English

Reprocessed emission from warped accretion discs with application to X-ray iron line profiles

Astrophysics 2011-05-10 v1

Abstract

Flourescent iron line profiles currently provide the best diagnostic for active galactic nuclei (AGN) engine geometries. Here we construct a method for calculating the relativistic iron line profile from an arbitrarily warped accretion disc, illuminated from above and below by hard X-ray sources. This substantially generalises previous calculations of reprocessing by accretion discs by including non-axisymmetric effects. We include a relativistic treatment of shadowing by ray-tracing photon paths along Schwarzchild geodesics. We apply this method to two classes of warped discs, and generate a selection of resulting line profiles. New profile features include the possibility of sharper red, and softer blue fall-offs, a time varying line profile if the warp precesses about the disc, and some differences between `twisted' and `twist-free' warps. We discuss some qualitative implications of the line profiles in the context of Type I and II Seyfert AGN.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.astro-ph/9908275,
  title  = {Reprocessed emission from warped accretion discs with application to X-ray iron line profiles},
  author = {Sean A. Hartnoll and Eric G. Blackman},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:astro-ph/9908275},
  year   = {2011}
}

Comments

15 pages, LaTeX + eps files + 6 separate gif files, Submitted to MNRAS