Diagnosing the Kinematics of the Tori in Active Galactic Nuclei with the Velocity-resolved Reverberation Mapping of the Narrow Iron Kα Line

The properties of the dusty tori in active galactic nuclei (AGNs) have been investigated in detail, mainly focusing on the geometry and components; however, the kinematics of the torus are still not clear. The narrow iron K alpha line at 6.4 keV is thought to be produced by the X-ray reflection from the torus. Thus, the velocity-resolved reverberation mapping of it is able to constrain the kinematics of the torus. Such effort is limited by the spectral resolution of current charged coupled device (CCD) detectors and should be possible with the microcalorimeter on the next generation X-ray satellite. In this paper, we first construct the response functions of the torus under a uniform inflow, a Keplerian rotation, and a uniform outflow. Then the energy-dependent light curve of the narrow iron K alpha line is simulated according to the performance of the X-ray Integral Field Unit in Athena. Finally, the energy-dependent cross-correlation function is calculated to reveal the kinematic signal. According to our results, 100 observations with 5 ks exposure of each are sufficient to distinguish the above three velocity fields. Although the real geometry and velocity field of the torus could be more complex than we assumed, the present result proves the feasibility of the velocity-resolved reverberation mapping of the narrow iron K alpha line. The combination of the dynamics of the torus with those of the broad-line region and the host galaxy is instructive for the understanding of the feeding and feedback process of AGNs.