Ionized ultraviolet and soft X-ray absorption in the low-redshift active galactic nucleus PG 1126-041
Abstract
We present here the analysis of ultraviolet spectra from IUE and an X-ray spectrum from ROSAT PSPC observations of the X-ray-weak, far-infrared-loud AGN, PG 1126-041 (Mrk 1298). The first UV spectra taken in 1992 June, simultaneously with ROSAT, show strong absorption lines of Nv, Civ and Siiv, extending over a velocity range from -1000 to -5000kms^-1 with respect to the corresponding line centre. Our analysis shows that the broad emission-line region (BELR) is, at least partially, covered by the material causing these absorption lines. In the IUE spectrum taken in 1995 January, the continuum was a factor of 2 brighter and the UV absorption lines are found to be considerably weaker than in 1992, but little variation in the emission-line fluxes is found. With UV spectral indices of alpha_UV~=1.82 and 1.46 for the 1992 and 1995 data, the far-UV spectrum is steep. Based on the emission-line ratios and the broad-band spectral energy distribution, we argue that the steepness of the UV spectrum is unlikely to be caused by reddening. The soft X-ray emission in the ROSAT band is weak. A simple power-law model yields a very poor fit with a UV-to-X-ray spectral index alpha_UVX=2.3. Highly ionized (warm) absorption is suggested by the ROSAT data. After correcting for a warm absorber, the optical to X-ray spectral slope is close to the average of alpha_UVX~=1.67 for radio-quiet quasars. From photoionization calculations we find the following results. (1) A single-zone absorption model cannot explain simultaneously the UV absorption lines and the ionized X-ray absorption if metal abundances are solar. Furthermore, in order to be consistent with the equivalent width of the observed Lyalpha absorption line, the turbulent velocity of the warm absorber must be less than 190kms^-1, which imposes serious constraints on a disc wind model. (2) The UV absorption lines and their variability cannot be explained by a single-zone model with solar abundances and the large variability in the absorption lines suggests that Civ and Nv absorption lines are not severely saturated. (3) The absorption of the ionizing continuum by warm material strongly affects the emission-line spectrum.
- Publication:
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Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
- Pub Date:
- August 1999
- DOI:
- 10.1046/j.1365-8711.1999.02650.x
- arXiv:
- arXiv:astro-ph/9903428
- Bibcode:
- 1999MNRAS.307..821W
- Keywords:
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- Astrophysics
- E-Print:
- 8 pages, 9 postscript figures. Mon. Not. Roy. Astr. Soc., accepted