The Eddington ratio-dependent ‘changing look’ events in NGC 2992

Abstract

We present an analysis of historical multiwavelength emission of the `Changing Look’ (CL) Active Galactic Nucleu (AGN) in NGC 2992, covering epochs ranging from 1978 to 2021, as well as new X-ray and optical spectra. The galaxy presents multiple Seyfert type transitions from Type 2 to intermediate-type, losing and regaining its Hα broad emission lines (BEL) recurrently. In X-rays, the source shows intrinsic variability with the absorption corrected luminosity varying by a factor of ∼ 40. We rule-out tidal disruption events or variable obscuration as causes of the type transitions, and show that the presence and the flux of th Hα BEL is directly correlated with the 2–10 keV X-ray luminosity (L2−10): the component disappears at L2−10 ≤ 2.6 × 1042 erg cm−2 s−1; this luminosity value translates into an Eddington ratio (λEdd) of ∼ 1 per cent. The λEdd in which the BEL transitions occur is the same as the critical value at which a state transition between a radiatively inefficient accretion flow and a thin accretion disk is expected, such similarity suggests that the AGN is operating at the threshold mass accretion rate between the two accretion modes. We find a correlation between the narrow Fe Kα flux and λEdd, and an anticorrelation between full-width at half maximum of Hα BEL and λEdd, in agreement with theoretical predictions. Two possible scenarios for type transitions are compatible with our results: either the dimming of the AGN continuum, which reduces the supply of ionizing photons available to excite the gas in the Broad Line Region (BLR), or the fading of the BLR structure itself occurs as the low accretion rate is not able to sustain the required cloud flow rate in a disc-wind BLR model.