  (Abridged) Many active galactic nuclei exhibit X-ray features typical of the
highly ionized gas called "Warm Absorber" (WA). Such a material appears to be
stratified, displaying zones of different density, temperature, and ionization.
In this paper, we investigate the possibility of modelling the WA gas in NGC
3783 as a single medium in total pressure equilibrium, in contrast to the
current descriptions that are based on the presence of multiple regions, each
in constant density. The assumption of total pressure equilibrium yields a more
physical description of the WA, resulting in the natural stratification of the
ionized gas, and providing an explanation for the presence of lines from
different ionization states, as observed in WA spectra. We have used the
photoionization code TITAN to compute a grid of constant total pressure models
with the purpose of fitting the WA in NGC 3783. We have compared our models to
the 900 ks Chandra spectrum of NGC 3783 and to previous studies where the WA
was described by multiple zones of constant density. Our results show that the
WA features in NGC 3783 can be well reproduced by a clumpy, ionized gas with
cosmic abondances, ionization parameter = 2500 erg cm s^-1, column density = 4
10^22 cm^-2, and constant total pressure. We have shown that the WA in NGC3783
can be modelled by a single medium in total pressure equilibrium; this is
probably the case for other WAs currently described by multi-zone, constant
density models.

Astrophysics