Warm absorbers in Narrow-Line Seyfert 1 galaxies

Recent {\it ASCA} observations confirm the presence of X-ray absorption due to partially ionized gas in many Seyfert 1 galaxies; the so-called warm absorber. Constraints on the location of the warm material are presented with the conclusion that this material lies at radii coincident with, or just outside, the broad-line region. The stability of this warm material to isobaric perturbations under the assumptions of thermal and photoionization equilibrium is also studied. It is...

We report results from a Suzaku observation of the narrow-line Seyfert 1 NGC 4051. During our observation, large amplitude rapid variability is seen and the averaged 2--10 keV flux is 8.1x10^-12 erg s^-1 cm^-2, which is several times lower than the historical average. The X-ray spectrum hardens when the source flux becomes lower, confirming the trend of spectral variability known for many Seyfert 1 galaxies. The broad-band averaged spectrum and spectra in high and low flux in...

I briefly review the X/UV absorber models and show that the observations of NLS1s are generally consistent with the models. The covering factor of absorbers in NLS1s is likely to be high and there is some evidence of super-solar metallicities. I argue that NLS1s may be active galaxies in the early stage of their evolution and as such, may be low luminosity, low redshift analogues of the high redshift quasars. NLS1s may reside in rejuvenated gas-rich galaxies. I also propose t...

RX J0947.0+4721 is a newly discovered example of a narrow-line Seyfert 1 type object with a quasar level luminosity (M_B = -24.8). It was detected in the ROSAT All-Sky Survey (RASS) and later in 17 pointed observations of the ROSAT Position sensitive Proportional Counter (PSPC). The optical spectrum contains strong FeII emission. We apply several spectral models to the X-ray data. A single power law fit yields a photon index of -4.2. Single component thermal models underestim...

The excellent soft X-ray sensitivity of the PSPC detector onboard the ROSAT satellite provided the first chance to study precisely the spectral and timing properties of Narrow-Line Seyfert 1 galaxies. ROSAT observations of Narrow-Line Seyfert 1 galaxies have revealed (1) the existence of a giant soft X-ray excess, (2) a striking, clear correlation between the strength of the soft X-ray excess emission and the FWHM of the H-beta line, (3) the general absence of significant sof...

We present Chandra observations of 17 optically-selected, X-ray weak narrow-line Seyfert 1 (NLS1) galaxies. These objects were optically identified by Williams et al. (2002) in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Early Data Release, but were not found in the ROSAT All-Sky Survey (RASS) despite having optical properties similar to RASS-detected NLS1s. All objects in this sample were detected by Chandra and exhibit a range of 0.5-2 keV photon indices Gamma=1.1-3.4. One object was not ...

The ROSAT Ultradeep HRI survey in the Lockman Hole contains a complete sample of 91 X-ray sources with fluxes in the 0.5-2 keV band larger than 1.2 times 10e-15 erg cm-2 s-1, where over about 75 per cent of the sources are quasars or Seyfert galaxies. During the course of our optical identification work, we have obtained optical spectra of 67 narrow emission line galaxies (NELG), which are physically not associated with the X-ray sources. We have derived the equivalent width ...

We present results from a homogeneous analysis of the broadband 0.3-10 keV CCD resolution as well as of soft X-ray high-resolution grating spectra of a hard X-ray flux-limited sample of 26 Seyfert galaxies observed with XMM-Newton. Our goal is to characterise the warm absorber (WA) properties along the line-of-sight to the active nucleus. We significantly detect WAs in $65\%$ of the sample sources. Our results are consistent with WAs being present in at least half of the Seyf...

We present results from an analysis of the broad-band, 0.3-195 keV, X-ray spectra of 48 Seyfert 1-1.5 sources detected in the very hard X-rays with the Swift Burst Alert Telescope (BAT). This sample is selected in an all-sky survey conducted in the 14-195 keV band. Therefore, our sources are largely unbiased towards both obscuration and host galaxy properties. Our detailed and uniform model fits to Suzaku/BAT and XMM-Newton/BAT spectra include the neutral absorption, direct p...

We report on a three-year program of coordinated X-ray and optical monitoring of the Narrow-Line Seyfert 1 galaxy NGC 4051. The rapid continuum variations observed in the X-ray spectra are not detected in the optical, although the X-ray and optical continuum fluxes are correlated on time scales of many weeks and longer. Variations in the flux of the broad H-beta line are found to lag behind the optical continuum variations by approximately 6 days (with an uncertainty of 2-3 d...