Abstract
Abstract High-resolution X-ray spectroscopy of the warm absorber in the nearby X-ray bright Seyfert 1 galaxy Mrk 1040 is presented. The observations were carried out in the 2013–2014 timeframe using the Chandra High Energy Transmission Grating with a total exposure of 200 ks. A multitude of absorption lines from Ne, Mg, and Si are detected from a wide variety of ionization states. In particular, the detection of inner K-shell absorption lines from Ne, Mg, and Si, from charge states ranging from F-like to Li-like ions, suggests the presence of a substantial amount of low-ionization absorbing gas, illuminated by a steep soft X-ray continuum. The observations reveal at least three warm absorbing components ranging in ionization parameter from and with column densities of cm−2. The velocity profiles imply that the outflow velocities of the absorbing gas are low and within ±100 km s−1 of the systemic velocity of Mrk 1040, which suggests that any outflowing gas may have stalled in this AGN on large enough scales. The warm absorber is likely located far from the black hole, within 300 pc of the nucleus, and is spatially coincident with emission from an extended narrow-line region as seen in the Hubble Space Telescope images. The iron K-band spectrum reveals only narrow emission lines, with Fe Kα at 6.4 keV consistent with originating from reflection off Compton-thick pc-scale reprocessing gas.
Highlights
Material existing within the vicinity of the supermassive black hole in an active galactic nucleus (AGN) can significantly modify the resulting X-ray spectrum
This paper has presented a 200 ks Chandra High Energy Transmission Grating (HETG) observation of the nearby Seyfert 1 galaxy Mrk 1040, which is the first time that a high-resolution X-ray spectrum of this AGN has been discussed
The spectra show the strong signature of a warm absorber, with the lower ionization gas responsible for the strong series of inner K-shell absorption lines from Ne, Mg, and Si originating from ions with low charge states
Summary
Material existing within the vicinity of the supermassive black hole in an active galactic nucleus (AGN) can significantly modify the resulting X-ray spectrum. With the exception of the ultra-fast outflows, which are often highly ionized and may originate from an accretion disk wind on subparsec scales, most soft X-ray warm absorbers are thought to be typically located at fairly large distances from the central black hole This is a result of their low ionization parameters and outflow velocities (
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