EDP Sciences Journals List
Advanced Search
Subscriber Authentication Point
Home All issues Volume 388/1 Article
Free access article

Issue A&A
Volume 388, Number 1, June II 2002
Page(s) 74 - 87
Section Extragalactic astronomy
DOI http://dx.doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361:20020435



A&A 388, 74-87 (2002)
DOI: 10.1051/0004-6361:20020435

$\vec{XMM}$- $\vec{Newton}$ observations of the Seyfert 1 galaxy Mrk 335

P. Gondoin, A. Orr, D. Lumb and M. Santos-Lleo

Research and Scientific Support Department, European Space Agency - Postbus 299, 2200 AG Noordwijk, The Netherlands

(Received 18 January 2002 / Accepted 21 March 2002 )

Abstract
We report on an XMM-Newton observation of the Seyfert 1 galaxy Mrk 335 performed in December 2000. The power law component of its spectrum above 2 keV has a photon index $\Gamma =2.3$ much steeper than that of a "normal" Seyfert 1 galaxy. A broad spectral feature is observed around 6.0 keV ( $\pm$1 keV) that can be fitted by a relativistic emission profile or by an edge. A soft excess above the power law rises steeply below 2 keV and represents more than 30% of the intrinsic source luminosity in the 0.3-2 keV band. Large luminosity ( $\Delta L > 5\times 10^{42}$ erg s -1) variations on time scales of a few ksec support the view that gravitational energy conversion linked with the presence of a supermassive object is likely responsible for the X-ray emission from Mrk 335 nucleus. The relativistic line profile points to a scenario where the iron K emission arises from highly ionized material in the innermost region of an accretion disk surrounding a rotating black hole. The soft excess emission partly results from reprocessing onto the highly ionized inner region of the disk of a power law continuum produced by inverse Compton scattering of UV photons within a corona above the disk. Thermal emission produced by the viscous heating of the disk itself could also contribute to the soft excess emission in Mrk 335. We argue that, within the innermost region of the disk, the dynamics of accretion could become similar to spherical accretion and advection-dominated with a radiation efficiency as low as 0.25%. A rate of accretion constrained to 13% of the Eddington limit onto a central 10 7  $M_{\odot}$ object would then translate into $1.6 \times 10^{-2}$  $M_{\odot}$ yr -1. We further conjecture that Mrk 335 might be in a transition between a normal Seyfert 1 state and an ultra-soft NLS1 state where the soft-excess emission would be fully dominated by the intrinsic emission from the accreting material.


Key words: galaxies: individual: Mrk 335 -- galaxies: nuclei -- galaxies: Seyfert

Offprint request: P. Gondoin, pgondoin@rssd.esa.int

SIMBAD Objects



© ESO 2002


What is OpenURL?

The OpenURL standard is a protocol for transmission of metadata describing the resource that you wish to access. An OpenURL link contains article metadata and directs it to the OpenURL server of your choice. The OpenURL server can provide access to the resource and also offer complementary services (specific search engine, export of references...). The OpenURL link can be generated by different means.
  • If your librarian has set up your subscription with an OpenURL resolver, OpenURL links appear automatically on the abstract pages.
  • You can define your own OpenURL resolver with your EDPS Account. In this case your choice will be given priority over that of your library.
  • You can use an add-on for your browser (Firefox or I.E.) to display OpenURL links on a page (see http://www.openly.com/openurlref/). You should disable this module if you wish to use the OpenURL server that you or your library have defined.