A Reevaluation of the Excitation Mechanism of LINERs

Details A Reevaluation of the Excitation Mechanism of LINERs A Reevaluation of the Excitation Mechanism of LINERs

Nov 1993

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1993apj...417...63h&link_type=abstract

Astrophysical Journal v.417, p.63

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astronomy

206

Galaxies: Active, Galaxies: Ism, Galaxies: Nuclei, Galaxies: Seyfert

Scientific paper

We present high-quality spectra of a sample of 13 low-ionization nuclear emission-line regions (LINERs) observed in the range ˜3400-9800 Å at ˜5-8 Å resolution. Starlight removal is achieved by the subtraction of a suitable absorption-line "template" galaxy, allowing accurate measurement of emission lines. We use the line fluxes to examine several candidates for the excitation mechanism of those LINERs whose emission-line gas is largely confined to radii ≲200 pc. We find that photoionization by a nonstellar ionizing continuum provides the best overall explanation for the spectra over the optical-to near-infrared region. This is supported by the detection of broad Hα emission, a correlation between line width and critical density of the forbidden lines, and pointlike X-ray emission in several of these objects. Wolf-Rayet stars or unusually hot O stars are less probable photoionization sources, especially for LINERs which exhibit broad Hα emission. The prevalence of shock heating in galactic nuclei cannot be readily evaluated with the present plane-parallel shock models, although it is likely to be an important excitation mechanism for LINERs with spatially extended emission. A small fraction of objects previously classified as LINERs may be undergoing active star formation in or near their nuclei.

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