Abstract
Context. The nuclear obscurer of active galactic nuclei (AGN) is poorly understood in terms of its origin, geometry, and dynamics. Aims. We investigate whether physically motivated geometries emerging from hydro-radiative simulations can be differentiated with X-ray reflection spectroscopy. Methods. For two new geometries, the radiative fountain model and a warped disk, we release spectral models produced with the ray tracing code XARS. We contrast these models with spectra of three nearby AGN taken by NuSTAR and Swift/BAT. Results. Along heavily obscured sightlines, the models present different 4−20 keV continuum spectra. These can be differentiated by current observations. Spectral fits of the Circinus Galaxy favour the warped disk model over the radiative fountain, and clumpy or smooth torus models. Conclusions. The necessary reflector (NH ≥ 1025 cm2) suggests a hidden population of heavily Compton-thick AGN amongst local galaxies. X-ray reflection spectroscopy is a promising pathway to understand the nuclear obscurer in AGN.
Highlights
Most active galactic nuclei (AGN) are obscured by dense gas and dust with column densities of NH = 1022−25 cm−2 (e.g., Ueda et al 2003; Buchner et al 2015)
We investigate whether physically motivated geometries emerging from hydro-radiative simulations can be differentiated with X-ray reflection spectroscopy
The radiative fountain model and a warped disk, we release spectral models produced with the ray tracing code XARS
Summary
The ionised reprocessing, called the warm mirror, can be interpreted as Thomson scattering off ionised, stratified volume-filling gas, potentially in the narrow-line-region (e.g., Turner et al 1997; Bianchi et al 2006, and references therein) This spectral feature is to first order a copy of the intrinsic power law, with a normalisation approximately 0.1−10% of the intrinsic emission, and common in obscured AGN (e.g., Rivers et al 2013; Buchner et al 2014; Brightman et al 2014; Ricci et al 2017).
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