S. Miyazaki et al., X-RAY SOFT GAMMA-RAY OBSERVATION OF CENTAURUS-A AND ITS IMPLICATION ON THE EMISSION MECHANISM, Publications of the Astronomical Society of Japan, 48(6), 1996, pp. 801-811
We have studied Cen A (NGC 5128) in the X-ray band (3-20 keV) and soft
gamma-ray band (40-600 keV) with the Large Area Counter (LAG) of the
Ginga sattellite (1989 March and 1990 February) and with a balloon-bor
ne low background detector (Welcome-1, 1991 November), respectively. T
he observed continuous spectra show a power-law shape (r similar to 1.
8) with relatively heavy absorption (N-H similar to 1.5 x 10(23)H cm(-
2)) at the low-energy end and a possible break at similar to 180 keV.
We analyzed the total spectra as the sum of the direct power-law flux
from the central engine, the Compton-scattered flux from a cold cloud
near to the engine, and the iron fluorescence-line flux. By assuming t
hat the geometry around the central engine remained unchanged during t
he two-year period, we studied two possible cold cloud geometries by c
omparing Monte-Carlo simulations with our observations: the first is t
he Compton-reflection model in which the cloud forms a slab covering 2
pi sr behind the central engine, the second is a case where the centr
al source is totally surrounded by a cold cloud. We found that the lat
ter geometry reproduces our data well; the observed power-law spectrum
is then identified as direct flux from the central engine which under
goes a break at similar to 180 keV.