The lack of variability of the iron line in MCG–6‐30‐15: general relativistic effects
By G. Miniutti, A. C. Fabian, R. Goyder, Anthony N. Lasenby. 2003
153 citations recorded by the source corpus.
ABSTRACT The spectrum and variability of the Seyfert galaxy MCG–6-30-15 can be decomposedinto two apparently disconnected components: a highly variable power law and analmost constant component which contains a broad and strong iron line. We explorea possible explanation of the puzzling lack of variability of the iron line, by assumingthat the variations of the power law component are due to changes in the height ofthe primary source in the near vicinity of a rotating black hole. Due to the bendingof light in the strong field of the central black hole, the apparent brightness of thepower-law component can vary by about a factor 4 according to its position, while thetotal iron line flux variability is less than 20 per cent. This behaviour is obtained ifthe primary source is located within 3–4 gravitational radii (r g ) from the rotation axiswith a variable height of between ∼ 3 and 8 r g . These results revive the possibility thatfuture X–ray observations of MCG–6-30-15 can map out the strong gravity regime ofaccreting black holes.Key words: accretion discs — black hole physics — line: profiles — X-rays: general
Subfields: Astronomy and Astrophysics, Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics
View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/e040f1572b860d5e68c08e7edb85d9467130d722
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Citations in the corpus
- Suzaku Observations of the Hard X-ray Variability of MCG-6-30-15: the Effects of Strong Gravity Around a Kerr Black Hole (2006, result): “…disconnect variations in the continuum from those of the reflection and has led to the development of the light-bending model (Fabian & Vaughan 2003; Miniutti et al 2003, 2004), which is a generalization of earlier work on the strong field regime (Martocchia & Matt 1996; Reynolds & Begelman 1997).”
- The role of the reflection fraction in constraining black hole spin (2014, methodology): “First calculations of the reflection fraction for a lamp-post like geometry were performed by Miniutti et al. (2003) for a ringlike primary source around an extreme Kerr black hole, while Fukumura & Kazanas (2007) analysed a point-like lamp post for different spin configurations of the black hole.”
- Irradiation of an accretion disc by a jet: general properties and implications for spin measurements of black holes (2013, background): “As shown by Martocchia, Matt & Karas (2002), Fabian & Vaughan (2003), Miniutti et al. (2003), and Vaughan & Fabian (2004) for the case of MCG−6-30-15, in a geometry in which the illuminating continuum is assumed to be emitted from a source on the rotational axis at heighth above the black hole,…”
- An absorption origin for the X-ray spectral variability of MCG-6-30-15 (2008, background): “…continuum coupled with distortions of photon geodesics near the black hole, rather than by rest-frame intensity variations, so that the reflected emission appears more constant than the primary continuum seen by the observer (Fabian & Vaughan, 2003; Miniutti et al., 2003; Miniutti & Fabian, 2004).”
- Relativistic X-Ray Lines from the Inner Accretion Disks Around Black Holes (2007, background): “…bending can account for the changing disk line and continuum flux patterns observed in a growing number of black holes, including: MCG-6-30-15 (Miniutti et al. 2003; Miniutti & Fabian 2004), NGC 4051 (Ponti et al. 2006; see also Reeves et al. 2006), 1H 0707-495 (Fabian et al. 2004), 1H…”
- Understanding X‐ray reflection emissivity profiles in AGN: locating the X‐ray source (2012, background): “Previous calculations of the illumination of black hole accretion discs by a point source on the rotation axis above the black hole, e.g. Miniutti et al. (2003) and Martocchia et al. (2000), predict emissivity profiles approximating twice-broken power laws, falling steeply over the inner regions of…”
- A light bending model for the X-ray temporal and spectral properties of accreting black holes (2003, methodology): “We point out here that broad iron lines are seen in AGN such as NGC 4051 and MCG–6-30-15 whose power spectral density (PSD) shows remarkable common features with that of the BHC Cyg X-1 in its high rather than low state (Vaughan, Fabian & Nandra 2003; Markowitz et al. 2003; McHardy et al. 2003).”
- An Extended Scheme for Fitting X-Ray Data with Accretion Disk Spectra in the Strong Gravity Regime (2004, background): “The puzzling stability of this line has been attributed, amongst other things, to general relativity effects very close to the black hole (Miniutti et al. 2003; Fabian & Vaughan 2003).”
- Testing the Kerr Black Hole Hypothesis Using X-Ray Reflection Spectroscopy (2016, background): “…which actually would be fitted better with a twice broken power law with very steep emissivity profile over the inner region, then flattening in the intermediate region, and falling off approximately as r−3 over the outer region (Miniutti et al. 2003; Wilkins & Fabian 2011; Wilkins & Gallo 2015b).”