posted on 2012-10-24, 09:22authored byKim L. Page, Martin J. L. Turner, C. Done, Paul T. O'Brien, J. N. Reeves, S. Sembay, M. Stuhlinger
A series of nine XMM–Newton observations of the radio-loud quasar 3C 273 are presented, concentrating mainly on the soft excess. Although most of the individual observations do not show evidence for iron emission, co-adding them reveals a weak, broad line (EW ∼56 eV). The soft excess component is found to vary, confirming previous work, and can be well fitted with multiple blackbody components, with temperatures ranging between ∼40 and ∼330 eV, together with a power law. Alternatively, a Comptonization model also provides a good fit, with a mean electron temperature of ∼350 eV, although this value is higher when the soft excess is more luminous over the 0.5–10 keV energy band. In the reflection grating spectrometer spectrum of 3C 273, a strong detection of the O vii Heα absorption line at zero redshift is made; this may originate in warm gas in the local intergalactic medium, consistent with the findings of both Fang, Sembach & Canizares and Rasmussen, Kahn & Paerels.
History
Citation
Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 2004, 349 (1), pp. 57-67
Version
VoR (Version of Record)
Published in
Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Publisher
Oxford University Press (OUP) on behalf of the Royal Astronomical Society