A Compton-thick Wind in the High Luminosity Quasar, PDS 456

PDS 456 is a nearby (z=0.184), luminous (L_bol ~10^47 erg/s) type I quasar. A deep 190 ks Suzaku observation in February 2007 revealed the complex, broad band X-ray spectrum of PDS 456. The Suzaku spectrum exhibits highly statistically significant absorption features near 9 keV in the quasar rest--f...

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Main Authors: Reeves, J, O'Brien, P, Braito, V, Behar, E, Miller, L, Turner, T, Fabian, A, Kaspi, S, Mushotzky, R, Ward, M
Format: Journal article
Language:English
Published: Institute of Physics Publishing 2009
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author Reeves, J
O'Brien, P
Braito, V
Behar, E
Miller, L
Turner, T
Fabian, A
Kaspi, S
Mushotzky, R
Ward, M
author_facet Reeves, J
O'Brien, P
Braito, V
Behar, E
Miller, L
Turner, T
Fabian, A
Kaspi, S
Mushotzky, R
Ward, M
author_sort Reeves, J
collection OXFORD
description PDS 456 is a nearby (z=0.184), luminous (L_bol ~10^47 erg/s) type I quasar. A deep 190 ks Suzaku observation in February 2007 revealed the complex, broad band X-ray spectrum of PDS 456. The Suzaku spectrum exhibits highly statistically significant absorption features near 9 keV in the quasar rest--frame. We show that the most plausible origin of the absorption is from blue-shifted resonance (1s-2p) transitions of hydrogen-like iron (at 6.97 keV in the rest frame). This indicates that a highly ionized outflow may be present moving at near relativistic velocities (~0.25c). A possible hard X-ray excess is detected above 15 keV with HXD (at 99.8% confidence), which may arise from high column density gas (Nh>10^24cm^-2) partially covering the X-ray emission, or through strong Compton reflection. Here we propose that the iron K-shell absorption in PDS 456 is associated with a thick, possibly clumpy outflow, covering about 20% of $4\pi$ steradian solid angle. The outflow is likely launched from the inner accretion disk, within 15-100 gravitational radii of the black hole. The kinetic power of the outflow may be similar to the bolometric luminosity of PDS 456. Such a powerful wind could have a significant effect on the co-evolution of the host galaxy and its supermassive black hole, through feedback.
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spelling oxford-uuid:61192f5e-1527-4e57-9b43-087eac0b09bc2022-03-26T17:57:40ZA Compton-thick Wind in the High Luminosity Quasar, PDS 456Journal articlehttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_dcae04bcuuid:61192f5e-1527-4e57-9b43-087eac0b09bcEnglishSymplectic Elements at OxfordInstitute of Physics Publishing2009Reeves, JO'Brien, PBraito, VBehar, EMiller, LTurner, TFabian, AKaspi, SMushotzky, RWard, MPDS 456 is a nearby (z=0.184), luminous (L_bol ~10^47 erg/s) type I quasar. A deep 190 ks Suzaku observation in February 2007 revealed the complex, broad band X-ray spectrum of PDS 456. The Suzaku spectrum exhibits highly statistically significant absorption features near 9 keV in the quasar rest--frame. We show that the most plausible origin of the absorption is from blue-shifted resonance (1s-2p) transitions of hydrogen-like iron (at 6.97 keV in the rest frame). This indicates that a highly ionized outflow may be present moving at near relativistic velocities (~0.25c). A possible hard X-ray excess is detected above 15 keV with HXD (at 99.8% confidence), which may arise from high column density gas (Nh>10^24cm^-2) partially covering the X-ray emission, or through strong Compton reflection. Here we propose that the iron K-shell absorption in PDS 456 is associated with a thick, possibly clumpy outflow, covering about 20% of $4\pi$ steradian solid angle. The outflow is likely launched from the inner accretion disk, within 15-100 gravitational radii of the black hole. The kinetic power of the outflow may be similar to the bolometric luminosity of PDS 456. Such a powerful wind could have a significant effect on the co-evolution of the host galaxy and its supermassive black hole, through feedback.
spellingShingle Reeves, J
O'Brien, P
Braito, V
Behar, E
Miller, L
Turner, T
Fabian, A
Kaspi, S
Mushotzky, R
Ward, M
A Compton-thick Wind in the High Luminosity Quasar, PDS 456
title A Compton-thick Wind in the High Luminosity Quasar, PDS 456
title_full A Compton-thick Wind in the High Luminosity Quasar, PDS 456
title_fullStr A Compton-thick Wind in the High Luminosity Quasar, PDS 456
title_full_unstemmed A Compton-thick Wind in the High Luminosity Quasar, PDS 456
title_short A Compton-thick Wind in the High Luminosity Quasar, PDS 456
title_sort compton thick wind in the high luminosity quasar pds 456
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