http://arxiv.org/abs/1511.03503
We present a NuSTAR and XMM-Newton monitoring campaign in 2014/2015 of the Compton-thick Seyfert 2 galaxy, NGC 1068. During the August 2014 observation, we detect with NuSTAR a flux excess above 20 keV ($32\pm6 \%$) with respect to the December 2012 observation and to a later observation performed in February 2015. We do not detect any spectral variation below 10 keV in the XMM-Newton data. The transient excess can be explained by a temporary decrease of the column density of the obscuring material along the line of sight (from N$_{\rm H}\simeq10^{25}$ cm$^{-2}$ to N$_{\rm H}=6.7\pm1.0\times10^{24}$ cm$^{-2}$), which allows us for the first time to unveil the direct nuclear radiation of the buried AGN in NGC 1068 and to infer an intrinsic 2-10 keV luminosity L$_{\rm X}=7^{+7}_{-4} \times 10^{43}$ erg s$^{-1}$.
A. Marinucci, S. Bianchi, G. Matt, et. al.
Thu, 12 Nov 15
27/61
Comments: 5 pages, 3 figures, accepted for publication on MNRAS letters
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