Monitoring the circumnuclear matter in Seyfert 2 galaxies

We propose to monitor the Xray emission of three Seyfert 2 galaxies, todetermine the origin of the various components of their spectra. RXTE resultshave shown two of these sources to be highly variable in hard Xrays, and therelationship between variability of the continuum, absorption, iron line andCompton reflection hump gives strong constraints on the central regions ofthese objects. In Mrk 348, we wish to investigate the changes in absorbingcolumn, which are apparently inconsistent with the molecular torus. In Mrk 3,there is a controversy over the origin of the reflection component and ironline. Finally, we consider the reflectiondominated case of NGC 6552, which weintend to monitor to determine the location of the scattering medium. truncated!, Please see actual data for full text [truncated!, Please see actual data for full text]