Date of Award

8-2020

Document Type

Open Access Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science (MS)

Department

Physics, Applied

First Advisor

Stephen Arnason

Second Advisor

Jonathan Celli

Third Advisor

Chandra Yelleswarapu

Abstract

We present a multi-epoch analysis of the X-ray spectrum of NGC 1052, a nearby galaxy notorious for its well-studied spectral variability. We utilize observations from NuSTAR, XMM-Newton, Chandra, Swift, Suzaku, BeppoSAX, and ASCA to create a comprehensive set of data that spans roughly 20 years. Organizing our data by observation date and grouping into specific epochs allows us to explore a model allowed to flex and accommodate any spectral changes that occur over time in the X-ray spectrum of NGC 1052. We find that the spectrum takes on a relatively flat nature and is best modeled with two neutral absorption components in addition to a component representing torus reprocessing. We are able to successfully constrain properties of the dense obscuring torus, reporting a high covering factor of ∼ 80%.

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