X-ray emission of Seyfert 2 galaxy MCG-01-24-12

¹ Space Science Data Center, SSDC, ASI, via del Politecnico snc, 00133 Roma, Italy
e-mail: riccardo.middei@ssdc.asi.it
² INAF-Osservatorio Astronomico di Roma, via Frascati 33, 00078 Monteporzio Catone, Italy
³ Department of Physics and Astronomy – DIFA, University of Bologna, Via Gobetti 93/2, 40129 Bologna, Italy
⁴ European Space Agency (ESA), European Space Astronomy Centre (ESAC), 28691 Villanueva de la Cañada, Madrid, Spain
⁵ Dipartimento di Matematica e Fisica, Università degli Studi Roma Tre, via della Vasca Navale 84, 00146 Roma, Italy
⁶ INAF-Osservatorio Astronomico di Brera, Via Bianchi 46, 23807 Merate (LC), Italy
⁷ Department of Physics, Institute for Astrophysics and Computational Sciences, The Catholic University of America, Washington, DC 20064, USA
⁸ INAF/Istituto di Astrofisica e Planetologia Spaziali, via Fosso del Cavaliere, 00133 Roma, Italy
⁹ INAF-Osservatorio di Astrofisica e Scienza dello Spazio, via Gobetti 93/3, 40129 Bologna, Italy
¹⁰ ASI-Unità di Ricerca Scientifica, Via del Politecnico snc, 00133 Roma, Italy

Received: 24 November 2020
Accepted: 4 January 2021

Abstract

We present a detailed X-ray spectral analysis of the nearby Seyfert 2 galaxy MCG-01-24-12 based on a multi-epoch data set. Data were obtained with different X-ray satellites, namely XMM-Newton, NuSTAR, Swift, and Chandra, and cover different time intervals, from a few days to years. From 2006 to 2013 the source had a 2–10 keV flux of ∼1.5 × 10⁻¹¹ erg cm⁻² s⁻¹, consistent with archival observations based on HEAO and BeppoSAX data, though a 2019 Chandra snapshot caught the source in an extreme low flux state a factor of ∼10 fainter than its historical level. Based on phenomenological and physically motivated models, we find the X-ray spectrum of MCG-01-24-12 to be best modelled by a power-law continuum emission with Γ = 1.76 ± 0.09 with a high energy cut-off at E_c = 70₋₁₄⁺²¹ keV that is absorbed by a fairly constant column density of N_H = (6.3 ± 0.5) × 10²² cm⁻². These quantities allowed us to estimate the properties of the hot corona in MCG-01-24-12 for the cases of a spherical or slab-like hot Comptonising plasma to be kT_e = 27₋₄⁺⁸ keV, τ_e = 5.5 ± 1.3 and kT_e = 28₋₅⁺⁷ keV, τ = 3.2 ± 0.8, respectively. Finally, despite the short duration of the exposures, possible evidence of the presence of outflows is discussed.