Evidence for Two Kinematically Distinct Broad Emission Line Producing Regions in Active Galactic Nuclei

Details Evidence for Two Kinematically Distinct Broad Emission Line Producing Regions in Active Galactic Nuclei Evidence for Two Kinematically Distinct Broad Emission Line Producing Regions in Active Galactic Nuclei

May 2004

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2004aas...204.4404s&link_type=abstract

American Astronomical Society Meeting 204, #44.04; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, Vol. 36, p.732

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astronomy

2

Scientific paper

We present the results of an analysis of line profiles of high- and low-ionization broad emission lines in 8 AGNs observed by the Hubble Space Telescope. We derive the physical conditions in the gas as a function of velocity. We find no evidence for a separate intermediate line region. For the broad line region as a whole we find a major contradiction between the velocity dependencies of conditions deduced from the major high-ionization lines and those deduced from the hydrogen lines alone if they are assumed to come from the same gas clouds. The hydrogen lines imply that the density decreases with decreasing velocity and the ionizing flux on the gas also decreases with decreasing velocity, while both the density and the ionizing flux deduced from the high-ionization lines are independent of the velocity. We believe that there are two kinematically distinct components of the BLR. The change in ionizing flux implied by the hydrogen lines is consistent with virialization of the motions of the gas producing the low-ionization lines and with the flux falling off as the inverse square of the distance from the central engine. The density of the gas must therefore increase towards the central engine. The velocity-independence of conditions inferred from the high-ionization lines can only be explained if the velocity of the high-ionization gas is independent of distance from the central source. This implies that the motions of this gas cannot be gravity dominated and arise instead in a radiatively-driven outflow.
This work has been supported in part by grant AR-05796.01-94A from the Space Telescope Science Institute, which is operated by AURA, Inc., under NASA contract NAS5-26555.

Affiliated with

Also associated with

No associations

Rating

Evidence for Two Kinematically Distinct Broad Emission Line Producing Regions in Active Galactic Nuclei 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 Evidence for Two Kinematically Distinct Broad Emission Line Producing Regions in Active Galactic Nuclei, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Evidence for Two Kinematically Distinct Broad Emission Line Producing Regions in Active Galactic Nuclei will most certainly appreciate the feedback.

Rate now

Comments { 0 }

Profile ID: LFWR-SCP-O-1173733