Extreme relativistic reflection in the active galaxy ESO 033-G002

Journal
Date Issued
2021
Author(s)
Walton, D. J.
•
Baloković, M.
•
Fabian, A. C.
•
Gallo, L. C.
•
Koss, M.
•
•
Reynolds, C. S.
•
Ricci, C.
•
Stern, D.
•
Alston, W. N.
•
Dauser, T.
•
García, J. A.
•
Kosec, P.
•
Reynolds, M. T.
•
Harrison, F. A.
•
Miller, J. M.
DOI
Abstract
We present the first high signal-to-noise broad-band X-ray spectrum of the radio-quiet type-2 Seyfert ESO 033-G002, combining data from XMM-Newton and NuSTAR. The nuclear X-ray spectrum is complex, showing evidence for both neutral and ionized absorption, as well as reflection from both the accretion disc and more distant material, but our broad-band coverage allows us to disentangle all of these different components. The total neutral column during this epoch is NH ~ (5-6) × 1022 $\rm \, cm^{-2}$, consistent with the optical classification of ESO 033-G002 as a type-2 Seyfert but not so large as to prevent us from robustly determining the properties of the innermost accretion flow. The ionized absorption - dominated by lines from Fe XXV and Fe XXVI - reveals a moderately rapid outflow (vout ~ 5400 $\rm \, km~s^{-1}$) which has a column comparable to the neutral absorption. We find the disc reflection from the innermost regions to be extreme, with a reflection fraction of Rfrac ~ 5. This requires strong gravitational lightbending and, in turn, both an extremely compact corona (within ~2 RG of the black hole) and a rapidly rotating black hole (a* > 0.96). Despite this tight size constraint, with a temperature of kTe = 40-70 keV the X-ray corona in ESO 033-G002 appears similar to other active galactic nucle in terms of its placement in the compactness-temperature plane, consistent with sitting close to the limit determined by runaway pair production. Finally, combining X-ray spectroscopy, timing, and updated optical spectroscopy, we also estimate the mass of the black hole to be log[MBH/M⊙] ~ 7.0-7.5.
Volume
506
Issue
2
Start page
1557
Uri
Url
Issn Identifier
0035-8711
Ads BibCode
2021MNRAS.506.1557W
Rights
open.access
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