X-ray Properties of 3C 111: Separation of Primary Nuclear Emission and Jet Continuum

Elena Fedorova,A Del Popolo,V.I Zhdanov,B.I Hnatyk

doi:10.3390/universe6110219

Abstract

3C111 is BLRG with signatures of both FSRQ and Sy1 in X-ray spectrum. The significant X-ray observational dataset was collected for it by INTEGRAL, XMM-Newton, SWIFT, Suzaku and others. The overall X-ray spectrum of 3C 111 shows signs of a peculiarity with the large value of the high-energy cut-off typical rather for RQ AGN, probably due to the jet contamination. Separating the jet counterpart in the X-ray spectrum of 3C 111 from the primary nuclear counterpart can answer the question is this nucleus truly peculiar or this is a fake “peculiarity” due to a significant jet contribution. In view of this question, our aim is to estimate separately the accretion disk/corona and non-thermal jet emission in the 3C 111 X-ray spectra within different observational periods. To separate the disk/corona and jet contributions in total continuum, we use the idea that radio and X-ray spectra of jet emission can be described by a simple power-law model with the same photon index. This additional information allows us to derive rather accurate values of these contributions. In order to test these results, we also consider relations between the nuclear continuum and the line emission.

Highlights

IntroductionThe fact that active galactic nuclei (AGN) can manifest itself as radio loud (RL) or radio quiet (RQ) is clearly known from 1989 when in Reference [1] the criterion of radio loudness was formulated
The fact that active galactic nuclei (AGN) can manifest itself as radio loud (RL) or radio quiet (RQ) is clearly known from 1989 when in Reference [1] the criterion of radio loudness was formulated.This criterion is based on radio-to-optical brightness relation R = L R /LV where L R is the AGN luminosity in radio frequencies and LV is its luminosity in blue optical light band R ≤ 1 means that the object is RQ; R ≥ 10 corresponds to an RL AGN
Luminosity in radio frequencies and LV is its luminosity in blue optical light band R ≤ 1 means that the object is RQ; R ≥ 10 corresponds to an RL AGN

Summary

Introduction

The fact that active galactic nuclei (AGN) can manifest itself as radio loud (RL) or radio quiet (RQ) is clearly known from 1989 when in Reference [1] the criterion of radio loudness was formulated. This criterion is based on radio-to-optical brightness relation R = L R /LV where L R is the AGN luminosity in radio frequencies (usually at 5 GHz) and LV is its luminosity in blue optical light band (near 689 THz) R ≤ 1 means that the object is RQ; R ≥ 10 corresponds to an RL AGN. An object of our investigation 3C 111 likely belongs to this class rather than to RL one, as well as several other AGNs including the famous 3C 120 [6]

Objectives

Findings

Discussion

Conclusion