X-ray absorption and re-emission from an ionized outflow in the Type I quasi-stellar object 2MASS 234449+1221 observed by XMM-Newton

We report on the analysis of a short XMM–Newton observation of the reddened Type 1 quasistellar object (QSO) 2MASS 234449+1221 first identified in the Two-Micron All-Sky Survey (2MASS). The underlying X-ray continuum is found to be typical of a broad-line active galaxy, with photon index Γ ∼ 1.9. Low-energy absorption can be modelled by a column NH ∼ 10²² cm−² of moderately ionized gas or a smaller column of cold gas. Addition of a soft X-ray emission component significantly improves the fit in both cases. With the assumption that the soft X-ray flux represents emission from gas photoionized by the incident X-ray continuum, a comparison of the absorbed and emitted luminosities indicates a covering factor of ∼8–17 per cent. The unusual opportunity simultaneously to observe and quantify ionized absorption and emission in 2MASS 234449+1221 is due to the relatively large opacity – for a Type 1 active galactic nucleus (AGN) – of the absorbing gas, which depresses the normally strong continuum below ∼1 keV. A comparison of the soft X-ray emission of 2MASS 234449+1221 with that of other Type 1 and Type 2AGNs suggests the existence of an inner turbulent extension to ionized outflows, not detected in current high-resolution X-ray spectra.