X-ray outflows of active galactic nuclei warm absorbers: A 900 ks Chandra simulated spectrum

Abstract

We report on the performance of the statistical X-ray absorption lines identification procedure XLINE-ID. As illustration, it is used to estimate the time averaged gas density nH(r) of a representative AGN’s warm absorber (T ≈ 105 K) X-ray simulated spectrum. The method relies on three key ingredients: (1) a well established emission continuum level; (2) a robust grid of photoionization models spanning several orders of magnitude in gas density (nH), plasma column density (NH), and in ionization states; (3) theoretical curves of growth for a large set of atomic lines. By comparing theoretical and observed equivalent widths of a large set of lines, spanning highly ionized charge states from O, Ne,Mg, Si, S, Ar, and the Fe L-shell and K-shell, we are able to infer the location of the X-ray warm absorber.