Changing Accretion Geometry of Seyfert 1 Mrk 335 with {\it NuSTAR}: A Comparative Study

TL;DR

This study analyzes eight X-ray observations of Seyfert 1 galaxy Mrk 335 from 2013 to 2020, revealing variability in accretion flow geometry and physical processes driving X-ray emission, with implications for understanding AGN outflows.

Contribution

It provides a detailed spectral analysis over multiple epochs, estimating the Compton cloud height and comparing accretion processes with X-ray binaries, which is novel in multi-epoch AGN studies.

Findings

The black hole mass estimate is consistent with optical reverberation mapping.

The disk accretion rate peaked at 10% of Eddington in June 2013.

Variability in the Compton cloud height indicates changing accretion geometry.

Abstract

We present a detailed spectral study of the narrow-line Seyfert~1 galaxy, Markarian~335, using eight epoch observations made between 2013 and 2020 with the Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array. The source was variable during this period both in spectral flux and flow geometry. We estimated the height of the Compton cloud from the model fitted parameters for the whole observation period. This allowed us to investigate the underlying physical processes that drive the variability in X-rays. Our model fitted mass varies in a narrow range, between $(2.44\pm0.45-3.04\pm0.56)\times10^{7}M_\odot$, however, given the large error bars, it is consistent with being constant and is in agreement with that known from optical reverberation mapping observations. The disk mass accretion rate reached a maximum of 10\% of the Eddington rate during June 2013. Our study sheds light on mass outflows from the system and also compares different aspects of accretion with X-ray binaries.