X-ray Unveiling Events in a z~1.6 Active Galactic Nucleus in the 7 Ms Chandra Deep Field-South

Abstract

We investigate the extreme X-ray variability of a z = 1.608 active galactic nucleus in the 7 Ms Chandra Deep Field-South (XID 403), which showed two significant X-ray brightening events. In the first event, XID 403 brightened by a factor of $>2.5$ in $\lesssim 6.1$ rest-frame days in the observed-frame 0.5-5 keV band. The event lasted for $\approx 5.0\text{-}7.3$ days, and then XID 403 dimmed by a factor of $>6.0$ in $\lesssim 6.1$ days. After $\approx 1.1\text{-}2.5$ years in the rest frame (including long observational gaps), it brightened again with the 0.5-5 keV flux increasing by a factor of $>12.6$. The second event lasted over 251 days and the source remained bright until the end of the 7 Ms exposure. The spectrum is a steep power law (photon index $\Gamma =2.8\pm 0.3$) without obscuration during the second outburst, and the rest-frame 2-10 keV luminosity reaches $1.5_{-0.5}^{+0.8}\times 10^{43}$ erg s${}^{-1}$; there is no significant spectral evolution within this epoch. The infrared-to-UV spectral energy distribution of XID 403 is dominated by the host galaxy. There is no significant optical/UV variability and $R$-band (rest-frame $\approx 2500$ $\unicode{xC5}$) brightening contemporaneous with the X-ray brightening. The extreme X-ray variability is likely due to two X-ray unveiling events, where the line of sight to the corona is no longer shielded by high-density gas clumps in a small-scale dust-free absorber. XID 403 is probably a high-redshift analog of local narrow-line Seyfert 1 galaxies, and the X-ray absorber is a powerful accretion-disk wind. On the other hand, we cannot exclude the possibility that XID 403 is an unusual candidate for tidal disruption events.

arXiv comment23 pages, 9 figures, accepted for publication in ApJ

References in corpus (165)

• Stellar population synthesis at the resolution of 2003
• The Dust Content and Opacity of Actively Star-Forming Galaxies
• The James Webb Space Telescope
• Composite Quasar Spectra From the Sloan Digital Sky Survey
• HI4PI: A full-sky HI survey based on EBHIS and GASS
• CIGALE: a python Code Investigating GALaxy Emission
• A Quantitative Comparison of SMC, LMC, and Milky Way UV to NIR Extinction Curves
• The Zwicky Transient Facility: Data Processing, Products, and Archive
• GOODS-Herschel: an infrared main sequence for star-forming galaxies
• The Galactic disk mass function: reconciliation of the HST and nearby determinations
• Relations Between Central Black Hole Mass and Total Galaxy Stellar Mass in the Local Universe
• The Low-Luminosity End of the Radius-Luminosity Relationship for Active Galactic Nuclei
• 3D-HST: A wide-field grism spectroscopic survey with the Hubble Space Telescope
• The Near-Infrared Spectrograph (NIRSpec) on the James Webb Space Telescope I. Overview of the instrument and its capabilities
• A comprehensive classification of galaxies in the SDSS: How to tell true from fake AGN?
• The Chandra Deep Field-South Survey: 4 Ms Source Catalogs
• The X-ray-to-Optical Properties of Optically-Selected Active Galaxies Over Wide Luminosity and Redshift Ranges
• The Chandra Deep Field-South Survey: 7 Ms Source Catalogs
• Obscured Active Galactic Nuclei
• Tidal Disruption Events
• The dust covering factor in active galactic nuclei
• The Discovery of the First "Changing Look" Quasar: New Insights into the Physics & Phenomenology of AGN
• The X-ray Properties of the Most-Luminous Quasars from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey
• Three-dimensional radiative transfer modeling of AGN dusty tori as a clumpy two-phase medium
• A Two-Parameter Model for the Infrared/Submillimeter/Radio Spectral Energy Distributions of Galaxies and AGN
• The diversity of quasars unified by accretion and orientation
• Ubiquitous variability of X-ray absorbing column densities in Seyfert 2 Galaxies
• The incidence of obscuration in active galactic nuclei
• The Radiative Efficiency of Accretion Flows in Individual AGN
• Eigenvector 1: An Optimal Correlation Space for Active Galactic Nuclei
• A Systematic Search for Changing-Look Quasars in SDSS
• The Dark Energy Survey Data Release 2
• Nine-hour X-ray quasi-periodic eruptions from a low-mass black hole galactic nucleus
• Innovations in the Analysis of Chandra-ACIS Observations
• The Extended Chandra Deep Field-South Survey. Chandra Point-Source Catalogs
• X-CIGALE: fitting AGN/galaxy SEDs from X-ray to infrared
• The Simultaneous Optical-to-X-ray Spectral Energy Distribution of Soft X-ray Selected AGN observed by Swift
• The Hard X-ray Spectrum as a Probe for Black-Hole Growth in Radio-Quiet Active Galactic Nuclei
• New physical insights about Tidal Disruption Events from a comprehensive observational inventory at X-ray wavelengths
• A physical model of the broadband continuum of AGN and its implications for the UV/X relation and optical variability
• Changing look: from Compton-thick to Compton-thin, or the re-birth of fossil AGN
• Large-Amplitude X-ray Outbursts from Galactic Nuclei: A Systematic Survey Using ROSAT Archival Data
• Super-Eddington Accretion Disks around Supermassive black Holes
• The FourStar Galaxy Evolution Survey (ZFOURGE): ultraviolet to far-infrared catalogs, medium-bandwidth photometric redshifts with improved accuracy, stellar masses, and confirmation of quiescent galaxies to z~3.5
• First X-ray-Based Statistical Tests for Clumpy-Torus Models: Eclipse Events from 230 Years of Monitoring of Seyfert AGN
• The tight relation between X-ray and ultraviolet luminosity of quasars
• Molecular Hydrogen in the FUSE Translucent Lines of Sight: The Full Sample
• X-ray Quasi-Periodic Eruptions from two previously quiescent galaxies
• Fitting AGN/galaxy X-ray-to-radio SEDs with CIGALE and improvement of the code
• 1ES 1927+654: An AGN Caught Changing Look on a Timescale of Months
• The Sloan Digital Sky Survey Reverberation Mapping Project: Sample Characterization
• X-ray Microlensing in RXJ1131-1231 and HE1104-1805
• Mean Spectral Energy Distributions and Bolometric Corrections for Luminous Quasars
• A Mid-IR Selected Changing-Look Quasar and Physical Scenarios for Abrupt AGN Fading
• A tidal disruption flare in a massive galaxy? Implications for the fuelling mechanisms of nuclear black holes
• X-ray reflection in the NLS1 1H 0707-495
• The 2 Ms Chandra Deep Field-North Survey and the 250 ks Extended Chandra Deep Field-South Survey: Improved Point-Source Catalogs
• X-ray Insights into the Nature of PHL 1811 Analogs and Weak Emission-Line Quasars: Unification with a Geometrically Thick Accretion Disk?
• Changing-Look Quasar Candidates: First Results from Follow-up Spectroscopy of Highly Optically Variable Quasars
• The destruction and recreation of the X-ray corona in a changing-look Active Galactic Nucleus
• The HELLAS2XMM survey: II. Multiwavelength observations of P3: an X-ray bright, optically inactive galaxy
• A global view of the inner accretion and ejection flow around super massive black holes: radiation driven accretion disk winds in a physical context
• X-ray absorption by Broad Line Region Clouds in Mrk 766
• X-ray Absorption and Reflection in Active Galactic Nuclei
• ROSAT monitoring of persistent giant and rapid variability in the narrow-line Seyfert 1 galaxy IRAS 13224-3809
• The young stellar population in M17 revealed by Chandra
• 1H0707-495 in 2011: An X-ray source within a gravitational radius of the event horizon
• NuSTAR catches the unveiling nucleus of NGC 1068
• Mid-infrared interferometry of 23 AGN tori: On the significance of polar-elongated emission
• Properties of AGN coronae in the NuSTAR era II: hybrid plasma
• Long XMM observation of the Narrow-Line Seyfert 1 galaxy IRAS13224-3809: rapid variability, high spin and a soft lag
• ASASSN-14ko is a Periodic Nuclear Transient in ESO 253-G003
• The XMM-Newton long look of NGC 1365: uncovering of the obscured X-ray source
• XMM-Newton observations expose AGN in apparently normal galaxies
• X-ray variability in a complete sample of Soft X-ray selected AGN
• THE UNUSUAL X-RAY AND OPTICAL PROPERTIES OF THE ULTRASOFT AGN ZWICKY 159.034 (RE J 1237+264)
• Prevalence of X-ray variability in the Chandra Deep Field South
• The swan song: the disappearance of the nucleus of NGC 4051 and the echo of its past glory
• A likely decade-long sustained tidal disruption event
• X-ray spectral analyses of AGNs from the 7Ms Chandra Deep Field-South survey: the distribution, variability, and evolution of AGN's obscuration
• IC 751: a new changing-look AGN discovered by NuSTAR
• XMM-Newton observations of the Narrow-Line Seyfert 1 galaxy Mrk 335 in an historical low X-ray flux state
• Constraining Sub-Parsec Binary Supermassive Black Holes in Quasars with Multi-Epoch Spectroscopy. III. Candidates from Continued Radial Velocity Tests
• Live to die another day: the rebrightening of AT2018fyk as a repeating partial tidal disruption event
• New evidence for the ubiquity of prominent polar dust emission in AGN on tens of parsec scales
• Discovery of the Narrow-Line Seyfert 1 galaxy Mkn 335 in an historical low X-ray flux state
• Interruption of Tidal Disruption Flares By Supermassive Black Hole Binaries
• Long-Term X-ray Variability of Typical Active Galactic Nuclei in the Distant Universe
• A search for changing-look AGN in the Grossan catalog
• Weak Hard X-ray Emission from Two Broad Absorption Line Quasars Observed with NuSTAR: Compton-thick Absorption or Intrinsic X-ray Weakness?
• ALMA reveals a warm and compact starburst around a heavily obscured supermassive black hole at z=4.75
• Testing Quasar Unification: Radiative Transfer in Clumpy Winds
• Caught in the Act; Chandra Observations of Microlensing of the Radio-Loud Quasar MG J0414+0534
• Tracing the accretion history of supermassive Black Holes through X-ray variability: results from the Chandra Deep Field-South
• On the Observational Difference Between the Accretion Disk-Corona Connections among Super- and Sub-Eddington Accreting Active Galactic Nuclei
• Variability Selected Low-Luminosity Active Galactic Nuclei in the 4 Ms Chandra Deep Field-South
• The 450 days X-ray monitoring of the changing-look AGN 1ES 1927+654
• Reverberation Measurements of the Inner Radii of the Dust Tori in Quasars
• Eleven years of monitoring the Seyfert 1 Mrk 335 with Swift: Characterizing the X-ray and UV/optical variability
• The X-Ray Variability of a Large, Serendipitous Sample of Spectroscopic Quasars
• The Sloan Digital Sky Survey Reverberation Mapping Project: Low-Ionization Broad-Line Widths and Implications for Virial Black Hole Mass Estimation
• New constraints on the X-ray spectral properties of type 1 AGN
• The formerly X-ray reflection-dominated Seyfert~2 galaxy NGC6300
• The correlations between optical/UV broad lines and X-ray emission for a large sample of quasars
• Ensemble X-ray variability of Active Galactic Nuclei from serendipitous source catalogues
• X-ray properties of TDEs
• Anatomy of the AGN in NGC 5548 VIII. XMM-Newton's EPIC detailed view of an unexpected variable multilayer absorber
• The NuSTAR view of reflection and absorption in NGC 7582
• Testing Diagnostics of Nuclear Activity and Star Formation in Galaxies at z>1
• The Chandra Deep Fields: Lifting the Veil on Distant Active Galactic Nuclei and X-Ray Emitting Galaxies
• Chandra monitoring of UGC 4203: the structure of the X-ray absorber
• Distinguishing Tidal Disruption Events from Impostors
• Mock catalogs for the extragalactic X-ray sky: simulating AGN surveys with Athena and with the AXIS probe
• The nuclear environment of the NLS1 Mrk 335: obscuration of the X-ray line emission by a variable outflow
• Radiation pressure confinement - IV. Application to broad absorption line outflows
• Insights on the X-ray weak quasar phenomenon from XMM-Newton monitoring of PHL 1092
• A new extensive catalog of optically variable AGN in the GOODS Fields and a new statistical approach to variability selection
• Super- and sub-Eddington accreting massive black holes: A comparison of slim and thin accretion discs through study of the spectral energy distribution
• NGC454: unveiling a new "changing look" AGN
• The Sloan Digital Sky Survey Reverberation Mapping Project: Accretion and Broad Emission Line Physics from a Hypervariable Quasar
• Polar dust obscuration in broad-line active galaxies from the XMM-XXL field
• The XMM-SERVS survey: XMM-Newton point-source catalogs for the W-CDF-S and ELAIS-S1 fields
• Piercing Through Highly Obscured and Compton-thick AGNs in the Chandra Deep Fields: I. X-ray Spectral and Long-term Variability Analyses
• Radiation Hydrodynamic Instability in Plane-Parallel, Super-Eddington Atmosphere: A Mechanism for Clump Formation
• X-ray flares from the stellar tidal disruption by a candidate supermassive black hole binary
• Evolution of a Relativistic Outflow and X-ray Corona in the Extreme Changing-Look AGN 1ES 1927+654
• The Long-Term X-Ray Variability of Broad Absorption Line Quasars
• An Occultation Event in Centaurus A and the Clumpy Torus Model
• The 500 ks Chandra observation of the z = 6.31 QSO SDSS J1030+0524
• A Tidal Disruption Event Candidate Discovered in the Active Galactic Nucleus SDSS J022700.77-042020.6
• AT2019 avd: A tidal disruption event with a two-phase evolution
• Deepest view of AGN X-ray variability with the 7 Ms Chandra Deep Field-South survey
• An Extreme X-ray Variability Event of a Weak-Line Quasar
• Optically variable active galactic nuclei in the 3 yr VST survey of the COSMOS field
• Sensitive Chandra coverage of a representative sample of weak-line quasars: revealing the full range of X-ray properties
• XMMSL2 J144605.0+685735 : a slow tidal disruption event
• A Spectroscopic Survey of the Fields of 28 Strong Gravitational Lenses: The Redshift Catalog
• SUDARE-VOICE variability-selection of Active Galaxies in the Chandra Deep Field South and the SERVS/SWIRE region
• Long-term and multi-wavelength evolution of a changing-look AGN Mrk 1018
• Location and energetics of the ultra-fast outflow in PG 1448+273
• Steep Hard-X-ray Spectra Indicate Extremely High Accretion Rates in Weak Emission-Line Quasars
• SDSS J075101.42+291419.1: A Super-Eddington Accreting Quasar with Extreme X-ray Variability
• PHL 1092 as a transient extreme X-ray weak quasar
• Light Curves of Partial Tidal Disruption Events
• Further evidence to support a tidal disruption event in the changing-look AGN SDSS J0159
• Transient obscuration event captured in NGC~3227 II. Warm absorbers and obscuration events in archival XMM-Newton and NuSTAR observations
• NuSTAR Observations of Intrinsically X-ray Weak Quasar Candidates: An Obscuration-Only Scenario
• On the relation between hard X-ray photon index versus accretion rate for super-Eddington accreting quasars
• SDSS J0159 as an outlier in the Mbh-sigma space: further clues to support a central tidal disruption event?
• Decoupling absorption and continuum variability in the Seyfert 2 NGC 4507
• Multi-epoch X-ray spectral analysis of the narrow-line Seyfert 1 galaxy Mrk 478
• The Rapidly Spinning Intermediate-Mass Black Hole 3XMM J150052.0+015452
• A Rapid and Large-Amplitude X-ray Dimming Event in a z ~ 2.6 Radio-Quiet Quasar
• Spectropolarimetric Evidence for Radiatively Inefficient Accretion in an Optically Dull Active Galaxy
• Variability-selected low-luminosity active galactic nuclei candidates in the 7 Ms Chandra Deep Field-South
• The X-ray Variability of AGN and its Implications for Observations of Galaxy Clusters
• Follow-up Observations of the Prolonged, super-Eddington, Tidal Disruption Event Candidate 3XMM~J150052.0+015452: the Slow Decline Continues
• A Partial Eclipse of the Heart: The Absorbed X-ray Low State in Mrk 1048
• Transient obscuration event captured in NGC 3227 III. Photoionization modeling of the X-ray obscuration event in 2019
• Rapid N_H Changes in NGC 4151
• The Hubble Catalog of Variables (HCV)
• The XMM deep survey in the CDF-S. X. X-ray variability of bright sources
• X-ray Selected Narrow-Line Active Galactic Nuclei in the COSMOS Field: Nature of Optically Dull Active Galactic Nuclei
• Absorption Variability of the Highly Obscured Active Galactic Nucleus NGC 4507
• Swift, NuStar and XMM-Newton observations of the NLS1 galaxy RX J2317.8-4422 in an extreme X-ray low flux state

Cited by in corpus (2)

• Intervening nuclear obscuration changing the X-ray look of the $z\approx 6$ QSO CFHQS J164121+375520
• The Faintest, Extremely Variable X-ray Tidal Disruption Event from a Supermassive Black Hole Binary?