• DOI:10.1086/312617
• Corpus ID: 15082556

Thomson Thick X-Ray Absorption in a Broad Absorption Line Quasar, PG 0946+301.

@article{Mathur2000ThomsonTX,
  title={Thomson Thick X-Ray Absorption in a Broad Absorption Line Quasar, PG 0946+301.},
  author={Mathur and Green and Arav and Brotherton and Crenshaw and deKool and Elvis and Goodrich and Hamann and Hines and Kashyap and Korista and Peterson and Shields and Shlosman and W vanBreugel and Voit},
  journal={The Astrophysical journal},
  year={2000},
  volume={533 2},
  pages={
          L79-L82
        }
}

• Mathur, Green, +14 authors Voit
• Published 2 February 2000
• Physics
• The Astrophysical journal

We present a deep ASCA observation of a broad absorption line quasar (BALQSO) PG 0946+301. The source was clearly detected in one of the gas imaging spectrometers, but not in any other detector. If BALQSOs have intrinsic X-ray spectra similar to normal radio-quiet quasars, our observations imply that there is Thomson thick X-ray absorption (NH greater, similar1024 cm-2) toward PG 0946+301. This is the largest column density estimated so far toward a BALQSO. The absorber must be at least partially ionized and may be responsible for attenuation in the optical and UV. If the Thomson optical depth toward BALQSOs is close to 1, as inferred here, then spectroscopy in hard X-rays with large telescopes like XMM would be feasible.