Title: Combined INTEGRAL and XMM-Newton spectroscopy of Seyfert Galaxies


Proposal ID: 0120187
Subject category: Extragalactic Object
Principal investigator: Barr
Institute: ESA-ESTEC


Abstract

We propose short (90ksec) INTEGRAL observations of five bright Seyfert galaxies, to be performed simultaneously with XMM-Newton. The principle goals of the INTEGRAL study are to measure, with very high precision, the spectral properties of the Compton reflection bump and the high energy cutoff. We have selected a range of Seyfert types in order to search for any systematic effects of the reflection due to the inclinations of these systems to the line of sight. The XMM-Newton simultaneous observations are essential to the achieve the goals of this proposal, especially in measuring the reflection bump. A good knowledge of the complex 2-15keV spectrum is needed to model the gamma-ray spectrum with the precision required. In most cases JEM-X would only give four or five independent spectral points, but the use of EPIC would nail down the X-ray tail with extremely high accuracy and in particular determine the ionisation state of the reflecting material. We will apply for XMM-Newton time in their AO2. The execution of this proposal would be conditional on the success of the XMM-Newton proposal.