A Deep Chandra ACIS Study of NGC 4151. III. the Line Emission and Spectral Analysis of the Ionization Cone

TL;DR

This study uses deep Chandra X-ray observations to analyze the ionization cone in NGC 4151, revealing complex photoionization and outflow structures with detailed spectral and morphological insights.

Contribution

It provides the first detailed spatially resolved spectral analysis of the ionization cone in NGC 4151, highlighting the role of nuclear photoionization and outflow dynamics.

Findings

Dominant nuclear photoionization in the extended emission

Presence of both low and high ionization components

Estimated mass outflow rate of ~2 solar masses per year

Abstract

This paper is the third in a series in which we present deep Chandra ACIS-S imaging spectroscopy of the Seyfert 1 galaxy NGC 4151, devoted to study its complex circum-nuclear X-ray emission. Emission features in the soft X-ray spectrum of the bright extended emission (L[0.3-2keV]~10^40 erg/s) at r>130 pc (2") are consistent with the brighter OVII, OVIII, and NeIX lines seen in the Chandra HETGS and XMM-Newton RGS spectra below 2 keV. We construct emission line images of these features and find good morphological correlations with the narrow line region clouds mapped in [OIII]5007A. Self-consistent photoionization models provide good descriptions of the spectra of the large scale emission, as well as resolved structures, supporting the dominant role of nuclear photoionization, although displacement of optical and X-ray features implies a more complex medium. Collisionally ionized emission is estimated to be <12% of the extended emission. Presence of both low and high ionization spectral components and extended emission in the X-ray image perpendicular to the bicone indicates leakage of nuclear ionization, likely filtered through warm absorbers, instead of being blocked by a continuous obscuring torus. The ratios of [OIII]/soft X-ray flux are approximately constant (~15) for the 1.5 kpc radius spanned by these measurements, indicating a relatively constant ionization parameter, consistent with the photoionized outflow of a wind-like density profile. Using spatially resolved features, we estimate that the mass outflow rate in NGC 4151 is ~2Msun/yr at 130 pc and the kinematic power of the ionized outflow is 1.7x10^41 erg/s, approximately 0.3% of the bolometric luminosity of NGC 4151.