Compton Shoulder Diagnostics in Active Galactic Nuclei for Probing the Metallicity of the Obscuring Compton-thick Tori

We analyzed the spectral shape of the Compton shoulder around the neutral Fe-K line of the Compton-thick type II Seyfert nucleus of the Circinus galaxy. The characteristics of this Compton shoulder with respect to the reflected continuum and Fe-K line core intensity are powerful diagnostics tools fo...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The Astrophysical journal 2018-11, Vol.867 (1), p.80
Main Authors: Hikitani, Masaya, Ohno, Masanori, Fukazawa, Yasushi, Kawaguchi, Toshihiro, Odaka, Hirokazu
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Abundance
Active galactic nuclei
Astrochemistry
Astrophysics
Computer simulation
Emission lines
Energy transmission
Galaxies
galaxies: active
galaxies: individual (Circinus)
galaxies: nuclei
galaxies: Seyfert
High energy astronomy
Inclination angle
Iron
Metallicity
Molecular structure
Monte Carlo simulation
Seyfert galaxies
Spectra
Star & galaxy formation
Star formation
Star formation rate
techniques: spectroscopic
Toruses
X ray reflection
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Summary:We analyzed the spectral shape of the Compton shoulder around the neutral Fe-K line of the Compton-thick type II Seyfert nucleus of the Circinus galaxy. The characteristics of this Compton shoulder with respect to the reflected continuum and Fe-K line core intensity are powerful diagnostics tools for analyzing the structure of the molecular tori, which obscures the central engine. We applied our Monte-Carlo-based X-ray reflection spectral model to the Chandra High Energy Transmission Grating data and successfully constrained the various spectral parameters independently, using only the spectral data only around the Fe-K emission line. The obtained column density and inclination angle are consistent with previous observations and the Compton-thick type II Seyfert picture. In addition, we determined the metal abundance of the molecular torus for the case of the smooth and clumpy torus to be and 1.74 0.16 solar abundance, respectively. Such slightly over-solar abundance can be useful information for discussing the star formation rate in the molecular tori of active galactic nuclei.
ISSN:0004-637X
1538-4357
DOI:10.3847/1538-4357/aae1fe