The Steep Soft X-Ray Spectrum of the Highly Variable Active Nucleus in MRK 478

H.L. Marshall (1), T.E. Carone (2), J. Michael Shull (3), M.A. Malkan (4), M. Elvis (5)

1) Massachussette Institute of Technology, 70 Vasser Street, Room 37-667a, Cambridge, MA 02139
2)
3) Dept. of Astrophysics, University of Colorado, Campus Box 440, Boulder, CO 80309
4)
5)

To appear in The Astrophysical Journal

Abstract

We present the first moderate resolution spectrum of the soft X-ray excess in an active galactic nucleus. Mrk 478 was detected in the 70-100 A spectral region using the Extreme Ultraviolet Explorer (EUVE) Spectrometer. The spectrum shows no significant spectral features and is consistent with a very steep power law. The neutral hydrogen absorbing column is consistent with the Galactic value. The spectral slope is poorly determined if the absorbing column is allowed to vary; alpha = 27 +/- 9 (f_nu is proportional to nu^(-alpha)) and the best-fit column density (cm^(-2)) is log N_H = 20.6. If the column density is fixed at the Galactic value, log N_H = 20.0, then alpha = 4.70 +/- 0.65. The lack of emission lines and significant variability indicate that the soft X-ray continuum is not due to emission from a thin thermal plasma or a leaky neutral or warm absorber. There is marginal evidence that the spectrum hardens as it brightens, which is consistent with thermal variations rather than absorption changes. If this component is the Wien tail of a blackbody spectrum, then the temperature at the inner edge of the accretion disk must be of order 1E6 K. For an accretion disk model from Sun & Malkan (1991), we require a mass of 1.3E8 M_sun, an accretion rate of 0.3 M_sun/yr and a highly inclined disk, with cos i = 0.50, in order to keep L < L_Edd.

Back to the Abstracts Index Page