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2008MNRAS.390.1413F - Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc., 390, 1413-1429 (2008/November-2)
Constraining the quasar population with the broad-line width distribution.
FINE S., CROOM S.M., HOPKINS P.F., HERNQUIST L., BLAND-HAWTHORN J., COLLESS M., HALL P.B., MILLER L., MYERS A.D., NICHOL R., PIMBBLET K.A., ROSS N.P., SCHNEIDER D.P., SHANKS T. and SHARP R.G.
Abstract (from CDS):
However, the most luminous objects in our sample show such a low degree of scatter in linewidth that, when combined with measures for the intrinsic scatter in the radius-luminosity relation for the broad-line region (BLR) in active galaxies, an inconsistency arises in the virial technique for estimating black hole masses. This analysis implies that, at least for the most luminous quasars, either there is little-to-no intrinsic scatter in the radius-luminosity relation or the Mgii broad emission-line region is not totally dominated by virial velocities.
Finally, we exploit the measured scatter in linewidths to constrain models for the velocity field of the BLR. We show that the lack of scatter in broad-line widths for luminous quasars is inconsistent with a pure planar/disc-like geometry for the BLR. In the case of a BLR with purely polar flows, the opening angle to luminous quasars must be less than ∼55°. We then explore the effects of adding a random or spherically symmetric component to the velocities of gas clouds in the BLR. Assuming an opening angle to quasars of 45°, a planar field can be made consistent with our results if ∼ 40-50 per cent of the velocities are randomly distributed.
Abstract Copyright: © 2008 The Authors. Journal compilation © 2008 RAS
Journal keyword(s): Galaxies: evolution - quasars: emission lines - quasars: general - cosmology: observations
Simbad objects: 3
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