Sustaining a Warm Corona in Active Galactic Nuclei Accretion Discs

TL;DR

This study models how warm coronae in AGN accretion discs adjust to flux changes, explaining the soft excess in X-ray spectra and linking corona properties to accretion rates.

Contribution

It introduces models of warm coronae that respond to flux variations, elucidating their role in producing the AGN soft excess and constraining heating mechanisms.

Findings

Warm corona temperatures range from 0.3 to 1.1 keV.

Correlations between spectral properties depend on corona evolution.

Higher accretion rates lead to stronger soft excesses.

Abstract

Warm coronae, thick ($\tau_{\mathrm{T}}\approx 10$-$20$, where $\tau_{\mathrm{T}}$ is the Thomson depth) Comptonizing regions with temperatures of $\sim 1$ keV, are proposed to exist at the surfaces of accretion discs in active galactic nuclei (AGNs). By combining with the reflection spectrum, warm coronae may be responsible for producing the smooth soft excess seen in AGN X-ray spectra. This paper studies how a warm corona must adjust in order to sustain the soft excess through large changes in the AGN flux. Spectra from one-dimensional constant density and hydrostatic warm coronae models are calculated assuming the illuminating hard X-ray power-law, gas density, Thomson depth and coronal heating strength vary in response to changes in the accretion rate. We identify models that produce warm coronae with temperatures between $0.3$ and $1.1$ keV, and measure the photon indices and emitted fluxes in the $0.5$-$2$ keV and $2$-$10$ keV bands. Correlations and anti-correlations between these quantities depend on the evolution and structure of the warm corona. Tracing the path that an AGN follows through these correlations will constrain how warm coronae are heated and connected to the accretion disc. Variations in the density structure and coronal heating strength of warm coronae will lead to a variety of soft excess strengths and shapes in AGNs. A larger accretion rate will, on average, lead to a warm corona that produces a stronger soft excess, consistent with observations of local Seyfert galaxies.