Eclipsing the X-ray emitting region in the active galaxy NGC 6814

TL;DR

This study detects a rapid occultation in NGC 6814, revealing the size and location of the X-ray emitting region and obscuring gas near the black hole, providing insights into AGN structure.

Contribution

It presents the first detailed analysis of a rapid occultation event in NGC 6814, constraining the size of the X-ray source and the location of the obscuring gas in the broad line region.

Findings

X-ray source size is approximately 25 gravitational radii.

Obscuring gas is located in the broad line region.

Spectral and timing analyses are consistent in characterizing the occultation.

Abstract

We report the detection of a rapid occultation event in the nearby Seyfert galaxy NGC 6814, simultaneously captured in a transient light curve and spectral variability. The intensity and hardness ratio curves capture distinct ingress and egress periods that are symmetric in duration. Independent of the selected continuum model, the changes can be simply described by varying the fraction of the central engine that is covered by transiting obscuring gas. Together, the spectral and timing analyses self-consistently reveal the properties of the obscuring gas, its location to be in the broad line region (BLR), and the size of the X-ray source to be ~25 rg . Our results demonstrate that obscuration close to massive black holes can shape their appearance, and can be harnessed to measure the active region that surrounds the event horizon.