Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astronomy
Scientific paper
Dec 2001
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2001aipc..599..894r&link_type=abstract
X-RAY ASTRONOMY: Stellar Endpoints,AGN, and the Diffuse X-ray Background. Edited by Nicholas E. White, Giuseppe Malaguti, and G
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astronomy
Quasars, Infall, Accretion, And Accretion Disks, X-Ray Sources, X-Ray Bursts, Galactic Nuclei, Circumnuclear Matter, And Bulges
Scientific paper
X-ray and multi-wavelength observations of the most luminous known local (z<0.3) AGN, the recently discovered radio-quiet quasar PDS 456, are presented. The spectral energy distribution shows that PDS 456 has a bolometric luminosity of 1047 erg/s, peaking in the UV. The X-ray spectrum obtained by ASCA and RXTE shows considerable complexity. The most striking feature observed is a deep, highly-ionized, iron K edge (8.7 keV, rest-frame), originating via reprocessing from highly ionized material, possibly the inner accretion disk. PDS 456 was found to be remarkably variable for its luminosity; in one flare the X-ray flux doubled in just ~15 ksec. If confirmed this would be an unprecedented event in a high-luminosity source, with a light-crossing time corresponding to ~2RS. The implications are that either flaring occurs within the very central regions, or else that PDS 456 is a `super-Eddington' or relativistically beamed system. .
Edelson Richard
Law-Green Duncan
O'Brien Paul
Pounds Ken
Reeves James
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