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标题：The importance of special relativistic effects in modelling ultra-fast outflows
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作者：A. Luminari ; F. Tombesi ; E. Piconcelli 等
期刊名称：Astronomy & Astrophysics
印刷版ISSN：0004-6361
电子版ISSN：1432-0746
出版年度：2020
卷号：633
页码：1-5
DOI：10.1051/0004-6361/201936797
语种：English
出版社：EDP Sciences
摘要：Context.Outflows are observed in a variety of astrophysical sources. Remarkably, ultra-fast (v ≥ 0.1c), highly ionised outflows in the UV and X-ray bands are often seen in active galactic nuclei (AGNs). Depending on their kinetic power and mass outflow rate,ĖoutandṀout, respectively, these outflows may play a key role in regulating the AGN–host galaxy co-evolution process through cosmic time and metal-feeding the surrounding circum-/inter-galactic medium. It is therefore crucial to provide accurate estimates of the wind properties, includingṀoutandĖout.Aims.Here we concentrate on special relativistic effects concerning the interaction of light with matter moving at relativistic speed relatively to the source of radiation. Our aim is to assess the impact of these effects on the observed properties of the outflows and implement a correction for these effects in the existing spectral modelling routines.Methods.We define a simple procedure to incorporate relativistic effects in radiative transfer codes. Following this procedure, we run a series of simulations to explore the impact of relativistic effects for different outflow velocities and column densities.Results.The observed optical depth of the wind is usually considered a proxy for its column densityNH, independently of the velocity of the outflow. However, our simulations show that the observed optical depth of an outflow with a givenNHdecreases rapidly as the velocity of the wind approaches relativistic values. This, in turn, implies that when estimatingNHfrom the optical depth, it is necessary to include a velocity-dependent correction, already for moderate velocities (e.g.vout ≳ 0.05c). This correction linearly propagates to the derived quantitiesṀoutandĖout.Conclusions.We demonstrate that special relativistic effects must be considered in order to obtain correct estimates ofṀoutandĖoutfor an outflow moving at a mildly relativistic speed relative to the illuminating source of radiation. As an example, we calculate the relativistically corrected values ofṀoutandĖoutfor a sample of ∼30 ultra-fast outflows (UFOs) taken from the literature and find correction factors of 20 − 120% within the observed range of outflowing velocities (vout ≈ 0.1 − 0.3c). This brings the ratio betweenṀoutand the disc accretion rate close or even above unity for the vast majority of the sources of the sample, highlighting the importance of the reported relativistic corrections to understand the growth of the most massive black holes. The next generation of high-sensitivity X-ray telescopes such as XRISM andAthenawill provide a much more complete census of UFOs, especially in the fastest velocity regime where the relativistic corrections are increasingly important.
关键词：enline: profilesopacityradiative transferrelativistic processesquasars: absorption linesaccretionaccretion disks