Abstract
Context. The narrow-line Seyfert 1 galaxy Mrk 335 was one of the X-ray brightest active galactic nuclei, but it has systematically faded since 2007. Aims. We report the discovery with Swift of a sequence of bright and rapid X-ray flare events that reveal the emergence of Mrk 335 from its ultra-deep multiyear low state. Methods. Results are based on our dedicated multiyear monitoring of Mrk 335 with Swift. Results. Unlike other bright active galactic nuclei, the optical–UV is generally not correlated with the X-rays in Mrk 335 on a timescale of days to months. This fact either implies the absence of a direct link between the two emission components; or else implies that the observed X-rays are significantly affected by (dust-free) absorption along our line of sight. The UV and optical, however, are closely correlated at the 99.99% confidence level. The UV is leading the optical by Δt = 1.5 ± 1.5 d. The Swift X-ray spectrum shows strong deviations from a single power law in all brightness states of the outbursts, indicating that significant absorption or reprocessing is taking place. Mrk 335 displays a softer-when-brighter variability pattern at intermediate X-ray count rates, which has been seen in our Swift data since 2007 (based on a total of 590 observations). This pattern breaks down at the highest and lowest count rates. Conclusions. We interpret the 2020 brightening of Mrk 335 as a decrease in column density and covering factor of a partial-covering absorber along our line of sight in the form of a clumpy accretion-disk wind that reveals an increasing portion of the intrinsic emission of Mrk 335 from the disk and/or corona region, while the optical emission-line regions receive a less variable spectral energy distribution. This then also explains why Mrk 335 was never seen to change its optical Seyfert type (not “changing look”) despite its factor ∼50 X-ray variability with Swift.
Highlights
Active galactic nuclei (AGN) in extreme minima or maxima states provide us with important insight into the physics of the black hole and accretion disk region
We report the emergence of Mrk 335 from its recent ultradeep low state, based on 45 new observations with the Neil Gehrels Swift observatory (Gehrels et al 2004) each in all seven wavebands from optical to X-rays
Mrk 335 exhibited several short-duration X-ray flares over the last 13 years when it was in a low state overall
Summary
Active galactic nuclei (AGN) in extreme minima or maxima states provide us with important insight into the physics of the black hole and accretion disk region. Multiple epochs of exceptional flaring and dipping on its way to and beyond this low state motivated several deeper spectroscopic observations with XMM-Newton, Suzaku, NuSTAR, and the HST (Grupe et al 2012; Gallo et al 2013, 2015, 2018, 2019; Kara et al 2013; Longinotti et al 2013, 2019; Parker et al 2014; Wilkins et al 2015; Wilkins & Gallo 2015; Komossa et al 2017; Choudhury et al 2019; Parker et al 2019).
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