ASCA Observations of the Composite Warm Absorber in NGC 3516

Abstract

We obtained X-ray spectra of the Seyfert 1 galaxy NGC~3516 in March 1995 using ASCA. Simultaneous far-UV observations were obtained with HUT on the Astro-2 shuttle mission. The ASCA spectrum shows a lightly absorbed power law of energy index 0.78. The low energy absorbing column is significantly less than previously seen. Prominent O~vii and O~viii absorption edges are visible, but, consistent with the much lower total absorbing column, no Fe K absorption edge is detectable. A weak, narrow Fe~K$\alpha$ emission line from cold material is present as well as a broad Fe~K$\alpha$ line. These features are similar to those reported in other Seyfert 1 galaxies. A single warm absorber model provides only an imperfect description of the low energy absorption. In addition to a highly ionized absorber with ionization parameter $U=1.66$ and a total column density of $1.4\times 10^{22}\mathrm{c}{\mathrm{m}}^{-2}$, adding a lower ionization absorber with $U=0.32$ and a total column of $6.9\times 10^{21}\mathrm{c}{\mathrm{m}}^{-2}$ significantly improves the fit. The contribution of resonant line scattering to our warm absorber models limits the Doppler parameter to $<160\mathrm{km}{\mathrm{s}}^{-1}$ at 90\% confidence. Turbulence at the sound speed of the photoionized gas provides the best fit. None of the warm absorber models fit to the X-ray spectrum can match the observed equivalent widths of all the UV absorption lines. Accounting for the X-ray and UV absorption simultaneously requires an absorbing region with a broad range of ionization parameters and column densities.

14 pages, 4 Postscript figures, uses aaspp4.sty To appear in the August 20, 1996, issue of The Astrophysical Journal