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Probing Dense Matter in the cores of AGN: Observations with RXTE and ASCA

K. A. Weaver

astro-pharXiv:astro-ph/0007327

Abstract

Preliminary results from an X-ray spectral study of Seyfert 1 galaxies with ASCA and RXTE are presented. From an analysis of X-ray reprocessing features of Compton reflection and Fe K-alpha fluorescence, it is found that iron line strength is not necessarily a good predictor of the amount of reflection. The variability properties of Fe K-alpha and reflection do not necessarily scale together and substantial decoupling of the behavior of the reprocessed flux with respect to continuum variability is common. Such trends suggest the presence of multiple and/or complex regions of dense matter in AGN cores and that standard accretion disk models drastically oversimplify reality.

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