Lifting the curtain: The Seyfert galaxy Mrk 335 emerges from deep low-state in a sequence of rapid flare events

© 2020 S. Komossa et al. Context. The narrow-line Seyfert 1 galaxy Mrk 335 was one of the X-ray brightest active galactic nuclei, but it has systematically faded since 2007. Aims. We report the discovery with Swift of a sequence of bright and rapid X-ray flare events that reveal the emergence of Mrk...

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Main Authors: Komossa, S (Author), Grupe, D (Author), Gallo, LC (Author), Poulos, P (Author), Blue, D (Author), Kara, E (Author), Kriss, G (Author), Longinotti, AL (Author), Parker, ML (Author), Wilkins, D (Author)
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: EDP Sciences, 2022-04-20T15:56:31Z.
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001 141973
042 |a dc 
100 1 0 |a Komossa, S  |e author 
700 1 0 |a Grupe, D  |e author 
700 1 0 |a Gallo, LC  |e author 
700 1 0 |a Poulos, P  |e author 
700 1 0 |a Blue, D  |e author 
700 1 0 |a Kara, E  |e author 
700 1 0 |a Kriss, G  |e author 
700 1 0 |a Longinotti, AL  |e author 
700 1 0 |a Parker, ML  |e author 
700 1 0 |a Wilkins, D  |e author 
245 0 0 |a Lifting the curtain: The Seyfert galaxy Mrk 335 emerges from deep low-state in a sequence of rapid flare events 
260 |b EDP Sciences,   |c 2022-04-20T15:56:31Z. 
856 |z Get fulltext  |u https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/141973 
520 |a © 2020 S. Komossa et al. Context. The narrow-line Seyfert 1 galaxy Mrk 335 was one of the X-ray brightest active galactic nuclei, but it has systematically faded since 2007. Aims. We report the discovery with Swift of a sequence of bright and rapid X-ray flare events that reveal the emergence of Mrk 335 from its ultra-deep multiyear low state. Methods. Results are based on our dedicated multiyear monitoring of Mrk 335 with Swift. Results. Unlike other bright active galactic nuclei, the optical-UV is generally not correlated with the X-rays in Mrk 335 on a timescale of days to months. This fact either implies the absence of a direct link between the two emission components; or else implies that the observed X-rays are significantly affected by (dust-free) absorption along our line of sight. The UV and optical, however, are closely correlated at the 99.99% confidence level. The UV is leading the optical by Δt = 1.5 ± 1.5 d. The Swift X-ray spectrum shows strong deviations from a single power law in all brightness states of the outbursts, indicating that significant absorption or reprocessing is taking place. Mrk 335 displays a softer-when-brighter variability pattern at intermediate X-ray count rates, which has been seen in our Swift data since 2007 (based on a total of 590 observations). This pattern breaks down at the highest and lowest count rates. Conclusions. We interpret the 2020 brightening of Mrk 335 as a decrease in column density and covering factor of a partial-covering absorber along our line of sight in the form of a clumpy accretion-disk wind that reveals an increasing portion of the intrinsic emission of Mrk 335 from the disk and/or corona region, while the optical emission-line regions receive a less variable spectral energy distribution. This then also explains why Mrk 335 was never seen to change its optical Seyfert type (not "changing look") despite its factor ∼50 X-ray variability with Swift. 
546 |a en 
655 7 |a Article 
773 |t 10.1051/0004-6361/202039098 
773 |t Astronomy and Astrophysics