Using the X-ray Emission Lines of Seyfert 2 AGN to Measure Abundance Ratios

Abstract

We measure the metal abundance ratios in the X-ray photoionized gas located near the narrow line region of a sample of Seyfert 2 AGN. The high-resolution X-ray spectra observed with the Chandra high- and low-energy transmission grating spectrometers are compared with models of the resonant scattering and recombination emission from a plasma in thermal balance, and with multiple temperature zones. The abundance ratios in the sample are close to the Solar values, with slight over-abundances of N in NGC 1068, and of Ne in NGC 4151. Our X-ray spectral models use fewer degrees of freedom than previous works.