The relativistic jet of the gamma-ray emitting narrow-line Seyfert 1 galaxy 1H 0323+342

Abstract

The detection of several radio-loud narrow-line Seyfert 1 (NLS1) galaxies by the Fermi Gamma-Ray Space Telescope hints at the existence of a rare, new class of gamma-ray emitting active galactic nuclei with low black hole masses. Like flat spectrum radio quasars (FSRQs), their gamma-ray emission is thought to be produced via the external Compton mechanism whereby relativistic jet electrons upscatter a photon field external to the jet, e.g. from the accretion disc, broad line region (BLR) and dusty torus, to higher energies. Here we study the origin of the gamma-ray emission in the lowest-redshift candidate among the currently-known gamma-ray emitting NLS1s, 1H 0323+342, and take a new approach. We observationally constrain the external photon field using quasi-simultaneous near-IR, optical and X-ray spectroscopy. Applying a one-zone leptonic jet model, we simulate the range of jet parameters for which this photon field, when Compton scattered to higher energies, can explain the gamma-ray emission. We find that the site of the gamma-ray emission lies well within the BLR and that the seed photons mainly originate from the accretion disc. The jet power that we determine, $1.0\times 10^{45}$ erg s${}^{-1}$, is approximately half the accretion disc luminosity. We show that this object is not simply a low-mass FSRQ, its jet is intrinsically less powerful than predicted by scaling a typical FSRQ jet by black hole mass and accretion rate. That gamma-ray emitting NLS1s appear to host underpowered jets may go some way to explaining why so few have been detected to date.

22 pages, 8 figures and 8 tables. Accepted for publication in MNRAS

References in corpus (21)

• The power of relativistic jets is larger than the luminosity of their accretion disks
• Radio-loud Narrow-Line Type 1 Quasars
• A Population of Radio-loud Narrow Line Seyfert 1 Galaxies with Blazar-like Properties?
• Spectral Mapping Reconstruction of Extended Sources
• Fermi/LAT broad emission line blazars
• On the Iwasawa-Taniguchi effect of radio-quiet AGN
• Radio jet emission from GeV-emitting narrow-line Seyfert 1 galaxies
• Tomographic reflection modelling of quasi-periodic oscillations in the black hole binary H 1743-322
• The Formation and Evolution of Planetary Systems: Description of the Spitzer Legacy Science Database
• Extended silicate dust emission in PG QSOs
• The Peculiar Radio-Loud Narrow Line Seyfert 1 Galaxy 1H 0323+342
• The first gamma-ray detection of the narrow-line Seyfert 1 FBQS J1644+2619
• Super-Eddington QSO RX J0439.6-5311. II. Multi-wavelength Constraints on the Global Structure of the Accretion Flow
• On the black hole mass of the gamma-ray emitting narrow-line Seyfert 1 galaxy 1H 0323+342
• Discerning the $\gamma$-ray emitting region in the flat spectrum radio quasars
• The F-GAMMA program: Multi-frequency study of Active Galactic Nuclei in the Fermi era. Program description and the first 2.5 years of monitoring
• Inner jet kinematics and the viewing angle towards the γ-ray narrow-line Seyfert 1 galaxy 1H 0323+342
• Rapid Variability of Gamma-ray Emission from Sites near the 43 GHz Cores of Blazar Jets
• What Powers the Most Relativistic Jets? II: Flat Spectrum Radio Quasars
• Exploring the Nuclear Environment of the NLS1 Galaxy Arakelian 564 with XMM-Newton RGS
• X-ray Eclipses of Active Galactic Nuclei

Cited by in corpus (12)

• General Physical Properties of Gamma-ray Emitting Narrow-Line Seyfert 1 Galaxies
• The first hard X-ray spectral catalogue of Blazars observed by NuSTAR
• The Extreme Super-Eddington NLS1 RX J0134.2-4258 -- II. A Weak-Line Seyfert Linking to the Weak-Line Quasar
• Comparative intra-night optical variability of X-ray and $\gamma$-ray detected narrow-line Seyfert 1 galaxies
• Broadband X-ray observations of four gamma-ray narrow-line Seyfert 1 galaxies
• The relativistic jet of the $\gamma$-ray emitting narrow-line Seyfert 1 galaxy PKS J1222$+$0413
• Multi-wavelength Campaign on the Super-Eddington NLS1 RX J0134.2-4258 -- I. Peculiar X-ray Spectra and Variability
• Gamma-ray-emitting narrow-line Seyfert 1 galaxies: the Swift view
• Modelling the variable emission states of $\gamma$-ray emitting Narrow-Line Seyfert 1 galaxies
• Hunting for the nature of the enigmatic narrow-line Seyfert 1 galaxy PKS 2004-447
• The Origin of X-ray Emission in the Gamma-ray emitting Narrow-Line Seyfert 1 1H 0323+342
• Relativistic Jets in Gamma-Ray-Emitting Narrow-Line Seyfert 1 Galaxies