X-ray Outflows in the Swift Burst Alert Detected Seyfert 1s

Abstract

Previous surveys of outflows in low-redshift active galactic nuclei (AGNs) have relied on the analysis of sources selected primarily for their optical/X-ray brightness and are therefore biased. Toward determining the outflow properties of local AGNs, we detect warm absorption signatures of O VII and O VIII absorption edges in the available Suzaku/XMM-Newton CCD spectra of an unbiased sample of 44 Seyfert 1-1.5 sources selected in the very hard X-rays (14-195 keV) with the Swift Burst Alert Telescope. From our analysis, we find that O VII and O VIII absorption edges are present in 41% of the sample. This fraction is dependent on luminosity, with outflow detections in 60% of low-luminosity and 30% of high-luminosity sources. However, grating spectroscopy of the highest luminosity sources reveals that ~80% of these sources have ionized absorbers, but that the ionization states are higher/lower than produces the O VII and O VIII edges. This suggests that ionized absorption may be present in all local Seyfert 1s.