Is the Fe M-Shell Absorber Part of the Outflow in Active Galactic Nuclei?

The X-ray emission of many active galactic nuclei (AGNs) is absorbed between 15 and 17 Å by means of unresolved (inner shell) transition arrays (UTAs) of Fe M-shell ions. The outflow velocities implied by the Doppler shifts of the individual UTAs in the spectrum have never before been measured. Thus, the Fe-M absorber has been commonly assumed to be part of the ionized AGN outflow, whose velocities are readily obtained from more easily measured spectral lines. The best spectrum of Fe-M absorption is available from the integrated 900 ks Chandra HETGS observations of NGC 3783, in which some Fe-M ions are clearly resolved. We measure the velocities of the individual Fe-M ions in NGC 3783 for the first time. Surprisingly, we find that the Fe-M absorber, most noticeably Fe⁺⁸, Fe⁺⁹, and Fe⁺¹⁰, is not outflowing at the same velocity as the previously known wind. In fact, it appears to be stationary and therefore not part of the outflow at all. It could, alternatively, be ascribed to the skin of the dusty torus. This reduces appreciably the mass-loss rate estimated for the NGC 3783 outflow and perhaps for other similar sources as well in which the various Fe-M ions are not resolved.