X-ray Timing and Spectral studies of the bare AGN Mrk 110

TL;DR

This study investigates the soft X-ray excess in AGN Mrk 110, revealing a soft lag consistent with reflection or warm Comptonization, and suggests an outflowing corona linked to jet activity.

Contribution

It provides the first detailed timing and spectral analysis of Mrk 110, supporting a reflection scenario with an outflowing corona and constraining emission region sizes.

Findings

Detected a soft X-ray lag of 889-3000s at 7-9×10^{-5} Hz.

Spectral modeling confirms the presence of a warm corona and low reflection fraction.

The inferred emission radius depends on the assumed black hole mass.

Abstract

The origin of the soft X-ray excess below 2 keV in active galactic nuclei (AGNs) remains debated, with relativistic reflection from the inner accretion disk and warm Comptonization in an optically thick corona being the leading explanations. We investigate the timing and spectral properties of the Seyfert galaxy Mrk 110 using six XMM-Newton observations. A frequency-dependent lag analysis in the 7-9 $\times 10^{-5}$ Hz range reveals a soft X-ray lag of 889-3000s in the combined 2019 data, detected with a significance of 80%. The cross-correlation function analysis, supported by simulations, also detects lags of similar nature. Spectral modeling performed by adopting both proposed black hole masses in the literature for Mrk 110 confirms the presence of a warm corona in all observations, along with a weak relativistic reflection component and the reflection fraction remains low (Rf < 1). Interpreting the measured soft lag in terms of light travel time implies an emission radius 4.5 Rg for a supermassive black hole mass of $M = 1.4 \times 10^8$ solar mass , favoring a reflection scenario. However, if a lower mass of $M = 2 \times 10^7$ solar mass is adopted, the inferred radius increases, and both relativistic reflection and warm Comptonization can plausibly contribute to the observed soft lag. The warm corona radius appears larger in the high accretion state and smaller in a lower accretion state, although no trend can be established. The persistently low reflection fraction suggests an outflowing inner corona in Mrk 110, consistent with the recent detection of jet activity in this source.