Special relativistic effects on the strength of the fluorescent K-alpha iron line from black hole accretion disks

Abstract

The broad iron K$\alpha$ emission line, commonly seen in the X-ray spectrum of Seyfert nuclei, is thought to originate when the inner accretion disk is illuminated by an active disk-corona. We show that relative motion between the disk and the X-ray emitting material can have an important influence on the observed equivalent width (EW) of this line via special relativistic aberration and Doppler effects. We suggest this may be relevant to understanding why the observed EW often exceeds the prediction of the standard X-ray reflection model. Several observational tests are suggested that could disentangle these special relativistic effects from iron abundance effects.

5 pages, 3 postscript figures. Accepted for publication in MNRAS (pink pages). Also available at http://rocinante.Colorado.EDU/~chris/html_papers/special/special.html

Cited by in corpus (43)

• Improved Reflection Models of Black-Hole Accretion Disks: Treating the Angular Distribution of X-rays
• Broad iron lines in Active Galactic Nuclei
• Irradiation of an Accretion Disc by a Jet: General Properties and Implications for Spin Measurements of Black Holes
• Plasma Ejection from Magnetic Flares and the X-ray Spectrum of Cygnus X-1
• X-ray Absorption and Reflection in Active Galactic Nuclei
• Simultaneous EUVE/ASCA/RXTE Observations of NGC 5548
• Constraining X-ray Binary Jet Models via Reflection
• Formation of Magnetically Truncated Accretion Disks in 3D Radiation-Transport Two-Temperature GRMHD Simulations
• The X-ray variability of the Seyfert~1 galaxy MCG-6-30-15 from long ASCA and RXTE observations
• BeppoSAX view of radio-loud Active Galactic Nuclei
• Suzaku observations of Mrk 335: Confronting partial covering and relativistic reflection
• The Evolution of Radio Loud Active Galactic Nuclei as a Function of Black Hole Spin
• The strength and width of Fe Kalpha lines in Seyferts and their correlations with the X-ray slope
• Relativistic X-ray Reflection Models for Accreting Neutron Stars
• A blurred reflection interpretation for the intermediate flux state in Mrk 335
• Multi-epoch X-ray observations of the Seyfert 1.2 galaxy Mrk 79: bulk motion of the illuminating X-ray source
• A two-component ionized reflection model of MCG--6-30-15
• First Constraints on Iron Abundance versus Reflection Fraction from the Seyfert~1 Galaxy MCG--6-30-15
• The effects of a comptonizing corona on the appearance of the reflection components in accreting black hole spectra
• Occultation Mapping of the Central Engine in the Active Galaxy MCG -6-30-15
• Separating Accretion and Mergers in the Cosmic Growth of Black Holes with X-ray and Gravitational Wave Observations
• Line Emission from an Accretion Disk around a Black hole: Effects of Disk Structure
• On variability and spectral distortion of the fluorescent iron lines from black-hole accretion discs
• Reflected Iron Line From a Source Above a Kerr Black Hole Accretion Disc
• AGN Coronae Through A Jet Perspective
• Are the Nuclei of Seyfert 2 Galaxies Viewed Face-On?
• A Simultaneous RXTE and XMM-Newton Observation of the Broad-Line Radio Galaxy 3C 111
• Difficulties of Quantitative Tests of the Kerr-Hypothesis with X-Ray Observations of Mass Accreting Black Holes
• Fundamental X-ray Corona Parameters of Swift/BAT AGN
• Concave Accretion Discs and X-ray Reprocessing
• An intense soft-excess and evidence for light bending in the luminous narrow-line quasar PHL 1092
• The effects of relativistic bulk motion of X-ray flares in the corona on the iron Kalpha line in Seyfert 1 galaxies
• Weak Reprocessed Features in the Broad Line Radio Galaxy 3C382
• Estimation of relativistic accretion disk parameters from iron line emission
• Photoionization Models for High Density Gas
• The Hard X-Ray View of Reflection, Absorption, and the Disk-Jet Connection in the Radio-Loud AGN 3C 33
• The fast UV variability of the active galactic nucleus in Fairall 9
• A prominent relativistic iron line in the Seyfert 1 MCG-02-14-009
• XMM-Newton and Broad Iron Lines
• The Correlation between X-ray spectral slope and FeKalpha line energy in radio-quiet active galactic nuclei
• A Search for X-ray/UV Correlation in the Reflection-Dominated Seyfert 1 Galaxy Mrk 1044
• Generally Applicable Formalism for Modeling the Observable Signatures of Inflows, Outflows, and Moving Coronal Plasma Close to Kerr Black Holes
• The Relation between the Inclinations of Broad Line Regions and the Accretion Disk