What Can We Learn about Compton-thin AGN Tori from Their X-Ray Spectra?1

Abstract

We have developed a Monte Carlo code for simulation of X-ray spectra of active galactic nuclei (AGN) based on a model of a clumpy obscuring torus. Using this code, we investigate the diagnostic power of X-ray spectroscopy of obscured AGN with respect to the physical properties and orientation of the torus, namely: the average column density, \(\langle N_{\textrm{H}}\rangle\), the line-of-sight column density, \(N_{\textrm{H}}\), the abundance of iron, \(A_{\textrm{Fe}}\), the clumpiness (i.e. the average number of gas clouds along the line of sight), \(\langle N\rangle\), and the viewing angle, \(\alpha\). In this first paper of a series, we consider the Compton-thin case, where both \(\langle N_{\textrm{H}}\rangle\) and \(N_{\textrm{H}}\) do not exceed \(10^{24}\) cm\({}^{-2}\). To enable quantitative comparison of the simulated spectra, we introduce five measurable spectral characteristics: the low-energy hardness ratio (ratio of the continuum fluxes in the 7–11 keV and 2–7 keV energy bands), the high-energy hardness ratio (ratio of the continuum fluxes in the 10–100 keV and 2–10 keV energy bands), the depth of the iron K absorption edge, the equivalent width of the Fe K\(\alpha\) line, and the fraction of the Fe K\(\alpha\) flux contained in the Compton shoulder. We demonstrate that by means of X-ray spectroscopy it is possible to tightly constrain \(\langle N_{\textrm{H}}\rangle\), \(N_{\textrm{H}}\) and \(A_{\textrm{Fe}}\) in the Compton-thin regime, while there is degeneracy between clumpiness and viewing direction.