Evidence for ionized reprocessing in the X-ray spectrum of the Seyfert 1 Galaxy 1E 1615+061

The Seyfert 1 galaxy 1E{ }1615+061 was observed to display a very steep (Gamma =~ 4.2) and intense soft X-ray spectrum during a HEAO-1 A2 observation in the 1978. Such an exceptionally soft X-ray state has never been observed subsequently, but the source has continued to exhibit a large (up to a factor 6) range of X-ray intensity variability. The overall UV/X-ray spectrum of this source, observed during a multiwavelength campaign in 1991-1992, can be well fit with a self-consistent, low-dotM accretion disk model. In this model, the soft X-rays result were suggested to arise from reflection of the nuclear emission by mildly ionized (xi =~ 100) material in the inner regions of the disk. In this Paper we report the results of an ASCA observation in 1995 August, which give a direct confirmation of such a scenario. The spectrum may be modeled as a power-law with a photon index of 1.8, together with absorption consistent with the galactic line of sight value, substantial reflection from ionized material and an iron fluorescent K_α emission line. The centroid energy ( =~ 6.6-6.8 keV) implies a ionization stage >= Fexix. The line profile is consistent with that expected from a kinematically and gravitationally distorted line around a black hole. These results provide the first direct evidence for the existence of considerable amount of ionized material around the nucleus of a ``broad'' Seyfert 1 galaxy.