Hard X-ray Lags in Active Galactic Nuclei: Testing the Distant
  Reverberation Hypothesis with NGC 6814
  We present an X-ray spectral and temporal analysis of the variable active
galaxy NGC 6814, observed with Suzaku during November 2011. Remarkably, the
X-ray spectrum shows no evidence for the soft excess commonly observed amongst
other active galaxies, despite its relatively low level of obscuration, and is
dominated across the whole Suzaku bandpass by the intrinsic powerlaw-like
continuum. Despite this, we clearly detect the presence of a low frequency hard
lag of ~1600s between the 0.5-2.0 and 2.0-5.0 keV energy bands at greater than
6-sigma significance, similar to those reported in the literature for a variety
of other AGN. At these energies, any additional emission from e.g. a very weak,
undetected soft excess, or from distant reflection must contribute less than 3%
of the observed countrates (at 90% confidence). Given the lack of any
significant continuum emission component other than the powerlaw, we can rule
out models that invoke distant reprocessing for the observed lag behavior,
which must instead be associated with this continuum emission. These results
are fully consistent with a propagating fluctuation origin for the low
frequency hard lags, and with the interpretation of the high frequency soft
lags - a common feature seen in the highest quality AGN data with strong soft
excesses - as reverberation from the inner accretion disk.
