Tackling the soft X-ray excess in AGN with variability studies

Abstract

The origin of the soft X-ray excess in AGN has been a mystery ever since its discovery. We present how the time variability of this spectral component can point towards its origin. Using the powerful technique of multi-epoch fitting, we study how the soft excess in a given object depends on other parameters of the continuum and the accretion disk possibly hinting at its nature. As an example, we present results from this technique applied to the Seyfert galaxy Mrk 841. We study all (3) XMM and some of the Suzaku pointings available and find that the source displays an impressive variability in the soft X-ray band on the timescale of years. We study several common soft excess models and their ability to physically consistently explain this spectral variability. Mrk 841 is found to show a distinct variability pattern that can be best explained by the soft excess originating mostly from a thermal Comptonization component. The variability timescale can be constrained to be on the order of a few days.

Revision corrects the discussion of the first reported soft excess (crediting Singh et al. 1985 for the discovery of the soft excess)