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The Cosmic Density and Distribution of Relativistic Iron Lines

The Cosmic Density and Distribution of Relativistic Iron Lines. David R. Ballantyne Center for Relativistic Astrophysics, School of Physics, Georgia Tech. 2010, ApJ, 708, L1. Motivation. Relativistic Fe K  lines are v. important for probing the physics of the inner accretion flow

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The Cosmic Density and Distribution of Relativistic Iron Lines

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  1. The Cosmic Density and Distribution of Relativistic Iron Lines David R. Ballantyne Center for Relativistic Astrophysics, School of Physics, Georgia Tech 2010, ApJ, 708, L1

  2. Motivation • Relativistic Fe K lines are v. important for probing the physics of the inner accretion flow • One of the few probes of SMBH spin Fabian, et al. (2002)

  3. Motivation (II) • Accurate measurement of broad Fe K lines over a wide range of luminosity and z is one of the principle science goals of IXO • Spin evolution of SMBHs in the universe

  4. Important Questions • How common are intense Fe K lines like that exhibited by MCG-6? • Does the EW depend on L and z? • The relative small number of decent detections of broad lines in local AGNs typically have EWs <~ 100 eV. Nandra et al. (2007)

  5. Where do the Fe K lines come from?

  6. Where do the Fe K lines come from? Ross & Fabian (1993), Ross et al. (1999), Ballantyne et al. (2001), Ross & Fabian (2005)

  7. Photon-index  Fe abundance AFe Ionization parameter ξ The Fe K EW Depends on: • Reflection fraction R (Ignored here: time-dependent effects, e.g., Ballantyne & Ross 2002, Ballantyne et al. 2005) Ballantyne et al. 2002

  8. Survey Results: Metallicity Fe II/Hβ L/LEdd0.7 ; Netzer & Trakhtenbrot (2007)

  9. Survey Results: Photon Index  = 0.58(log(L/LEdd) +1) + 1.99 ; Risaliti et al. (2009)

  10. Survey Results: Ionization Parameter ξ  log(L/LEdd) ; Inoue et al. (2007)

  11. Ueda et al. (2003) HXLF Other Ingredients • Netzer (2009) Type 1 AGN SMBH mass function at z=0.15 • Labita et al. (2009a) show that MBH(max)  z0.3

  12. The Fe K EW Function Ballantyne (2010)

  13. Sky Density of Fe K Lines • If R=1, on average, then the most common Fe K EWs should be <~ 100 eV • A 1 deg2 survey by IXO should uncover ~ 200 AGNs with EWs > 100 eV between z=0.05 and z=0.5 Ballantyne (2010)

  14. How to Look for Spin Evolution Including narrow line No narrow line Ballantyne (2010, in prep)

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