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Near Infrared Hydrogen Emission Line Ratios As Diagnostics Of The Broad Emission Line Region, Andrea J. Ruff, David J. E. Floyd, Kirk T. Korista, Rachel L. Webster, Ryan Lucian Porter, Gary J. Ferland

Physics and Astronomy Faculty Publications

Broad emission line flux ratios are a powerful diagnostic of the physical conditions of the broad-line region gas in Active Galactic Nuclei. With recent advances in infrared spectroscopy, previously unstudied emission lines provide a new means to investigate the physical nature of the BELR gas. The hydrogen emission lines are particularly sensitive to the upper limits of both the radius from the central ionising source and the number density of the gas. Using an existing subset of near-infrared quasar spectra from the Glikman et al. (2006) sample [1] together with Cloudy photoionization simulations, we confirm the Locally Optimally emitting Cloud …