Physics
Scientific paper
Jul 2006
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2006hst..prop10827k&link_type=abstract
HST Proposal ID #10827. Cycle 15
Physics
Scientific paper
Imaging polarimetry at high spatial resolution, which is only possible with HST, offers a potentially powerful new tool for determining the orientation and geometry of AGN containing warm absorbers. These absorbed AGN tend to be more highly polarized than unabsorbed Type 1s, but less polarized than Type 2s. If the polarized flux is due to a polar scattering region as seen in polarized flux images of Seyfert 2s, imaging polarimetry of nearby absorbed Type 1 objects using HST can detect and resolve these scattering regions. We propose to make the first HST imaging polarimetry study of an absorbed Seyfert 1 by obtaining broad and narrow-band polarization images with the ACS of the prototypical "dusty warm absorber" in MCG-6-30-15 z=0.0077, D~33 Mpc. We will measure the wavelength dependence of the polarized light free from dilution by the host galaxy starlight in order to assess whether the polarization is due to a nuclear scattering region or dichroic transmission through the absorbing dust. Narrow-band H-alpha polarization images will enable us to separate the polarization of the nucleus from the known circumnuclear emission-line disk. These observations will enable us to 1 use the wavelength dependence of unresolved polarized flux to understand the properties of the absorbing dust suggested by X-ray spectral features attributed to Fe~I absorption, and 2 test whether polarization in warm absorbers is due to resolved polar scattering regions. Resolving the scattering region in a moderately polarized Seyfert 1 such as MCG-6-30-15 will let us answer the question of whether line-of-sight inclination can be directly linked to observed outflow characteristics, as suggested by the most recent unified models of AGN outflows.
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