ALBERT

Description: The existence of the periodic component seen in NGC 6814 with Exosat at 12,000 +/- 100 s is confirmed by a power spectrum and folded light curve analysis of unevenly sampled Ginga data. A comparison of the power spectra produced from simulated light curves with that observed enables the intrinsic shape of the power spectrum of the source to be determined despite the distortions introduced by the window function. The best estimate for the period is 12,132 +/- 3 s, where the error is that derived from simulations. An upper limit to the rate of change of period of about 10 exp -9 is inferred if the light curves are truly phase-coherent, but as this is not required by the data, the conservative upper limit is not greater than 5 x 10 exp -7. The large amount of power in the periodic component and its stability both suggest occultation of the source as its origin.

Description: The power spectra of the X-ray variable AGN are typically scale invariant with no characteristic timescale. The one strong exception to this is NGC 6814, where the EXOSAT data showed evidence for a periodic component at 12200 +/- 100 seconds. The power spectra of a GINGA lightcurve from this source, found using simulation techniques to account for the uneven sampling, also cannot be well fit by a single power law. A folded light curve analysis of GINGA data shows strong evidence for this periodic component. A second GINGA observation of this source taken one year later is consistent with the phenomena being completely periodic and phase coherent for 7 periods in the range of 12,110-12,145 seconds. Including the (optimistic) limits from the folding selects a period of 12130.39 +/- 0.05 seconds. Phase coherence is not maintained between this and the EXOSAT observations, as the structure of the folded light curves is very different. Thus the periodicity is long lived and stable, but phase coherence is only maintained on timescales of about 1 year.

Description: We report the results from observations of National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO) 140 carried out in the X-ray band using ROSAT and Advanced Satellite for Cosmology and Astrophysics (ASCA) in 1992 and 1994. We find the source to be absorbed by an effective hydrogen column density of approximately 3 x 10(exp 21) atoms/sq cm during both epochs, consistent with the combined atomic and molecular column inferred from radio measurements along this line of sight through the Perseus cloud complex. We compare these results with previous X-ray absorption measurements and briefly comment upon the origin of the excess absorption which has been seen toward this source. We find the ASCA spectrum of NRAO 140 is well described by a power law of energy index alpha = 0.73 +/- 0.03 and also yields the tightest constraint to date on Fe K-shell emission, with 90% confidence upper limits of 38 and 31 eV for a narrow line at a rest frame energy of 6.4 and 6.7 keV respectively. This, along with a lack of hardening towards higher energies, suggests that either NRAO 140 is devoid of cold reprocessing material, the reprocessing material has a geometry in which the imprinted features are weak, and/or the X-ray emission is relativistically beamed towards us. We also report the detection of a serendipitous source in both the Advanced Satellite for Cosmology and Astrophysics Gas Imaging Spectrometer (ASCA GIS) and ROSAT fields of view. We identify this source as the binary star system IX Per and find its spectrum to be well fitted by a two-temperature Raymond-Smith plasma.

Description: The X-ray spectra of 25 Seyfert galaxies measured with the Solid State Spectrometer on the Einstein Observatory have been investigated. This new investigation utilizes simultaneous data from the Monitor Proportional Counter, and automatic correction for systematic effects in the Solid State Spectrometer which were previously handled subjectively. It is found that the best-fit single-power-law indices generally agree with those previously reported, but that soft excesses of some form are inferred for about 48 percent of the sources. One possible explanation of the soft excess emission is a blend of soft X-ray lines, centered around 0.8 keV. The implications of these results for accretion disk models are discussed.

Description: X-ray flux densities measured with the Einstein Observatory are presented for a set of LB Lac objects with available VLBI angular sizes. The static, single-component synchrotron self-Compton formalism is used to predict the X-ray flux densities. Ratios of 10 to the -6th to the 10 to the -8th are found for the observed to predicted flux densities and it is concluded that such a model, at least in its simplest form, does not explain the X-ray emission from these objects as a class. The hypothesis that the compact source is in relativistic motion allows a simple resolution of the discrepancy. The results agree qualitatively with a broad distribution of bulk Lorentz factors Gamma with a fairly low typical value of Gamma approximately equal to and with a quasi-isotropic distribution of the direction of ejection relative to our line of sight.

Description: We report a simultaneous ROSAT and Gamma Ray Observatory (GRO) observation of the X-ray-bright Seyfert galaxy IC 4329A. For the GRO Oriented Scintillation Spectrometer Experiment (OSSE) detector, we also present the sum of the data for this and earlier observations. The overall spectrum is very well described as a power law with an energy spectral index of approximately 1 absorbed at low energies plus a strong Compton reflection component, typical for Seyfert 1 galaxies. The low energy absorption can be well described by a sum of a neutral column density of approximately 3 x 10(exp 21)sq cm, most of which is associated with the edge-on galactic disk of IC 4329A, plus an edgelike feature at approximately 700 eV; this feature implies either complex absorption (due to additional ionized material, or due to a partial covering), or a soft excess. The data only weakly constrain the presence of a high-energy cutoff in the underlying power law; they are compatible with an exponential cutoff at any energy E(sub c) approximately greater than 100 keV. The relative steepness of the OSSE data, with the power-law energy index of 1.6 +/- 0.2, can be accounted for entirely by the contribution of the high-energy tail of the reflection component when E(sub c) approaches infinity. (We find that the definite cutoff at an energy E(sub c)approximately 130 keV suggested in the recently published analysis of the OSSE data for this subject is due to a data reduction error.) Including nonsimultaneous Ginga observations with 2 keV fluxes matching well that of ROSAT gives us likely broad-band X-ray/gamma-ray spectra of the object from approximately 0.1 keV up to several hundred keV. We also report the ROSAT spectrum of the companion object to the Seyfert galaxy, the elliptical galaxy IC 4329.

Description: Simultaneous observations of 3C 279 at radio, millimeter, near-infrared, optical, ultraviolet (with IUE) and X-ray (with ROSAT) wavelengths were obtained in 1992 December-1993 January, during a three week pointing at the source by the Compton Gamma Ray Observatory. The blazar was in a quiescent or 'low' state during this period. Comparing the multiwavelength energy distribution to that from 1991 June, when 3C 279 was in its brightest recorded gamma-ray state, we find the following: (1) 3C 279 faded dramatically at all frequencies above 10(exp 14) Hz, while the flux variations at low frequencies (radio to millimeter wavelengths) were minor. (2) The near-infrared-optical-ultraviolet spectral shape was softer (steeper) in the quiescent state, and the X-ray spectra also appear softer, although the spectral indix measured by ROSAT refer to a lower energy band than that measured earlier with Ginga. (3) The ratio of the gamma-ray luminosity to that across all other frequencies decreased from a value of approximately equal to 10 in the flaring state to a value approximately equal to 1 in the quiescent state. These findings imply that the production of gamma-rays is closely related to the optical-ultraviolet continuum, in agreement with models where gamma-rays are produced through inverse Compton (IC) scattering by relativistic electrons emitting the synchrotron continuum. The observed nonlinear relation between the synchrotron and IC requires both a change in the electron spectrum and an associated change in the seed photons.