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2002

Galaxies: Nuclei

Articles 1 - 3 of 3

Full-Text Articles in Physics

He Ii Reverberation In Active Galactic Nucleus Spectra, Mark C. Bottorff, Jack A. Baldwin, Gary J. Ferland, Jason W. Ferguson, Kirk T. Korista Dec 2002

He Ii Reverberation In Active Galactic Nucleus Spectra, Mark C. Bottorff, Jack A. Baldwin, Gary J. Ferland, Jason W. Ferguson, Kirk T. Korista

Physics and Astronomy Faculty Publications

This paper compares the observed reverberation response lags and the intensity ratios of the broad-line region (BLR) emission lines He II λ1640, He II λ4686, and C IV λ1549 with predictions. Published observations indicate that the He II λ1640 lag is 3 times shorter than the lags of He II λ4686 or C IV λ1549. Diverse models, however, do not reproduce this observation. Extensive improved numerical simulations of the hydrogenic isoelectronic sequence emission show that the He II spectrum remains especially simple, even in the central regions of a luminous quasar. Line trapping never builds up a significant population of …


Dust Emission From Active Galactic Nuclei, Maia Nenkova, Željko Ivezić, Moshe Elitzur May 2002

Dust Emission From Active Galactic Nuclei, Maia Nenkova, Željko Ivezić, Moshe Elitzur

Physics and Astronomy Faculty Publications

Unified schemes of active galactic nuclei require an obscuring dusty torus around the central source, giving rise to a Seyfert 1 line spectrum for pole-on viewing and Seyfert 2 characteristics in edge-on sources. Although the observed IR is in broad agreement with this scheme, the behavior of the 10 μm silicate feature and the width of the far-IR emission peak remained serious problems in all previous modeling efforts. We show that these problems find a natural explanation if the dust is contained in approximately five to 10 clouds along radial rays through the torus. The spectral energy distributions of …


Metallicities And Abundance Ratios From Quasar Broad Emission Lines, Fred Hamann, K. T. Korista, Gary J. Ferland, Craig Warner, Jack Baldwin Jan 2002

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 …