Evidence of a Warm Absorber that Varies with QPO Phase in the AGN RE J1034+396

TL;DR

This study detects a phase-dependent warm absorber in the X-ray spectrum of the AGN RE J1034+396, revealing a periodic obscuration linked to QPOs that suggests a specific location near the black hole.

Contribution

First detection of a warm absorber that varies with QPO phase in an AGN, indicating a dynamic, orbiting structure close to the supermassive black hole.

Findings

Warm absorber shows an absorption edge at 0.86 keV during low flux phases.

The warm absorber is absent during high flux phases, indicating periodic obscuration.

The location of the warm absorber is estimated to be near 9.4 gravitational radii for a 4 million solar mass black hole.

Abstract

A recent observation of the nearby (z=0.042) narrow-line Seyfert 1 galaxy RE J1034+396 on 2007 May 31 showed strong quasi-periodic oscillations (QPOs) in the 0.3-10 keV X-ray flux. We present phase-resolved spectroscopy of this observation, using data obtained by the EPIC PN detector onboard XMM. The "low" phase spectrum, associated with the troughs in the light curve, shows (at >4 sigma confidence level) an absorption edge at 0.86+/-0.05 keV with an absorption depth of 0.3+/-0.1. Ionized oxygen edges are hallmarks of X-ray warm absorbers in Seyfert active galactic nuclei (AGN); the observed edge is consistent with H-like O VIII and implies a column density of N_{OVIII}~3x10^{18} cm^{-2}. The edge is not seen in the "high" phase spectrum associated with the crests in the light curve, suggesting the presence of a warm absorber in the immediate vicinity of the supermassive black hole which periodically obscures the continuum emission. If the QPO arises due to Keplerian orbital motion around the central black hole, the periodic appearance of the O VIII edge would imply a radius of ~9.4(M/[4x10^6 Msun])^{-2/3}(P/[1 hr])^{2/3} r_g for the size of the warm absorber.