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Metallicities And Abundance Ratios From Quasar Broad Emission Lines, Fred Hamann, K. T. Korista, Gary J. Ferland, Craig Warner, Jack Baldwin

Physics and Astronomy Faculty Publications

The broad emission lines (BELs) of quasars and active galactic nuclei (AGNs) are important diagnostics of the relative abundances and overall metallicity in the gas. Here we present new theoretical predictions for several UV BELs. We focus specifically on the relative nitrogen abundance as a metallicity indicator, based on the expected secondary enrichment of nitrogen at metallicities Z≳0.2 Z_☉. Among the lines we consider, NIII]λ1750/OIII]λ1664, NVλ1240/(CIVλ1549+OVIλ1034), AND NV/HeIIλ1640 are the most robust diagnostics. We argue, in particular, that the average N V BEL is not dominated by scattered Lyα photons from a broad absorption-line wind. We then …