Deep X-ray spectroscopy and imaging of the Seyfert 2 galaxy, ESO 138-G001

Authors :: Giulio Violino
C. Vignali
Fabrizio Nicastro
M. De Cicco
Stefano Bianchi
Andrea Marinucci
Enrico Piconcelli
De Cicco, M.
Marinucci, Andrea
Bianchi, Stefano
Piconcelli, E.
Violino, G.
Vignali, C.
Nicastro, F.
Marinucci, A.
Bianchi, S.
Publication Year :: 2015
Publisher :: arXiv, 2015.
Abstract: We present a spectral and imaging analysis of the XMM-Newton and Chandra observations of the Seyfert 2 galaxy ESO138-G001, with the aim of characterizing the circumnuclear material responsible for the soft (0.3-2.0 keV) and hard (5-10 keV) X-ray emission. We confirm that the source is absorbed by Compton-thick gas. However, if a self-consistent model of reprocessing from cold toroidal material is used (MYTorus), a possible scenario requires the absorber to be inhomogenous, its column density along the line of sight being larger than the average column density integrated over all lines- of-sight through the torus. The iron emission line may be produced by moderately ionised iron (FeXII-FeXIII), as suggested by the shifted centroid energy and the low K{\beta}/K{\alpha} flux ratio. The soft X-ray emission is dominated by emission features, whose main excitation mechanism appears to be photoionisation, as confirmed by line diagnostics and the use of self-consistent models (CLOUDY).<br />Comment: Accepted for pubblication in MNRAS. 9 pages, 8 figures