The 2-79 keV X-ray Spectrum of the Circinus Galaxy with NuSTAR, XMM-Newton and Chandra: a Fully Compton-Thick AGN

TL;DR

This study combines data from Chandra, XMM-Newton, and NuSTAR to analyze the X-ray spectrum of the Circinus galaxy, revealing a fully Compton-thick AGN with a heavily obscured nucleus and no significant short-term variability.

Contribution

The paper provides a comprehensive spectral analysis of Circinus using multiple observatories, establishing it as a fully Compton-thick AGN with detailed physical parameters of the obscuring torus.

Findings

The nuclear spectrum is consistent with Compton-scattering by an optically-thick torus.

The intrinsic AGN luminosity in 2-10 keV is estimated at (2.3-5.1)×10^{42} erg/s.

No significant short-term variability detected above 10 keV.

Abstract

The Circinus galaxy is one of the nearest obscured AGN, making it an ideal target for detailed study. Combining archival Chandra and XMM-Newton data with new NuSTAR observations, we model the 2-79 keV spectrum to constrain the primary AGN continuum and to derive physical parameters for the obscuring material. Chandra's high angular resolution allows a separation of nuclear and off-nuclear galactic emission. In the off-nuclear diffuse emission we find signatures of strong cold reflection, including high equivalent-width neutral Fe lines. This Compton-scattered off-nuclear emission amounts to 18% of the nuclear flux in the Fe line region, but becomes comparable to the nuclear emission above 30 keV. The new analysis no longer supports a prominent transmitted AGN component in the observed band. We find that the nuclear spectrum is consistent with Compton-scattering by an optically-thick torus, where the intrinsic spectrum is a powerlaw of photon index $\Gamma = 2.2-2.4$, the torus has an equatorial column density of $N_{\rm H} = (6-10)\times10^{24}$cm$^{-2}$ and the intrinsic AGN $2-10$ keV luminosity is $(2.3-5.1)\times 10^{42}$ erg/s. These values place Circinus along the same relations as unobscured AGN in accretion rate-vs-$\Gamma$ and $L_X$-vs-$L_{IR}$ phase space. NuSTAR's high sensitivity and low background allow us to study the short time-scale variability of Circinus at X-ray energies above 10 keV for the first time. The lack of detected variability favors a Compton-thick absorber, in line with the the spectral fitting results.