Chandra Imaging of the Outer Accretion Flow onto the Black Hole at the Center of the Perseus Cluster

Nowhere is black hole feedback seen in sharper relief than in the Perseus cluster of galaxies. Owing to a combination of astrophysical and instrumental challenges, however, it can be difficult to study the black hole accretion that powers feedback into clusters of galaxies. Recent observations with Hitomi have resolved the narrow Fe Kα line associated with accretion onto the black hole in NGC 1275 (3C 84), the active galaxy at the center of Perseus. The width of that line indicates that the fluorescing material is located 6-45 pc from the black hole. Here, we report on a specialized Chandra imaging observation of NGC 1275 that offers a complementary angle. Using a sub-array, sub-pixel event repositioning, and an X-ray “lucky imaging” technique, Chandra imaging suggests an upper limit of about 0.3 arcsec on the size of the Fe Kα emission region, corresponding to ∼98 pc. Both spectroscopy and direct imaging now point to an emission region consistent with an extended molecular torus or disk, potentially available to fuel the black hole. A low X-ray continuum flux was likely measured from NGC 1275; contemporaneously, radio flaring and record-high GeV fluxes were recorded. This may be an example of the correlation between X-ray flux dips and jet activity that is observed in other classes of accreting black holes across the mass scale.