Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astrophysics
Scientific paper
1998-11-10
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astrophysics
10 pages, LaTeX, including 2 figures, uses paspconf.sty and epsf.sty, to appear in the Proceedings of the meeting on "Quasars
Scientific paper
We present a new scheme for modeling the broad line region in active galactic nuclei. It involves photoionization calculations applied to a number of variable emission lines at {\it all times}. We demonstrate how fitting all lines simultaneously provide strong constraints on several of the more important parameters, such as the density and column density, and the radial distribution of the emission line clouds. When applying the model to the Seyfert 1 galaxy NGC 5548, we are able to reconstruct the light curves of four emission-lines, in time and in absolute flux. We argue that the Balmer line light curves, and possibly also the MgII light curve, do not fit this scheme because of the limitations of present-day photoionization codes. We rule out models where the particle density scales as r^{-2} and favor models where it scales as r^{-(1-1.5)}. We can place lower limits on the column density at a distance of 10 ld, of N_{col}(r=10)>10^{22} cm^{-2}, and limit the particle density to be in the range of 10^{11}>N(r=10)>10^{9.5} cm^{-3}.
Kaspi Shai
Netzer Hagai
No associations
LandOfFree
BLR Modeling: A New Approach does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this scientific paper.
If you have personal experience with BLR Modeling: A New Approach, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and BLR Modeling: A New Approach will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFWR-SCP-O-11162