Measurement of the black hole spin and the size of the X-ray source in AGNs with strong relativistic reflection
Abstract
I present an analysis of XMM-Newton and NuSTAR observations of the AGN in NGC 4051 and NGC 1365. In these two sources the strong relativistic bending produces a high equivalent width iron Kalpha line, and a reflection component dominating the emission at ∼ 20-30 keV. I will discuss two results: (1) in these sources the presence of a relativistic reflection component is unavoidable based on physical arguments: alternative models, though acceptable statistically, lead to physical inconsistencies with the observations at other wavelengths, and imply highly super-Eddington luminosities; (2) a model reproducing an X-ray source with a size of a few gravitational radii is favored with respect to a lamp-post model. This is a first estimate of the size of the X-ray emitting corona based on X-ray spectroscopy.
- Publication:
-
The Extremes of Black Hole Accretion
- Pub Date:
- July 2015
- Bibcode:
- 2015ebha.confE..56R