We present a study of X-ray ionization of magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) accretion-disk winds in an effort to constrain the physics underlying the highly-ionized ultra-fast outflows (UFOs) inferred by X-ray absorbers often detected in various sub-classes of Seyfert active galactic nuclei (AGNs). Our primary focus is to show that magnetically-driven outflows are indeed physically plausible candidates for the observed outflows accounting for the AGN absorption properties of the present X-ray spectroscopic observations. Employing a stratified MHD wind launched across the entire AGN accretion disk, we calculate its X-ray ionization and the ensuing X-ray absorption line spectra. Assuming an appropriate ionizing AGN spectrum, we apply our MHD winds to model the absorption features in an {\it XMM-Newton}/EPIC spectrum of the narrow-line Seyfert, \pg. We find, through identifying the detected features with Fe Kα transitions, that the absorber has a characteristic ionization parameter of log(ξc[ergcms^{-1}])≃5−6 and a column density on the order of NH≃1023 cm−2, outflowing at a characteristic velocity of vc/c≃0.1−0.2 (where c is the speed of light). The best-fit model favors its radial location at rc≃200Ro (Ro is the black hole innermost stable circular orbit), with an inner wind truncation radius at Rt≃30Ro. The overall K-shell feature in the data is suggested to be dominated by \fexxv\ with very little contribution from \fexxvi\ and weakly-ionized iron, which is in a good agreement with a series of earlier analysis of the UFOs in various AGNs including \pg.
@article{arxiv.1503.04074,
title = {Magnetically-Driven Accretion-Disk Winds and Ultra-Fast Outflows in PG1211+143},
author = {Keigo Fukumura and Francesco Tombesi and Demosthenes Kazanas and Chris Shrader and Ehud Behar and Ioannis Contopoulos},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1503.04074},
year = {2015}
}
Comments
v.3 as of 5/6/15 with eliminating extra figs: accepted to ApJ, 28 pages, figs.1-6 (color), 3 tables