An RXTE Observation of NGC 6300: a new bright Compton reflection Dominated Seyfert 2 Galaxy

TL;DR

This paper reports RXTE observations of NGC 6300, identifying it as a bright, Compton reflection dominated Seyfert 2 galaxy with unique spectral properties, and discusses the modeling challenges due to RXTE's energy resolution.

Contribution

The study provides the first detailed RXTE spectral analysis of NGC 6300, confirming its classification as a bright, reflection-dominated Seyfert 2 galaxy and highlighting the need for higher resolution data.

Findings

NGC 6300 is a bright, reflection-dominated Seyfert 2 galaxy.

The X-ray spectrum suggests subsolar iron abundance and high inclination.

Optical data support the reflection-dominated interpretation.

Abstract

Scanning and pointed RXTE observations of the nearby Seyfert 2 galaxy NGC 6300 reveal that it is a source of hard X-ray continuum and large equivalent width Fe K$\alpha$ emission. These properties are characteristic of Compton-reflection dominated Seyfert 2 galaxies. The continuum can be modeled as Compton-reflection; subsolar iron abundance is required and a high inclination preferred. However, the poor energy resolution of RXTE means that this description is not unique, and the continuum can also be modeled using a ``dual absorber'', i.e. a sum of absorbed power laws. Observations with higher energy resolution detectors will cleanly discriminate between these two models. Optical observations support the Compton-reflection dominated interpretation as $L_X/L_{[OIII]}$ is low. NGC 6300 is notable because with $F_{2-10}\approx 6.4 \times 10^{-12} ergs cm^{-2} s^{-1}$, it is the second brightest such object known.