The Discovery of an O VII Emission Line in the ASCA Spectrum of the Seyfert Galaxy NGC 3783

Authors: George, I.M., Turner, T.J., Netzer, H.,
Journal: ApJL, 438, L67
Publication Date: 1995 Jan 10

Abstract

We report the first observation of an O VII 0.57 keV emission line in a Seyfert-1 galaxy. NGC 3783 was observed by ASCA twice over a period of 4 days in 1993 December. The source exhibited a ~30% change in intensity between the two observations, with most of the variability taking place as a result of a steepening of the continuum <~ 1 keV. Spectra from both observations show intense absorption features in the 0.5--1.5~keV band, which can be well fit by an ionized absorber model of solar composition, column density of 10E22.2 cm^(-2) and ionization parameter of ~7--8; the strongest absorption features being due to O VII and O VIII. Two emission features are also in seen the spectra which we identify as O OVII 0.57 keV (equivalent width ~= 36 eV) and O VIII 0.65 keV (equivalent width ~= 11 eV). We find these features are at the intensity predicted by the above ionized absorber model when the covering factor is close to unity. We also show that the 3--6~keV continuum of the souce is well fitted by a Gamma=1.3--1.4 power-law continuum, a narrow neutral iron K-shell fluorescence line and a strong iron K-shell absorption edge, possibly corresponding to highly ionized iron. The intensity of neither of these K-shell features can be explained by the ionized absorber, and thus must be from a separate component.


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