A magnetic reconnection origin for the soft X-ray excess in AGN

Abstract

We present a new scenario to explain the soft X-ray excess in Active Galactic Nucleus. The magnetic reconnection could happen in a thin layer on the surface of accretion disk. Electrons are accelerated by shock wave and turbulence triggered by magnetic reconnection, then they take place inverse Compton scattering above accretion disk which contributes soft X-rays. Based on standard disk model, we estimate the magnetic field strength and the energy released by magnetic reconnection along accretion disk, and find that the luminosity caused by magnetic reconnection mainly emits in the inner disk which is dominated by radiation pressure. We then apply the model to fit the spectra of AGNs with strong soft X-ray excess.

22 pages, 7 figures, Accepted by ApJ

References in corpus (5)

• X-ray Properties of Intermediate-mass Black Holes in Active Galaxies
• An absorption origin for the soft excess in Seyfert 1 AGN
• The impact of accretion disk winds on the X-ray spectrum of AGN: Part 1 - XSCORT
• Suzaku observations of Markarian 335: evidence for a distributed reflector
• Reflection dominated X-ray spectra of Narrow Line Seyfert 1 Galaxies: Mrk 478 and EXO 1346.2+2645

Cited by in corpus (7)

• The hard X-ray perspective on the soft X-ray excess
• Soft X-Ray Excess from Shocked Accreting Plasma in Active Galactic Nuclei
• Joint XMM-Newton and NuSTAR observations of the reflection spectrum of III Zw 2
• The contribution of bulk Comptonization to the soft X-ray excess in AGN
• X-ray spectral and temporal analysis of Narrow Line Seyfert 1 galaxy Was 61
• The Origin of The Soft X-Ray Excess in the Seyfert 1.5 Galaxy ESO 362-G18
• Modelling the energy dependent X-ray variability of Mrk 335