 1068 (Kinkhabwala et al. 2002; Young et al. 2001), the Circinus Galaxy (Sambruna et al. 2001), Mkn 3 (Sako et al. 2000; Bianchi et al. 2005; Pounds et al. 2005); NGC 4151 (Schurch et al. 2004).”
• High-Resolution X-Ray Spectroscopy and Modeling of the Absorbing and Emitting Outflow in NGC 3783 (2001, unknown): “7 pixels than the FWHM of 1.33 pixels reported in the Chandra ProposersÏ Observatory Guide or the 1.554 ^ 0.013 pixels derived from a sample of point sources (Sako et al. 2000).”
• The Compact, Conical, Accretion-Disk Warm Absorber of the Seyfert 1 Galaxy NGC 4051 and Its Implications for IGM-Galaxy Feedback Processes (2007, background): “…bi-cones, of ionized gas responsible for the narrow X-ray emission lines detected in the X-ray spectra of these objects (Ogle et al. 2000; Sako et al. 2000; Sambruna et al. 2001; Kinhkabwala et al. 2002; Brinkman et al. 2002; Ogle et al. 2003), and co-located, with the Narrow Emission…”
• An Overview of the Performance and Scientific Results from the Chandra X‐Ray Observatory (2001, background): “The HETG spectra of Mrk 3 (Sako et al. 2000) and NGC 4151 (classified as Seyfert 1.5 but observed when the continuum was exceptionally faint; Ogle et al. 2000) bristle with emission lines, whose ratios provide diagnostics of the conditions in the emitting clouds (Fig.”
• The soft X-ray/NLR connection: a single photoionized medium? (2005, methodology): “Chandra We report here for the first time on theChandra ACIS observations of all the sources in the sample, with the exceptions of Mrk 3 (Sako et al. 2000), NGC 4388 (Iwasawa et al. 2003) and NGC 4507 (Matt et al. 2004).”