Prospects for differentiating extended coronal geometries in AGNs with the IXPE mission

0555051 - ASÚ 2023 RIV GB eng J - Journal Article
Ursini, F. - Matt, G. - Bianchi, S. - Marinucci, A. - Dovčiak, Michal - Zhang, W.
Prospects for differentiating extended coronal geometries in AGNs with the IXPE mission.
Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. Roč. 510, č. 3 (2022), s. 3674-3687. ISSN 0035-8711. E-ISSN 1365-2966
Institutional support: RVO:67985815
Keywords : active galactic nuclei * broad emission-lines * x-ray-polarization
OECD category: Astronomy (including astrophysics,space science)
Impact factor: 4.8, year: 2022
Method of publishing: Limited access
https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stab3745

X-ray polarimetry can potentially constrain the unknown geometrical shape of active galactic nucleous (AGN) coronae. We present simulations of the X-ray polarization signal expected from AGN coronae, assuming three different geometries, namely slab, spherical, and conical. We use the fully relativistic Monte Carlo Comptonization code MONK to compute the X-ray polarization degree and angle. We explore different coronal parameters such as shape, size, location, and optical depth. Different coronal geometries give a significantly different X-ray polarization signal. A slab corona yields a high polarization degree, up to 14 per cent depending on the viewing inclination a spherical corona yields low values, about 1-3 per cent, while a conical corona yields intermediate values. We also find a difference of 90 degrees in polarization angle between the slab corona and the spherical or conical coronae. Upcoming X-ray polarimetry missions like IXPE will allow us to observationally distinguish among different coronal geometries in AGNs for the first time.
Permanent Link: http://hdl.handle.net/11104/0330936