Broad iron L-line and X-ray reverberation in 1H0707-495

TL;DR

This paper presents a detailed spectral and timing analysis of the Narrow Line Seyfert 1 galaxy 1H0707-495, revealing broad iron lines and X-ray reverberation signals indicative of reflection near the black hole.

Contribution

It provides new evidence of broad iron L and K lines and measures X-ray reverberation lags, advancing understanding of the accretion environment around the black hole.

Findings

Detection of broad iron L and K lines in the spectrum.

Measurement of a ~30 s soft lag indicating reverberation.

Spectral components identified as power-law and reflection.

Abstract

A detailed analysis of a long XMM-Newton observation of the Narrow Line Seyfert 1 galaxy 1H0707-495 is presented, including spectral fitting, spectral variability and timing studies. The two main features in the spectrum are the drop at ~ 7 keV and a complex excess below 1 keV. These are well described by two broad, K and L, iron lines. Alternative models based on absorption, although they may fit the high energy drop, cannot account for the 1 keV complexity and the spectrum as a whole. Spectral variability shows that the spectrum is composed of at least two components, which are interpreted as a power-law dominating between 1-4 keV, and a reflection component outside this range. The high count rate at the iron L energies has enabled us to measure a significant soft lag of ~ 30 s between 0.3-1 and 1-4 keV, meaning that the direct hard emission leads the reflected emissions. We interpret the lag as a reverberation signal originating within a few gravitational radii of the black hole.