Optical and X-ray discovery of the changing-look AGN IRAS23226-3843 showing extremely broad and double-peaked Balmer profiles

Abstract

We detected a very strong X-ray decline in the galaxy IRAS23226-3843 within the XMM-Newton slew survey in 2017. Subsequently, we carried out multi-band follow-up studies to investigate this fading galaxy in more detail. We took deep follow-up Swift, XMM-Newton, and NuSTAR observations in combination with optical SALT spectra of IRAS23226-3843 in 2017. In addition, we reinspected optical, UV, and X-ray data that were taken in the past. IRAS23226-3843 decreased in X-rays by a factor of more than 30 with respect to ROSAT and Swift data taken 10 to 27 years before. The broadband XMM-Newton/NuSTAR spectrum is power-law dominated, with a contribution from photoionized emission from cold gas, likely the outer accretion disk or torus. The optical continuum decreased by 60 percent and the Balmer line intensities decreased by 50 percent between 1999 and 2017. The optical Seyfert spectral type changed simultaneously with the X-ray flux from a clear broad-line Seyfert 1 type in 1999 to a Seyfert 1.9 type in 2017. The Balmer line profiles in IRAS23226-3843 are extremely broad. The profiles during the minimum state indicate that they originate in an accretion disk. The unusual flat Balmer decrement Ha/Hb with a value of 2 indicates a very high hydrogen density of n_(H) > 10 exp(11) cm^(-3) at the center of the accretion disk. IRAS23226-3843 shows unusually strong FeII blends with respect to the broad line widths, in contrast to what is known from Eigenvector 1 studies.

arXiv comment17 pages, 10 figures, Astronomy & Astrophysics in press. arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:1804.05911

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