The lack of variability of the iron line in MCG–6-30-15: general relativistic effects

The spectrum and variability of the Seyfert galaxy MCG–6-30-15 can be decomposed into two apparently disconnected components: a highly variable power law and an almost constant component which contains a broad and strong iron line. We explore a possible explanation of the puzzling lack of variability of the iron line, by assuming that the variations of the power law component are due to changes in the height of the primary source in the near vicinity of a rotating black hole. Due to the bending of light in the strong field of the central black hole, the apparent brightness of the power-law component can vary by about a factor 4 according to its position, while the total iron line flux variability is less than 20 per cent. This behaviour is obtained if the primary source is located within 3–4 gravitational radii (rg) from the rotation axis with a variable height of between ∼ 3 and 8 rg. These results revive the possibility that future X–ray observations of MCG–6-30-15 can map out the strong gravity regime of accreting black holes.