Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astrophysics
Scientific paper
2003-10-16
Astrophys.J. 601 (2004) 771-777
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astrophysics
Accepted for publication in ApJ. 17 pages, 8 figures
Scientific paper
10.1086/380502
We examine the spectral variability of the Seyfert 1.9 galaxy MCG -5-23-16 using RXTE and BeppoSAX observations spanning 2 years from April 1996 to April 1998. During the first year the X-ray source brightens by a factor of ~25% on timescales of days to months. During this time, the reprocessed continuum emission seen with RXTE does not respond measurably to the continuum increase. However, by the end of the second year during the BeppoSAX epoch the X-ray source has faded again. This time, the reprocessed emission has also faded, indicating that the reprocessed flux has responded to the continuum. If these effects are caused by time delays due to the distance between the X-ray source and the reprocessing region, we derive a light crossing time of between ~1 light day and ~1.5 light years. This corresponds to a distance of 0.001 pc to 0.55 pc, which implies that the reprocessed emission originates between 3x10^15 cm and 1.6x10^18 cm from the X-ray source. In other words, the reprocessing in MCG -5-23-16 is not dominated by the inner regions of a standard accretion disk.
Mattson Barbara J.
Weaver Kimberley A.
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