The nature of the soft excess and spectral variability in the Seyfert 1 galaxy Zw 229.015

Abstract

ABSTRACT We have carried out a systematic analysis of the nearby (z = 0.0279) active galaxy Zw 229.015 using multi-epoch, multi-instrument, and deep pointed observations with XMM–Newton, Suzaku, Swift,and NuSTAR. Spectral and temporal variability are examined in detail on both the long (weeks-to-years) and short (hours) time-scales. A deep Suzaku observation of the source shows two distinct spectral states; a bright-soft state and a dim-hard state in which changes in the power-law component account for the differences. Partial covering, blurred reflection, and soft Comptonization models describe the X-ray spectra comparably well, but the smooth, rather featureless, spectrum may be favouring the soft Comptonization scenario. Moreover, independent of the spectral model, the observed spectral variability is ascribed to the changes in the power-law continuum only and do not require changes in the properties of the absorber or blurred reflector incorporated in the other scenarios. The multi-epoch observations between 2009 and 2018 can be described in similar fashion. This could be understood if the primary emission is originating at a large distance from a standard accretion disc or if the disc is optically thin and geometrically thick as recently proposed for Zw 229.015. Our investigation shows that Zw 229.015 behaves similar to sources like Akn 120 and Mrk 530 that exhibit a strong soft excess, but weak Compton hump and Fe Kα emission.