NEW CONSTRAINTS ON THE QUASAR BROAD EMISSION LINE REGION
- School of Physics, University of Melbourne, Parkville, VIC 3010 (Australia)
We demonstrate a new technique for determining the physical conditions of the broad-line-emitting gas in quasars, using near-infrared hydrogen emission lines. Unlike higher ionization species, hydrogen is an efficient line emitter for a very wide range of photoionization conditions, and the observed line ratios depend strongly on the density and photoionization state of the gas present. A locally optimally emitting cloud model of the broad emission line region was compared to measured emission lines of four nearby (z Almost-Equal-To 0.2) quasars that have optical and NIR spectra of sufficient signal to noise to measure their Paschen lines. The model provides a good fit to three of the objects, and a fair fit to the fourth object, an ultraluminous infrared galaxy. We find that low-incident-ionizing fluxes ({Phi}{sub H} < 10{sup 18} cm{sup -2} s{sup -1}) and high gas densities (n{sub H} > 10{sup 12} cm{sup -3}) are required to reproduce the observed hydrogen emission line ratios. This analysis demonstrates that the use of composite spectra in photoionization modeling is inappropriate; models must be fitted to the individual spectra of quasars.
- OSTI ID:
- 22039330
- Journal Information:
- Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 754, Issue 1; Other Information: Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0004-637X
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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