Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astrophysics
Scientific paper
2006-05-09
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astrophysics
17 pages, 10 figures, accepted by Astronomy and Astrophysics
Scientific paper
10.1051/0004-6361:20064894
We investigate the relation between X-ray nuclear emission, optical emission line luminosities and black hole masses for a sample of 47 Seyfert galaxies. The sample, which has been selected from the Palomar optical spectroscopic survey of nearby galaxies (Ho, Filippenko & Sargent 1997), covers a wide range of nuclear powers, from L_{2-10 keV} ~ 10^{43} erg/s down to very low luminosities (L_{2-10 keV} ~ 10^{38} erg/s). Best available data from Chandra, XMM-Newton and, in a few cases, ASCA observations have been considered. Thanks to the good spatial resolution available from these observations and a proper modeling of the various spectral components, it has been possible to obtain accurate nuclear X-ray luminosities not contaminated by off-nuclear sources and/or diffuse emission. X-ray luminosities have then been corrected taking into account the likely candidate Compton thick sources, which are a high fraction (> 30%) among type 2 Seyferts in our sample. The main result of this study is that we confirm strong linear correlations between 2-10 keV, [OIII]\lambda5007, H_{alpha} luminosities which show the same slope as quasars and luminous Seyfert galaxies, independent of the level of nuclear activity displayed. Moreover, despite the wide range of Eddington ratios (L/L_{Edd}) tested here (six orders of magnitude, from 0.1 down to ~ 10^{-7}), no correlation is found between the X-ray or optical emission line luminosities and the black hole mass. Our results suggest that Seyfert nuclei in our sample are consistent with being a scaled-down version of more luminous AGN.
Barcons Xavier
Bassani Loredana
Cappi Massimo
Carrera Francicso J.
Dadina Mauro
No associations
LandOfFree
On the X-ray, optical emission line and black hole mass properties of local Seyfert galaxies 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 On the X-ray, optical emission line and black hole mass properties of local Seyfert galaxies, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and On the X-ray, optical emission line and black hole mass properties of local Seyfert galaxies will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFWR-SCP-O-676179