Variable blurred reflection in the narrow-line Seyfert 1 galaxy Mrk 493

TL;DR

This study analyzes a 200 ks XMM-Newton observation of the Seyfert galaxy Mrk 493, revealing that X-ray variability is driven by changes in primary flux and light bending effects near the black hole, affecting the reflection component.

Contribution

It provides a detailed time-resolved spectral analysis of Mrk 493, linking variability to light bending and ionization changes in the accretion disk.

Findings

Variability caused by changes in primary flux and light bending.

Reflection component varies with ionization and flux.

Primary source remains roughly constant in brightness.

Abstract

We examine a 200 ks XMM-Newton observation of the narrow-line Seyfert 1 galaxy Mrk 493. The active galaxy was half as bright as in a previous 2003 snapshot observation and the current lower flux enables a study of the putative reflection component in detail. We determine the characteristics of the 2015 X-ray continuum by first analyzing the short-term variability using model-independent techniques. We then continue with a time-resolve analysis including spectral fitting and modelling the fractional variability. We determine that the variability arises from changes in the amount of primary flux striking the accretion disk, which induces changes in the ionization parameter and flux of the blurred reflection component. The observations seem consistent with the picture that the primary source is of roughly constant brightness and that variations arise from changes in the degree of light bending happening in the vicinity of the supermassive black hole.