The puzzle of the soft X-ray excess in AGN: absorption or reflection? - Université Paris Cité Accéder directement au contenu
Communication Dans Un Congrès Année : 2005

The puzzle of the soft X-ray excess in AGN: absorption or reflection?

Résumé

The 2-10 keV continuum of AGN is generally well represented by a single power law. However, at smaller energies the continuum displays an excess with respect to the extrapolation of this power law, called the "soft X-ray excess''. Until now this soft X-ray excess was attributed, either to reflection of the hard X-ray source by the accretion disk, or to the presence of an additional comptonizing medium, giving a steep spectrum. An alternative solution proposed by Gierliński and Done (2004) is that a single power law well represents both the soft and the hard X-ray emission and the impression of the soft X-ray excess is due to absorption of a primary power law by a relativistic wind. We examine the advantages and drawbacks of reflection versus absorption models, and we conclude that the observed spectra can be well modeled, either by absorption (for a strong excess), or by reflection (for a weak excess). However the physical conditions required by the absorption models do not seem very realistic: we would prefer an "hybrid model''.
Fichier non déposé

Dates et versions

in2p3-00025716 , version 1 (02-03-2006)

Identifiants

  • HAL Id : in2p3-00025716 , version 1

Citer

Loïc Chevallier, S. Collin, A.-M. Dumont, B. Czerny, M. Mouchet, et al.. The puzzle of the soft X-ray excess in AGN: absorption or reflection?. SF2A-2005: Semaine de l'Astrophysique Française, Jun 2005, Strasbourg, France. pp.519. ⟨in2p3-00025716⟩
12 Consultations
0 Téléchargements

Partager

Gmail Facebook X LinkedIn More