Variable blurred reflection in the narrow-line Seyfert 1 galaxy Mrk 493

We examine a 200 ks XMM-Newton observation of the narrow-line Seyfert 1 galaxy Mrk 493. The active galaxy was half as bright as in a previous 2003 snapshot observation and the current lower flux enables a study of the putative reflection component in detail. We determine the characteristics of the 2015 X-ray continuum by first analysing the short-term variability using model-independent techniques. We then continue with a time-resolved analysis including spectral fitting and modelling the fractional variability. We determine that the variability arises from changes in the amount of primary flux striking the accretion disc, which induces changes in the ionization parameter and flux of the blurred reflection component. The observations seem consistent with the picture that the primary source is of roughly constant brightness and that variations arise from changes in the degree of light bending happening in the vicinity of the supermassive black hole.