Extreme Warm Absorber variability in the Seyfert Galaxy Mrk 704

TL;DR

This study investigates the variability of warm absorbers in the Seyfert galaxy Mrk 704 through X-ray spectral analysis, revealing significant changes in absorber properties over three years, which constrains their origin and structure.

Contribution

It provides new observational constraints on warm absorber variability in Mrk 704, suggesting possible origins such as torus winds or orbiting clouds, and enhances understanding of their physical nature.

Findings

Absorber parameters changed significantly over three years.

Two-zone absorber model fits the spectra well.

Possible origins include torus winds and orbiting clouds.

Abstract

In about half of Seyfert galaxies, the X-ray emission is absorbed by an optically thin, ionized medium, the so-called "Warm Absorber", whose origin and location is still a matter of debate. The aims of this paper is to put more constraints on the warm absorber by studying its variability. We analyzed the X-ray spectra of a Seyfert 1 galaxy, Mrk 704, which was observed twice, three years apart, by XMM-Newton. The spectra were well fitted with a two zones absorber, possibly covering only partially the source. The parameters of the absorbing matter - column density, ionization state, covering factor - changed significantly between the two observations. Possible explanations for the more ionized absorber are a torus wind (the source is a polar scattering one) or, in the partial covering scenario, an accretion disk wind. The less ionized absorber may be composed of orbiting clouds in the surroundings of the nucleus, similarly to what already found in other sources, most notably NGC 1365.