Geometry of the X-ray source 1H 0707–495

¹ Nicolaus Copernicus Astronomical Center, Polish Academy of Sciences, Bartycka 18, 00-716 Warszawa, Poland
e-mail: mitsza@camk.edu.pl
² Faculty of Physics and Applied Informatics, Łódź University, Pomorska 149/153, 90-236 Łódź, Poland
³ Centre for Extragalactic Astronomy, Department of Physics, University of Durham, South Road, Durham, DH1 3LE, UK
⁴ Institute of Physics, University of Zielona Góra, Licealna 9, 65-417 Zielona Góra, Poland
⁵ Hakubi Center, Kyoto University, Yoshida-honmachi, Sakyo-ku, Kyoto 606-8501, Japan
⁶ Department of Astronomy, Kyoto University, Kitashirakawa-oiwakecho, Sakyo-ku, Kyoto 606-8502, Japan

Received: 30 April 2020
Accepted: 29 June 2020

Abstract

Aims. We investigate the constraints on the size and location of the X-ray source in 1H 0707–495 determined from the shape of the relativistically smeared reflection from the accretion disc.

Methods. We developed a new code to model an extended X-ray source and we applied this code to all archival XMM observations of 1H 0707–495.

Results. In contrast to earlier works we find that the relativistic reflection in this source is not consistent with an extended uniform corona. Instead, we find that the X-ray source must be very compact, at most a gravitational radius in size, and located at most a few gravitational radii from the black-hole horizon. A uniform extended corona produces an emissivity that is similar to a twice-broken power-law, but the inner emissivity is fixed by the source geometry rather than being a free parameter. In 1H0707–495, the reflection from the inner disc is much stronger than expected for a uniformly extended source. Including the effect of ionised absorption from the wind does not change this conclusion, but including scattered emission (and more complex absorption) from the wind can dramatically change the reflection parameters.