Testing the ionized disc reprocessing model for the soft X- ray emission of quasars

Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astronomy

Scientific paper

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Galaxies: Active, Galaxies: Fundamental Parameters, Quasars: General: Galaxies: Seyfert, X-Rays: Galaxies.

Scientific paper

One of the current explanations for the soft X-ray emission of active galactic nuclei (AGN) is reprocessing of the hard X-rays by partially ionized, optically thick matter. This idea is very appealing because it would explain the shape of the AGN soft X-ray spectrum in terms of atomic physics. While at present the reflection model correctly describes the soft X-ray spectra of a few low-luminosity Seyfert galaxies, it is not clear whether or not it can be applied to higher luminosity quasars. To investigate this issue quantitatively, we have fitted the high signal-to-noise ratio Position Sensitive Proportional Counter (PSPC) spectra of 11 AGN of different luminosities with a model consisting of a direct hard X-ray component, reflection from the ionized surface of an accretion disc and the direct thermal emission of the disc. We find that the AGN with an acceptable fit are a minority, and all have a low optical (and bolometric) luminosity, flat PSPC energy index alpha_PSPC and the flattest alpha_OX of the sample, while those with the worst fit all have high optical (and bolometric) luminosity, steep alpha_PSPC and the steepest alpha_OX of the sample. We conclude that either the reprocessing model is not correct and the form of the soft X-ray spectrum of AGN cannot be simply explained in terms of characteristic atomic features (i.e. highly ionized oxygen K-edges), or the origin of the soft X-ray emission of AGN is not `universal'.

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