English

The accretion properties of a low-mass Active Galactic Nucleus: UGC 6728

High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena 2023-11-28 v1

Abstract

We present a comprehensive analysis of approximately 1515 years (200620212006-2021) of X-ray observations of UGC~6728, a low-mass bare AGN, for the first time. Our study encompasses both spectral and temporal aspects of this source. The spectral properties of this source are studied using various phenomenological and physical models. We conclude that (a) the observed variability in X-ray luminosity is not attributed to the Hydrogen column density (NHN_H) as UGC~6728 exhibits a bare nucleus, implying a negligible NHN_H contribution along the line of sight, and (b) the spectral slope in the X-ray band demonstrates a systematic variation over time, indicating a transition from a relatively hard state to a comparatively soft state. We propose that the underlying accretion dynamics around the central object account for this behavior. By performing X-ray spectral fitting, we estimate the mass of the central supermassive black hole (SMBH) in UGC~6728 to be MBH=(7.13±1.23)×105M_{BH}=(7.13\pm1.23)\times10^5 M_\odot with spin a=0.970.27+0.20a=0.97^{+0.20}_{-0.27} and inclination angle i=49.5±14.5i=49.5\pm14.5 degree. Based on our spectral and temporal analysis, we suggest that UGC~6728 lacks a prominent Compton hump or exhibits a very subtle hump that remains undetectable in our analysis. Furthermore, the high-energy X-ray photons in this source are likely to originate from the low-energy X-ray photons through inverse Compton scattering in a Compton cloud, highlighting a connection between the emission in two energy ranges. We notice a strong soft excess component in the initial part of our observations, which later reduced substantially. This variation of soft excess is explained in view of accretion dynamics.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2311.15104,
  title  = {The accretion properties of a low-mass Active Galactic Nucleus: UGC 6728},
  author = {Prantik Nandi and Sachindra Naik and Arka Chatterjee and Sandip K Chakrabarti and Samar Safi-Harb and Neeraj Kumari},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2311.15104},
  year   = {2023}
}

Comments

19 pages, 8 figures