A combined timing/spectral study of IRAS 13224-3809 using XMM-Newton data

TL;DR

This study uses combined timing and spectral analysis of XMM-Newton data to investigate the properties of IRAS 13224-3809, revealing a rotating black hole and variable X-ray corona height through advanced reverberation modeling.

Contribution

It introduces a novel simultaneous fitting of time-lags and energy spectra across different flux levels in an AGN using a new reverberation code, supporting a rotating black hole scenario.

Findings

Evidence for a rapidly rotating black hole.

Detection of variable X-ray corona height.

Better model fits with a Kerr black hole.

Abstract

We present the results from an X-ray variability study of IRAS 13224-3809. This is probably the best source for X-ray reverberation studies since it is X-ray bright, extremely variable, and it has been extensively observed with XMM-Newton. We used all the archival XMM-Newton data from the three EPIC cameras (to increase the signal-to-noise) and, given the many observations of the source, we were able to compute the time-lags spectra in three different flux levels/periods. We fitted the time-lags and energy spectra, simultaneously, using a new X-ray reverberation code which computes the time dependent reflection spectra of the disc as a response to an X-ray flash from a point source located on the axis of the black-hole (BH) accretion disc (lamp-post geometry). To the best of our knowledge, this is the first time for an AGN that both time-lags and energy spectra are fitted by a model simultaneously in different flux periods. The model fits in the case when the BH is rapidly rotating are significantly better than the model fits in the case of a Schwarzschild BH. This result strongly favours the hypothesis of a rotating central BH in this source. We also detect significant variations in the height of the X-ray corona. The X-ray height appears to increase from 3-5 gravitational radii when the X-ray luminosity is of the order of 1.5-3 percent of the Eddington limit, up to 10 gravitational radii, when the luminosity doubles.