Discovery of high-amplitude X-ray variability in the Seyfert-LINER transition galaxy NGC7589
Abstract
We present the first result of a programme to search for large flux variations in the X-ray sources of the XMM Serendipitous Survey compared to previous ROSAT observations. An increase in X-ray flux by a factor >10 was discovered from the nucleus of the galaxy NGC7589 on a time-scale of less than 5yr. The 0.4-10keV XMM spectrum can be approximated by a power law with photon index of 1.7-1.8, though it seems to flatten above 5keV, suggesting a possible complex model, such as partial covering or disc reflection. A classification based on an analysis of its optical spectrum places NGC7589 in the Seyfert region, but close to the Seyfert-LINER (low-ionization nuclear emission-line region) borderline on the active galactic nucleus (AGN) diagnostic diagrams. We classify NGC7589 as either Seyfert1.9 or LINERI, in the light of the detection of a broad Hα line, which makes NGC7589 an AGN in the low-luminosity regime. We interpret the observed variability in terms of either changes in covering factor of absorbing gas in the AGN, or variability in the intrinsic X-ray luminosity. Should the latter be the case, the inferred Eddington accretion rate increased from the radiatively inefficient accretion-dominated regime to a value close to the putative critical value, at which a transition of the accretion mode is supposed to take place. This possibility presents a new prospect of studying accretion physics in the central black holes of external galaxies by direct observing changes of `spectral state', as is common in stellar black hole binary systems.
- Publication:
-
Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
- Pub Date:
- September 2004
- DOI:
- 10.1111/j.1365-2966.2004.08266.x
- arXiv:
- arXiv:astro-ph/0408069
- Bibcode:
- 2004MNRAS.353L..29Y
- Keywords:
-
- galaxies: active;
- galaxies: individual: NGC7589;
- X-ray: galaxies;
- Astrophysics
- E-Print:
- 6 pages, 4 figures, accepted for publication in MNRAS Letter