CaltechAUTHORS
Published November 2022 | Version public
Journal Article Metadata-only

Polarization constraints on the X-ray corona in Seyfert Galaxies: MCG-05-23-16

Creators

  • 1. ROR icon Agenzia Spaziale Italiana
  • 2. ROR icon National Institute for Astrophysics
  • 3. ROR icon Astronomical Institute
  • 4. ROR icon Roma Tre University
  • 5. ROR icon Observatory of Strasbourg
  • 6. ROR icon Astronomical Observatory of Rome
  • 7. ROR icon Massachusetts Institute of Technology
  • 8. ROR icon INFN Sezione di Pisa
  • 9. ROR icon University of Pisa
  • 10. ROR icon Washington University in St. Louis
  • 11. ROR icon Newcastle University
  • 12. ROR icon Stanford University
  • 13. ROR icon Institut de Planétologie et d'Astrophysique de Grenoble
  • 14. ROR icon Charles University
  • 15. ROR icon University of Rome Tor Vergata
  • 16. ROR icon INFN Sezione di Roma II
  • 17. ROR icon University of Maryland, College Park
  • 18. ROR icon University of Turku
  • 19. ROR icon Stockholm University
  • 20. ROR icon Space Research Institute
  • 21. ROR icon National Astronomical Observatories
  • 22. ROR icon Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía
  • 23. ROR icon Osservatorio Astronomico di Cagliari
  • 24. ROR icon Marshall Space Flight Center
  • 25. ROR icon INFN Sezione di Torino
  • 26. ROR icon University of Turin
  • 27. ROR icon Arcetri Astrophysical Observatory
  • 28. ROR icon University of Florence
  • 29. ROR icon National Institute for Nuclear Physics
  • 30. ROR icon University of Tübingen
  • 31. ROR icon RIKEN
  • 32. ROR icon California Institute of Technology
  • 33. ROR icon Yamagata University
  • 34. ROR icon Osaka University
  • 35. ROR icon University of British Columbia
  • 36. ROR icon Chuo University
  • 37. ROR icon Boston University
  • 38. ROR icon St Petersburg University
  • 39. ROR icon Nagoya University
  • 40. ROR icon Hiroshima University
  • 41. ROR icon University of Hong Kong
  • 42. ROR icon Pennsylvania State University
  • 43. ROR icon Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
  • 44. ROR icon Brera Astronomical Observatory
  • 45. ROR icon University of Padua
  • 46. ROR icon University College London
  • 47. ROR icon University of Amsterdam
  • 48. ROR icon Guangxi University

Abstract

We report on the first observation of a radio-quiet active galactic nucleus (AGN) in polarized X-rays: the Seyfert 1.9 galaxy MCG-05-23-16. This source was pointed at with the Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE) starting on 2022 May 14 for a net observing time of 486 ks, simultaneously with XMM-Newton (58 ks) and NuSTAR (83 ks). A polarization degree Π smaller than 4.7 per cent (at the 99 per cent confidence level) is derived in the 2–8 keV energy range, where emission is dominated by the primary component ascribed to the hot corona. The broad-band spectrum, inferred from a simultaneous fit to the IXPE, NuSTAR, and XMM-Newton data, is well reproduced by a power law with photon index Γ = 1.85 ± 0.01 and a high-energy cutoff E_C = 120 ± 15 keV. A comparison with Monte Carlo simulations shows that a lamp-post and a conical geometry of the corona are consistent with the observed upper limit, a slab geometry is allowed only if the inclination angle of the system is less than 50°.

Additional Information

We thank the anonymous referee for her/his comments and suggestions, which greatly improved the clarity of the paper. The IXPE is a joint US and Italian mission. The US contribution is supported by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and led and managed by its Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC), with industry partner Ball Aerospace (contract NNM15AA18C). The Italian contribution is supported by the Italian Space Agency (ASI) through contract ASI-OHBI-2017-12-I.0, agreements ASI-INAF-2017-12-H0 and ASI-INFN-2017.13-H0, and its Space Science Data Center (SSDC), and by the Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica (INAF) and the Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare (INFN) in Italy. This research used data products provided by the IXPE Team (MSFC, SSDC, INAF, and INFN) and distributed with additional software tools by the High-Energy Astrophysics Science Archive Research Center (HEASARC), at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC). Part of the French contribution is supported by the Scientific Research National Center (CNRS) and the French spatial agency (CNES). MD, VK, and JP thank for the support from the GACR project 21-06825X and the institutional support from RVO:67985815. IA acknowledges financial support from the Spanish 'Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación' (MCINN) through the 'Center of Excellence Severo Ochoa' award for the Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía-CSIC (SEV-2017-0709) and through grants AYA2016-80889-P and PID2019-107847RB-C44.

Additional details

Identifiers

Eprint ID
117685
Resolver ID
CaltechAUTHORS:20221101-827781300.7

Funding

NASA
NNM15AA18C
Agenzia Spaziale Italiana (ASI)
ASI-OHBI-2017-12-I.0
Agenzia Spaziale Italiana (ASI)
ASI-INAF-2017-12-H0
Agenzia Spaziale Italiana (ASI)
ASI-INFN-2017.13-H0
Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica (INAF)
Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare (INFN)
Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)
Centre National d'Études Spatiales (CNES)
Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic
21-06825X
Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic
RVO:67985815
Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación (MCINN)
Severo Ochoa
SEV-2017-0709
Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (MINECO)
AYA2016-80889-P
Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación (MICINN)
PID2019-107847RB-C44

Dates

Created
2022-11-11
Created from EPrint's datestamp field
Updated
2023-03-16
Created from EPrint's last_modified field

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