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Dielectronic Recombination And Stability Of Warm Gas In Active Galactic Nuclei, Susmita Chakravorty, Ajit K. Kembhavi, Martin Elvis, Gary J. Ferland, N. R. Badnell

Physics and Astronomy Faculty Publications

Understanding the thermal equilibrium (stability) curve may offer insights into the nature of the warm absorbers often found in active galactic nuclei. Its shape is determined by factors such as the spectrum of the ionizing continuum and the chemical composition of the gas. We find that the stability curves obtained under the same set of the above-mentioned physical factors, but using recently derived dielectronic recombination rates, give significantly different results, especially in the regions corresponding to warm absorbers, leading to different physical predictions. Using the current rates we find a larger probability of having a thermally stable warm absorber at …