A direct comparison of X-ray spectral models for tori in active galactic nuclei

Abstract

Several X-ray spectral models for tori in active galactic nuclei (AGNs) are available to constrain the properties of tori; however, the accuracy of these models has not been verified. We recently construct a code for the torus using Geant4, which can easily handle different geometries (Liu & Li 2014). Thus, we adopt the same assumptions as Murphy & Yaqoob (2009, hereafter MY09) and Brightman & Nandra (2011, hereafter BN11) and try to reproduce their spectra. As a result, we can reproduce well the reflection spectra and the strength of the Fe K$\alpha$ line of MY09, for both $\NH=10^{24}$ and $10^{25}$ cm${}^{-2}$. However, we cannot produce the strong reflection component of BN11 in the low-energy band. The origin of this component is the reflection from the visible inner wall of the torus, and it should be very weak in the edge-on directions under the geometry of BN11. Therefore, the behaviour of the reflection spectra in BN11 is not consistent with their geometry. The strength of the Fe K$\alpha$ line of BN11 is also different from our results and the analytical result in the optically thin case. The limitation of the spectral model will bias the parameters from X-ray spectral fitting.

arXiv comment5 pages, 9 figures, MNRAS letter in press

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