A flux-flux analysis of spectral variability in Markarian 335

Abstract

Markarian 335, a Narrow-Line Seyfert 1 Galaxy, has been one the brightest X-ray sources in the sky until 2007 when its flux dropped to 1/10th of its previous value. Despite this dramatic decrease, Mrk 335 still remains one of the brighter AGN in the X-ray, and is a highly variable source. Flux-Flux Plots, a model-independent technique, were utilized to determine the mode of spectral variability in this AGN. Flux-Flux Plots were created using X-ray data from XMM-Newton to examine spectral variability on short timescales (e.g. ≤1 day). Binning up the Flux-Flux Plots produced different results depending on the dimension the data were binned by, indicating that there is more than one varying component present. Simple models with only varying component fit to the Flux-Flux plots were poor and nearly indistinguishable, further indicating that the spectral variability in Mrk 335 is more complex than can be described by a single variable component. A Time-Resolved Flux-Flux analysis of the observation XMM-Int1 revealed a change in variability at ~70 ks, which corroborates previous studies. It seems that the spectral variability in Mrk 335 is likely the result of the variation of multiple parameters simultaneously.