XMM-EPIC observation of MCG-6-30-15: direct evidence for the extraction of energy from a spinning black hole?

2001/10/23 by J. Wilms, Joern Wilms, C. S. Reynolds +10 · 25 citations
Engineering · Physics and Astronomy · #Accretion (finance) #Accretion disc #Active galactic nucleus #Astronomy #Astrophysical Phenomena and Observations #Astrophysics #Black hole (networking) #EPIC #Galaxy #Mechanics and Biomechanics Studies #Physics #Redshift #Spinning #Supermassive black hole #astro-ph

paper · pdf · doi:10.1046/j.1365-8711.2001.05066.x

published as Mon.Not.Roy.Astron.Soc. 328 (2001) L27 · 6 pages and one postscript figure. Accepted for publication in MNRAS letters

arxiv created 2001/10/23 · openalex publication_date 2001/12/01 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2016/06/24 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05

Abstract

We present XMM-Newton European Photon Imaging Camera (EPIC) observations of the bright Seyfert 1 galaxy MCG–6-30-15, focusing on the broad Fe Kα line at ∼6 keV and the associated reflection continuum, which is believed to originate from the inner accretion disc. We find these reflection features to be extremely broad and redshifted, indicating an origin in the very central regions of the accretion disc. It seems likely that we have caught this source in the ‘deep minimum’ state first observed by Iwasawa et al. The implied central concentration of X-ray illumination is difficult to understand in any pure accretion disc model. We suggest that we are witnessing the extraction and dissipation of rotational energy from a spinning black hole by magnetic fields connecting the black hole or plunging region to the disc.

Citations

• Revealing the Dusty Warm Absorber in MCG −6-30-15 with the [ITAL]Chandra[/ITAL] High-Energy Transmission Grating

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