The Evolution of the Warm Absorber Reveals a Shocked Outflow in the Narrow Line Seyfert 1 Galaxy IRAS 17020+4544

Abstract

We present the analysis of grating spectra of the Narrow Line Seyfert 1 Galaxy IRAS 17020+4544 observed by XMM-Newton in 2004 and 2014. In a previous work on these data, we reported the discovery of a multicomponent ultra-fast outflow that is capable of producing feedback in the host galaxy. We also reported the presence of a slow, multiphase warm absorber (WA). In this follow-up paper, we confirm that this low-velocity absorber can be modeled by four layers of ionized gas. When crossing our line of sight, this gas presents peculiar changes along the 10 yr timescale elapsed between the two observations obtained by XMM-Newton. While two of such components are almost stationary, the other two are found inflowing and outflowing with significant variations in velocity and ionization between 2004 and 2014. The luminosity and spectral shape of the central source remain practically unvaried. We propose that the presence of the fast wind and of the variable WA can be interpreted in the framework of a “shocked outflow,” where the peculiar variability pattern of the low-velocity components might arise from instabilities in the shocked gas.