Thursday, August 30, 2012

1208.5898 (A. C. Fabian et al.)

Long XMM observation of the Narrow-Line Seyfert 1 galaxy IRAS13224-3809: rapid variability, high spin and a soft lag    [PDF]

A. C. Fabian, E. Kara, D. J. Walton, D. R. Wilkins, R. R. Ross, K. Lozanov, P. Uttley, L. C. Gallo, A. Zoghbi, G. Miniutti, T. Boller, W. N. Brandt, E. M. Cackett, C. -Y. Chiang, T. Dwelly, J. Malzac, J. M. Miller, E. Nardini, G. Ponti, R. C. Reis, C. S. Reynolds, J. Steiner, Y. Tanaka, A. J. Young
Results are presented from a 500ks long XMM-Newton observation of the Narrow-Line Seyfert 1 galaxy IRAS13224-3809. The source is rapidly variable on timescales down to a few 100s. The spectrum shows strong broad Fe-K and L emission features which are interpreted as arising from reflection from the inner parts of an accretion disc around a rapidly spinning black hole. Assuming a power-law emissivity for the reflected flux and that the innermost radius corresponds to the innermost stable circular orbit, the black hole spin is measured to be 0.988 with a statistical precision better than one per cent. Systematic uncertainties are discussed. A soft X-ray lag of 100s confirms this scenario. The bulk of the power-law continuum source is located at a radius of 2-3 gravitational radii.
View original: http://arxiv.org/abs/1208.5898

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