NuSTAR observations of Mrk 766: distinguishing reflection from absorption

Abstract

We present two new NuSTAR observations of the narrow-line Seyfert 1 (NLS1) galaxy Mrk 766 and give constraints on the two scenarios previously proposed to explain its spectrum and that of other NLS1s: relativistic reflection and partial covering. The NuSTAR spectra show a strong hard (>15  keV) X-ray excess, while simultaneous soft X-ray coverage of one of the observations provided by XMM–Newton constrains the ionized absorption in the source. The pure reflection model requires a black hole of high spin (a > 0.92) viewed at a moderate inclination (⁠i=46^(+1)_(−4)∘⁠). The pure partial covering model requires extreme parameters: the cut-off of the primary continuum is very low (⁠22^(+7)_(−5) keV) in one observation and the intrinsic X-ray emission must provide a large fraction (75 per cent) of the bolometric luminosity. Allowing a hybrid model with both partial covering and reflection provides more reasonable absorption parameters and relaxes the constraints on reflection parameters. The fractional variability reduces around the iron K band and at high energies including the Compton hump, suggesting that the reflected emission is less variable than the continuum.

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