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[21.06] Probing the Complex and Variable X-ray Absorption of Markarian 6 with XMM-Newton

S. Immler, W. N. Brandt, C. Vignali, F. E. Bauer (The Pennsylvania State University), D. M. Crenshaw (Georgia State University), J. J. Feldmeier (Case Western Reserve University), S. B. Kraemer (NASA Goddard Space Flight Center)

We report on an X-ray observation of the Seyfert 1.5 galaxy Markarian 6 obtained with the EPIC instruments onboard XMM-Newton. Archival BeppoSAX PDS data from 18-120 keV were also used to constrain the underlying hard power-law continuum. The results from our spectral analyses generally favor a double partial-covering model, although other spectral models such as absorption by a mixture of partially ionized and neutral gas cannot be firmly ruled out. We obtain a best-fit model consisting of a power law with a photon index of 1.81^+0.22_-0.20 and partial covering with large column densities up to N_H ~ 10²³ cm^-2. We also detect a narrow emission line consistent with Fe K\alpha fluorescence at 6.45^+0.03_-0.04 keV. The equivalent width of this line is 93⁺²⁶_-20 eV. Our joint analyses of the XMM-Newton, archival ASCA and BeppoSAX data further provide evidence for both temporal and spectral variability during the ~ 4 year period probed by the observations.

The author(s) of this abstract have provided an email address for comments about the abstract: immler@astro.psu.edu

Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, 35#2
© 2003. The American Astronomical Soceity.