Lifting the curtain: The Seyfert galaxy Mrk 335 emerges from deep low-state in a sequence of rapid flare events
© 2020 S. Komossa et al. 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...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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EDP Sciences
2022
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| Online Access: | https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/141973 |
| _version_ | 1826215444686569472 |
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| author | Komossa, S Grupe, D Gallo, LC Poulos, P Blue, D Kara, E Kriss, G Longinotti, AL Parker, ML Wilkins, D |
| author2 | MIT Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research |
| author_facet | MIT Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research Komossa, S Grupe, D Gallo, LC Poulos, P Blue, D Kara, E Kriss, G Longinotti, AL Parker, ML Wilkins, D |
| author_sort | Komossa, S |
| collection | MIT |
| description | © 2020 S. Komossa et al. 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. |
| first_indexed | 2024-09-23T16:29:17Z |
| format | Article |
| id | mit-1721.1/141973 |
| institution | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-09-23T16:29:17Z |
| publishDate | 2022 |
| publisher | EDP Sciences |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | mit-1721.1/1419732023-01-20T16:41:34Z Lifting the curtain: The Seyfert galaxy Mrk 335 emerges from deep low-state in a sequence of rapid flare events Komossa, S Grupe, D Gallo, LC Poulos, P Blue, D Kara, E Kriss, G Longinotti, AL Parker, ML Wilkins, D MIT Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research © 2020 S. Komossa et al. 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. 2022-04-20T15:56:31Z 2022-04-20T15:56:31Z 2020 2022-04-20T15:52:56Z Article http://purl.org/eprint/type/JournalArticle https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/141973 Komossa, S, Grupe, D, Gallo, LC, Poulos, P, Blue, D et al. 2020. "Lifting the curtain: The Seyfert galaxy Mrk 335 emerges from deep low-state in a sequence of rapid flare events." Astronomy and Astrophysics, 643. en 10.1051/0004-6361/202039098 Astronomy and Astrophysics Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ application/pdf EDP Sciences EDP Sciences |
| spellingShingle | Komossa, S Grupe, D Gallo, LC Poulos, P Blue, D Kara, E Kriss, G Longinotti, AL Parker, ML Wilkins, D Lifting the curtain: The Seyfert galaxy Mrk 335 emerges from deep low-state in a sequence of rapid flare events |
| title | Lifting the curtain: The Seyfert galaxy Mrk 335 emerges from deep low-state in a sequence of rapid flare events |
| title_full | Lifting the curtain: The Seyfert galaxy Mrk 335 emerges from deep low-state in a sequence of rapid flare events |
| title_fullStr | Lifting the curtain: The Seyfert galaxy Mrk 335 emerges from deep low-state in a sequence of rapid flare events |
| title_full_unstemmed | Lifting the curtain: The Seyfert galaxy Mrk 335 emerges from deep low-state in a sequence of rapid flare events |
| title_short | Lifting the curtain: The Seyfert galaxy Mrk 335 emerges from deep low-state in a sequence of rapid flare events |
| title_sort | lifting the curtain the seyfert galaxy mrk 335 emerges from deep low state in a sequence of rapid flare events |
| url | https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/141973 |
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