NICER observations of PKS 0446+11 as a follow-up to the neutrino alert IceCube-240105A
ATel #16453; RileyAnne Sharpe (The University of Alabama), Marcos Santander (The University of Alabama), Atreya Acharyya (University of Southern Denmark, Odense, Denmark), Qi Feng (University of Utah), Kaya Mori (Columbia University), Reshmi Mukherjee (Barnard College/Columbia University), Martin Pohl (University of Potsdam, Potsdam-Golm, Germany and DESY, Zeuthen, Germany), Raj Prince (Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw, Poland), Ruo-Yu Shang (Barnard College/Columbia University), Jooyun Woo (Columbia University)
on 15 Feb 2024; 16:39 UT
Credential Certification: Marcos Santander (jmsantander@ua.edu)
Subjects: X-ray, Neutrinos, AGN
We report on the ongoing NICER observations of PKS 0446+11, a flat-spectrum radio quasar located within the 90% uncertainty region of the neutrino event IceCube-240105A (GCNs #35485, #35498). These observations were collected as part of the NICER GO program 6236.
NICER performed observations of PKS 0446+11 over 11 epochs, from 2024-01-11 to 2024-02-02, for a total accumulated exposure of ~44ks (ObsIDs 6736120101-11).
The data were processed using the standard analysis procedure using NICERDAS software version 11a and CALDB xti20221001. To compare spectra between epochs, the data for each observation were separately fit to an absorbed power law with the hydrogen column density fixed to the Galactic value (2.48e21 cm^-2). Preliminary analysis shows no significant variability in the spectral index or unabsorbed flux between epochs. The average spectral index for all observations is 1.34 +/- 0.25, and the average 0.2-12 keV unabsorbed flux is (4.76 +/- 1.32) e-12 erg cm^-2 s^-1. These values are consistent with those reported in ATel #16397 based on Swift observations of the source taken on 2024-01-06 and 2024-01-08.
NICER is a non-imaging 0.2-12.0 keV X-ray telescope located on the International Space Station. We thank the NICER team for making these observations possible.
