Evidence of a Warm Absorber that Varies with QPO Phase in the AGN RE J1034+396

Abstract

A recent observation of the nearby (z=0.042) narrow-line Seyfert 1 galaxy RE J1034+396 on 2007 May 31 showed strong quasi-periodic oscillations (QPOs) in the 0.3-10 keV X-ray flux. We present phase-resolved spectroscopy of this observation, using data obtained by the EPIC PN detector onboard XMM. The "low" phase spectrum, associated with the troughs in the light curve, shows (at >4 sigma confidence level) an absorption edge at 0.86+/-0.05 keV with an absorption depth of 0.3+/-0.1. Ionized oxygen edges are hallmarks of X-ray warm absorbers in Seyfert active galactic nuclei (AGN); the observed edge is consistent with H-like O VIII and implies a column density of N_{OVIII}~3x10^{18} cm^{-2}. The edge is not seen in the "high" phase spectrum associated with the crests in the light curve, suggesting the presence of a warm absorber in the immediate vicinity of the supermassive black hole which periodically obscures the continuum emission. If the QPO arises due to Keplerian orbital motion around the central black hole, the periodic appearance of the O VIII edge would imply a radius of ~9.4(M/[4x10^6 Msun])^{-2/3}(P/[1 hr])^{2/3} r_g for the size of the warm absorber.

arXiv commentAccepted for publication in ApJ (tentatively scheduled for the July 2010 v717 issue). 5 figures and 19 pages (in aastex preprint format)

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• Re-observing the NLS1 Galaxy RE J1034+396. I. the Long-term, Recurrent X-ray QPO with a High Significance
• Re-observing the NLS1 Galaxy RE J1034+396. II. New Insights on the Soft X-ray Excess, QPO and the Analogy with GRS 1915+105
• Tracking the Evolution of QPO in RE J1034+396 Using the Hilbert-Huang Transform
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