The Role of Relativistic Jets in the Broad Line Region of AGN

Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astronomy

Scientific paper

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Scientific paper

The study of AGN has led to the discoveries of linear radio, infrared, optical, ultraviolet, and X-ray structures that extend outward from the active nucleus. The presence of these beams or jets is likely to have direct relevance for the energy balance and the dynamics of interstellar clouds in the broad (BLR) and narrow (NLR) line regions of the host AGN. For parameter ranges appropriate for the BLR, plasma processes (the two-stream and oscillating two-stream instabilities) represent the dominant energy loss mechanisms for the beams. Initial calculations and laboratory plasma experiments demonstrate that relativistic jets can transfer momentum to the gas through which they propagate and generate high- energy, supra-thermal tails to the Maxwell-Boltzmann distribution of the ambient electrons. These high-energy, non-thermal electron tails readily ionize the ambient gas, and may prove to be the dominant source of ionization which produces the line emission for the BLR. In this paper, we demonstrate that it is energetically possible for relativistic jets to provide the line luminosities observed in the BLR of AGN.

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