Open AccessEvidence of a high‐velocity ionized outflow in a second narrow‐line quasar PG 0844+349
Author(s) -
Pounds K. A.,
King A. R.,
Page K. L.,
O'Brien P. T.
Publication year - 2003
Publication title -
monthly notices of the royal astronomical society
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.058
H-Index - 383
eISSN - 1365-2966
pISSN - 0035-8711
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-2966.2003.07164.x
Subject(s) - physics , outflow , quasar , astrophysics , ionization , accretion (finance) , spectral line , active galactic nucleus , astronomy , line (geometry) , radiation pressure , galaxy , ion , geometry , mathematics , quantum mechanics , meteorology
Following the discovery of X‐ray absorption in a high‐velocity outflow from the bright quasar PG 1211 + 143 we have searched for similar features in XMM–Newton archival data of a second (high accretion rate) quasar PG 0844+349. Evidence is found for several faint absorption lines in both the EPIC and RGS spectra, whose most likely identification with resonance transitions in H‐like Fe, S and Ne implies an origin in highly ionized matter with an outflow velocity of order ∼0.2c. The line equivalent widths require a line‐of‐sight column density of N H ∼ 4 × 10 23 cm −2 , at an ionization parameter of log ξ∼ 3.7 . Assuming a radial outflow being driven by radiation pressure from the inner accretion disc, as suggested previously for PG 1211 + 143, the flow in PG 0844+349 is also likely to be optically thick, in this case within ∼25 Schwarzschild radii. Our analysis suggests that a high‐velocity, highly ionized outflow is likely to be a significant component in the mass and energy budgets of active galactic nuclei accreting at or above the Eddington rate.