RE 1034+39: a high-state Seyfert galaxy?
Abstract
The dominant X-ray emission of Seyfert galaxies has the form of a power law of mean photon index 1.9-2.0 which extends to at least 100 keV. However, recent observations, primarily from ROSAT, have revealed a subset of Seyfert galaxies with a qualitatively different X-ray appearance and unusual optical spectra. RE 1034+39, first identified in the ROSAT EUV survey, may be a prototype of this class of AGN. ROSAT and ASCA X-ray spectra are reported here, showing RE 1034+39 to have intense soft X-ray emission, together with an unusually steep 2-10 keV power law of photon index ~2.6, with possibly some contribution from ionized reflection. We speculate that an unusually high accretion rate is causing the intense soft X-ray flux, which - in turn - is Compton cooling the hard photon source, giving the observed steep spectrum at higher energies. The strong soft X-radiation may also be ionizing the disc and inhibiting the formation of the optical broad-line clouds. We point out the similarity of RE 1034+39 to the `high'-state spectra from the Galactic black hole candidate binary systems such as Cyg X-1.
- Publication:
-
Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
- Pub Date:
- November 1995
- DOI:
- 10.1093/mnras/277.1.L5
- Bibcode:
- 1995MNRAS.277L...5P
- Keywords:
-
- ACCRETION;
- ACCRETION DISCS;
- GALAXIES: ACTIVE;
- GALAXIES: INDIVIDUAL: RE 1034+39;
- GALAXIES: SEYFERT;
- X-RAYS: GALAXIES