AGN STORM 2. III. A NICER view of the variable X-ray obscurer in Mrk 817

Abstract

The AGN STORM 2 collaboration targeted the Seyfert 1 galaxy Mrk 817 for a year-long multiwavelength, coordinated reverberation mapping campaign including HST, Swift, XMM-Newton, NICER, and ground-based observatories. Early observations with NICER and XMM revealed an X-ray state ten times fainter than historical observations, consistent with the presence of a new dust-free, ionized obscurer. The following analysis of NICER spectra attributes variability in the observed X-ray flux to changes in both the column density of the obscurer by at least one order of magnitude ($N_{\mathrm{H}}$ ranges from $2.85\begin{array}{c}+0.48\\ -0.33\end{array}\times 10^{22}{\text{ cm}}^{-2}$ to $25.6\begin{array}{c}+3.0\\ -3.5\end{array}\times 10^{22}{\text{ cm}}^{-2}$) and the intrinsic continuum brightness (the unobscured flux ranges from $10^{-11.8}$ to $10^{-10.5}$ erg s${}^{-1}$ cm${}^{-2}$ ). While the X-ray flux generally remains in a faint state, there is one large flare during which Mrk 817 returns to its historical mean flux. The obscuring gas is still present at lower column density during the flare but it also becomes highly ionized, increasing its transparency. Correlation between the column density of the X-ray obscurer and the strength of UV broad absorption lines suggests that the X-ray and UV continua are both affected by the same obscuration, consistent with a clumpy disk wind launched from the inner broad line region.

19 pages, 9 figures, Accepted to ApJ

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Cited by in corpus (4)

• AGN STORM 2. VII. A Frequency-resolved Map of the Accretion Disk in Mrk 817: Simultaneous X-ray Reverberation and UVOIR Disk Reprocessing Time Lags
• Connecting the X-ray/UV variability of Fairall 9 with NICER: A Possible Warm Corona
• A Systematic Search for X-ray Eclipse Events in Active Galactic Nuclei Observed by Swift
• Testing X-ray Reprocessing and Mapping the Soft Excess of NGC 7469 with NICER