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Magnetic Confinement, Magnetohydrodynamic Waves And Smooth Line Profiles In Active Galactic Nuclei, M. C. Bottorff, Gary J. Ferland
Magnetic Confinement, Magnetohydrodynamic Waves And Smooth Line Profiles In Active Galactic Nuclei, M. C. Bottorff, Gary J. Ferland
Physics and Astronomy Faculty Publications
In this paper, we show that if the broad-line region clouds are in approximate energy equipartition between the magnetic field and gravity, as hypothesized by Rees, there will be a significant effect on the shape and smoothness of broad emission-line profiles in active galactic nuclei. Linewidths of contributing clouds or flow elements are much wider than their thermal widths, because of the presence of non-dissipative magnetohydrodynamic waves and their collective contribution produce emission-line profiles broader and smoother than would be expected if a magnetic field were not present. As an illustration, a simple model of isotropically emitting clouds, normally distributed …