X-ray properties of reverberation-mapped AGNs with super-Eddington accreting massive black holes
Abstract
X-ray properties of active galactic nuclei (AGNs) depend on their underlying physical parameters, particularly the accretion rate. We identified eight reverberation-mapped AGNs with some of the largest known accretion rates without high-quality X-ray data. We obtained new Chandra ACIS-S X-ray observations and nearly simultaneous optical spectrophotometry to investigate the properties of these AGNs with extreme super-Eddington accreting massive black holes (SEAMBHs). We combined our new X-ray measurements with those of other reverberation-mapped AGNs, which have the best-determined masses and accretion rates. The trend of the steepening of the spectral slope between X-ray and optical-UV, αox, with increasing optical-UV luminosity, $L_{\rm 2500{\mathring{\rm A}}}$, holds true for even the most extreme SEAMBHs. One of our new SEAMBHs appears X-ray-weak for its luminosity, perhaps due to absorption associated with orientation effects involving a slim disc thought to be present in highly accreting systems. The correlation of the $\rm 2\!-\!8~ keV$ X-ray photon index with the accretion rate also holds for the extreme SEAMBHs, which show some of the largest photon indices reported for AGNs.
- Publication:
-
Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
- Pub Date:
- February 2024
- DOI:
- 10.1093/mnras/stae115
- arXiv:
- arXiv:2401.07895
- Bibcode:
- 2024MNRAS.528.1542M
- Keywords:
-
- accretion;
- accretion discs;
- galaxies: active;
- galaxies: Seyfert;
- X-rays: galaxies;
- Astrophysics - High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena;
- Astrophysics - Astrophysics of Galaxies
- E-Print:
- Accepted by MNRAS, 15 pages, 10 figures. All figures are included in the source zip file (Download -->