FeXXV and FeXXVI lines from low-velocity, photoionized gas in the X-ray spectra of active galactic nuclei
Abstract
We have calculated the equivalent widths of the absorption lines produced by FeXXV and FeXXVI in a Compton-thin, low-velocity photoionized material illuminated by the nuclear continuum in active galactic nuclei. The results, plotted against the ionization parameter and the column density of the gas, are a complement to those presented by Bianchi & Matt for the emission lines from the same ionic species. As an extension to the work by Bianchi & Matt, we also present a qualitative discussion on the different contributions to the He-like iron emission line complex in the regimes where recombination or resonant scattering dominates, providing a useful diagnostic tool to measure the column density of the gas. Future high-resolution missions (e.g. Astro-E2) will allow us to fully take advantage of these plasma diagnostics. In the meantime, we compare our results with an up-to-date list of Compton-thick and unobscured (at least at the iron line energy) Seyfert galaxies with emission and/or absorption lines from H- and He-like iron observed with Chandra and XMM-Newton.
- Publication:
-
Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
- Pub Date:
- February 2005
- DOI:
- 10.1111/j.1365-2966.2005.08661.x
- arXiv:
- arXiv:astro-ph/0411603
- Bibcode:
- 2005MNRAS.357..599B
- Keywords:
-
- line: formation;
- galaxies: Seyfert;
- X-rays: galaxies;
- Astrophysics
- E-Print:
- 9 pages, 7 figures, accepted for publication in MNRAS