Related papers: An explanation for the soft X-ray excess in AGN (C…
We present a large sample of type 1 active galactic nuclei (AGN) spectra taken with XMM-Newton, and fit them with both the conventional model (a power law and black body) and the relativistically-blurred photoionized disc reflection model…
(abridged) The soft excess seen in the X-ray spectra of many high mass accretion rate AGN can be well modelled by reflection from a partially ionised accretion disc. However, the derived parameters are often extreme, both in terms of the…
We have observed with XMM-Newton four radiatively efficient active type 1 galaxies with black hole masses < 10^6 Msun, selected optically from the SDSS. We show here that their soft X-ray spectrum exhibits a soft excess with the same…
The soft excess seen in many AGN is most probably due to partially ionized material moving at relativistic speeds close to the black hole. There are currently two potential geometries for this material, one where it is out of the line of…
The nature and origin of the soft X-ray excess in radio quiet AGN is still an open issue. The interpretation in terms of thermal disc emission has been challanged by the discovery of the constancy of the effective temperature despite the…
(Abridged) Narrow Line Seyfert 1 (NLS1) galaxies have low mass black holes and mass accretion rates close to (or exceeding) Eddington, so a standard blackbody accretion disc should peak in the EUV. However, the lack of true absorption…
We investigate the nature of the soft excess below 1 keV observed in AGN. We use the XMM-Newton data of the low redshift, optically bright quasar, PG 1211+143, and we compare it with the Narrow Line Seyfert 1 galaxy, 1H 0707-495, which has…
Understanding the nature of the accretion disk, its interplay with the X-ray corona, and assessing black hole spin demographics are some open challenges in astrophysics. In this work, we examine the predictions of the standard $\alpha$-disk…
Radiation emitted from an accretion disk around a massive black hole is a widely discussed model for the UV/soft X-ray excess emission observed in the spectra of many AGN. A self-consistent calculation of the structure and the emerging…
X-ray reflection generates much of the spectral complexity in the X-ray spectra of AGN. It is argued that strong relativistic blurring of the reflection spectrum should commonly be expected from objects accreting at a high Eddington rate.…
The soft excess in active galactic nuclei (AGNs) may arise through a combination of relativistic reflection and the effects of a warm corona at the surface of the accretion disc. Detailed examination of the soft excess can therefore…
We systematically analyse all publicly available XMM-Newton spectra of radio-quiet PG quasars. The soft X-ray excess in these objects is well modelled by an additional, cool, Compton scattering region. However, the remarkably constant…
Over the last few years several models have been proposed to interpret the widespread soft excess observed in the X-ray spectra of type 1 active galactic nuclei (AGN). In particular, reflection from the photoionized accretion disc blurred…
The origin of the soft excess seen in many AGN below ~1 keV is still an unsolved problem. It is unlikely to represent a true continuum component as its characteristic 'temperature' shows a remarkable constancy over a wide range of AGN…
Bulk velocities exceed thermal velocities for sufficiently radiation pressure dominated accretion flows. We model the contribution of bulk Comptonization to the soft X-ray excess in AGN. Bulk Comptonization is due to both turbulence and the…
We discuss the origin of the soft X-ray excess seen in AGN. There are clear advantages to models where this arises from atomic processes in partially ionised material rather than where it is a true continuum component. However, current data…
We discuss the expected X-ray spectral and variability properties of black hole accretion discs at high luminosity, under the hypothesis that radiation pressure dominated discs are subject to violent clumping instabilities and, as a result,…
An excess of X-ray emission below 1 keV, called soft excess, is detected in a large fraction of Seyfert 1-1.5s. The origin of this feature remains debated, as several models have been suggested to explain it, including warm Comptonization…
The origin of the soft X-ray excess emission observed in many type-1 AGN has been an unresolved problem in X-ray astronomy for over two decades. We develop the model proposed Gierlinski & Done (2004), which models the soft excess with…
Strong soft X-ray emission called soft X-ray excess is often observed in luminous active galactic nuclei (AGN). It has been suggested that the soft X-rays are emitted from a warm ($T=10^6\sim10^7\ \rm{K}$) region that is optically thick for…