X-ray Study of Type 2 Seyfert Galaxies,

Shiro Ueno

This paper summarizes the ASCA results of more than a dozen Seyfert 2 galaxies. X-rays in the wide energy range of the 0.5-10 keV band are reported for the first time. The overall X-ray spectra from the majority of Seyfert 2s are fitted with power-law models consisting of a soft and hard components; the former with no significant absorption and the latter with a low energy cutoff. We discuss this structure in the conjecture of the unified Seyfert model coupled with possible association of starburst activities. Most of the photon indexes of the hard component lie in the range of 1.5-1.7, which indicates, together with the large absorption, that the hard component is due to the central emission through a large column of gas, with the photon index equal to or smaller than that of Seyfert 1s. The photon indexes of the soft component, on the other hand, exhibit a large scatter, which may be discussed with a mixture of a reflective component and a star burst activity. We report that the soft X-ray flux is almost constant in the wide range of time scales, while the hard X-ray flux shows significant variability. We show the relation of the soft X-ray flux as a function of the hard X-ray luminosity and suggest that the scattered component seen in the low energy band is a few to 10% of the direct flux. This is a major reason why the observed fluxes of Seyfert 2s are generally weaker than those of Seyfert 1s.

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