CONNECTION BETWEEN MID-INFRARED EMISSION PROPERTIES AND NARROW-LINE REGION OUTFLOWS IN TYPE 1 ACTIVE GALACTIC NUCLEI

Journal Article · Wed May 01 04:00:00 EDT 2013 · Astrophysical Journal

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1088/0004-637X/768/1/22· OSTI ID:22126853

Kai, Zhang; Tinggui, Wang; Xiaobo, Dong ^[1]

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1. Key Laboratory for Research in Galaxies and Cosmology, University of Sciences and Technology of China, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Hefei, Anhui 230026 (China)

The location of warm dust producing the mid-infrared (MIR) emission in type 1 active galactic nuclei (AGNs) is complex and not yet fully known. We explore this problem by studying how the MIR covering factor (CF{sub MIR} = L{sub MIR}/L{sub bol}) correlates with the fundamental parameters of AGN accretion process (such as L{sub bol}, black hole mass M{sub BH}, and Eddington ratio L/L{sub Edd}) and the properties of narrow emission lines (as represented by [O III] {lambda}5007), using large data sets derived from the Sloan Digital Sky Spectroscopic Survey (SDSS) and the Wide Infrared Sky Survey (WISE). First, we find that the luminosity of the [O III] wing component (L{sub wing}) correlates more tightly with the continuum luminosity ({lambda}L{sub {lambda}}(5100)) than the luminosity of the line core component (L{sub core}) does, which is in line with our previous conclusion that the wing component, generally blueshifted, originates from the polar outflows in the inner narrow-line region (NLR). We then find that the MIR CF shows the strongest correlation with L{sub wing}/L{sub bol} rather than with L{sub core}/L{sub bol} or the above fundamental AGN parameters, and the correlation becomes stronger as the infrared wavelength increases. We also confirm the anti-correlations of CF{sub MIR} with L{sub bol} and M{sub BH}, and the lack of dependence of CF{sub MIR} on the Eddington ratio. These results suggest that a large fraction of the warm dust producing MIR emission in AGNs is likely embedded in polar outflows in the NLR instead of in the torus.

• OSTI ID: 22126853
• Journal Information: Astrophysical Journal, Journal Name: Astrophysical Journal Journal Issue: 1 Vol. 768; ISSN ASJOAB; ISSN 0004-637X
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS
BLACK HOLES
DUSTS
EMISSION
GALAXIES
GALAXY NUCLEI
LUMINOSITY
MASS
QUASARS