Title: Electron energy distributions in the extended gas nebulae associated with high-z AGN: Maxwell–Boltzmann versus κ distributions

Journal Article · · Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
ORCiD logo; ; ORCiD logo; ; ORCiD logo

ABSTRACT Emission line observations together with photoionization models provide important information about the ionization mechanisms, densities, temperatures, and metallicities in active galactic nuclei (AGN)-ionized gas. Photoionization models usually assume Maxwell–Boltzmann (M–B) electron energy distributions (EED), but it has been suggested that using κ distributions may be more appropriate and could potentially solve the discrepancies in temperatures and abundances found in HII regions and planetary nebulae. We consider the impact of the presence of κ distributions in photoionized nebulae associated with AGN and study how this might affect spectral modelling and abundance analyses for such regions. Using the photoionization code MAPPINGS 1e, we compute models adopting M–B and κ distributions of electron energies and compare the behaviour of emission line ratios for different values of κ, gas metallicity, density, ionization parameter, and SED slope. We find that the choice of EED can have a large impact on some UV and optical emission lines emitted by photoionized nebulae associated with AGN, and that the impact of adopting a κ distribution is strongly dependent on gas metallicity and ionization parameter. We compile a sample of line ratios for 143 type 2 AGN and compare our models against the observed line ratios. We find that for 98 objects, κ distributions provide a better fit to the observed line ratios than M–B distributions. In addition, we find that adopting κ-distributed electron energies results in significant changes in the inferred gas metallicity and ionization parameter in a significant fraction of objects.

Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Nuclear Energy (NE), Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Supply Chain
OSTI ID:
1808015
Journal Information:
Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Journal Name: Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society Journal Issue: 1 Vol. 506; ISSN 0035-8711
Publisher:
Oxford University PressCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United Kingdom
Language:
English

References (72)

A review of diagnostic emission line ratios in the Narrow Line Region of Active Galactic Nuclei journal January 1998
Temperature Inversion in the Io Plasma Torus journal July 1995
The emission line spectrum of active galactic nuclei and the unifying scheme journal June 2000
The chemical composition of the Sun journal February 2010
Kappa Distributions: Theory and Applications in Space Plasmas journal October 2010
Collisional and Radiative Processes in Optically Thin Plasmas journal March 2013
Voyager observations of low-energy ions during solar cycle 23 journal August 2003
Latitudinal structure of outer Io plasma torus journal January 2002
Saturn: Search for a missing water source: SOURCE OF WATER AT SATURN journal December 2002
Beyond kappa distributions: Exploiting Tsallis statistical mechanics in space plasmas: BEYOND KAPPA DISTRIBUTIONS journal November 2009
A survey of low-energy electrons in the evening sector of the magnetosphere with OGO 1 and OGO 3 journal May 1968
General characteristics of hot plasma and energetic particles in the Saturnian magnetosphere: Results from the Voyager spacecraft journal November 1983
Simulations of the formation, evolution and clustering of galaxies and quasars journal June 2005
PKS 2250—41 and the role of jet-cloud interactions in powerful radio galaxies journal July 1999
Chemical evolution of high-redshift radio galaxies journal June 2009
Observational evidence of quasar feedback quenching star formation at high redshift journal January 2012
Discrepancies between the [O iii] and [S iii] temperatures in H ii regions journal October 2012
Probing the physics of narrow-line regions of Seyfert galaxies: I. The case of NGC 5427⋆ journal June 2014
Obscured AGN at 1.5 < z < 3.0 from the zCOSMOS-deep Survey : I. Properties of the emitting gas in the narrow-line region⋆ journal June 2019
Radio galaxies at $z\sim$ 2.5: Results from Keck spectropolarimetry journal January 2001
The balance between shocks and AGN photoionization in radio sources and its relation to the radio size journal February 2002
Temperature fluctuations in H II regions: Ionization by cosmic rays as a key mechanism journal June 2005
The location of the broad H i absorption in 3C 305: clear evidence for a jet-accelerated neutral outflow journal July 2005
Gas metallicity in the narrow-line regions of high-redshift active galactic nuclei journal February 2006
Classification parameters for the emission-line spectra of extragalactic objects journal February 1981
Physical Processes in Gaseous Nebulae. X. Collisional Excitation of Nebulium. journal July 1940
The Spectra of Ten Gaseous Nebulae. journal January 1942
The Electron Velocity Distribution in Gaseous Nebulae and Stellar Envelopes. journal January 1947
The effect of a non-Maxwellian electron distribution on oxygen and iron ionization balances in the solar corona journal July 1983
Radiative shock-wave theory. II - High-velocity shocks and thermal instabilities journal October 1985
X-ray secondary heating and ionization in quasar emission-line clouds journal November 1985
What heats the hot phase in active nuclei? journal December 1987
Extended Ly-alpha emission associated with 3C 294 journal December 1990
The Chemical Evolution of QSOs and the Implications for Cosmology and Galaxy Formation journal November 1993
The age and chemical evolution of high-redshift QSOs journal May 1992
Evidence for shock-heated gas in the Hopkins Ultraviolet Telescope spectrum of NGC 1068 journal August 1992
A Composite HST Spectrum of Quasars journal February 1997
Physical Conditions in the Inner Narrow‐Line Region of the Seyfert 2 Galaxy NGC 1068 journal November 1998
The Importance of Photoelectric Heating by Dust in Planetary Nebulae journal August 2000
On the Cosmic Origins of Carbon and Nitrogen journal October 2000
Dusty, Radiation Pressure–Dominated Photoionization. I. Model Description, Structure, and Grids
  • Groves, Brent A.; Dopita, Michael A.; Sutherland, Ralph S.
  • The Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series, Vol. 153, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1086/421113
journal July 2004
Physical Conditions in the Narrow‐Line Region of Markarian 3. I. Observational Results journal January 2005
The Effects of a κ‐Distribution in the Heliosheath on the Global Heliosphere and ENA Flux at 1 AU journal July 2008
Physical Conditions in the Narrow-Line Region of Markarian 3. ii. Photoionization Modeling Results journal March 2009
Quasar Outflow Contribution to agn Feedback: Observations of qso sdss J0838+2955 journal November 2009
Resolving the Electron Temperature Discrepancies in h ii Regions and Planetary Nebulae: κ-Distributed Electrons journal June 2012
H i Free-Bound Emission of Planetary Nebulae with Large Abundance Discrepancies: Two-Component Models Versus κ-Distributed Electrons journal December 2013
Testing the Existence of Non-Maxwellian Electron Distributions in h ii Regions After Assessing Atomic data Accuracy journal March 2014
AMPTE Ion Composition Results journal January 1987
Measuring Nebular Temperatures: the Effect of new Collision Strengths with Equilibrium and κ-Distributed Electron Energies journal July 2013
New Strong-Line Abundance Diagnostics for h ii Regions: Effects of κ-Distributed Electron Energies and new Atomic data journal September 2013
Emission-line activity in radio galaxies⋆ journal July 1987
The collisional acceleration of relativistic electrons in the central regions of active galactic nuclei journal December 1991
Carbon-loud SDSS BOSS type II quasars at z > 2: high-density gas or secondary production of carbon? journal June 2020
Electron temperatures and free-electron energy distributions of nebulae from C ii dielectronic recombination lines journal January 2013
Modelling the narrow-line regions of active galaxies in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey – I. Sample selection and physical conditions journal February 2013
Interpreting the ionization sequence in AGN emission-line spectra journal November 2013
Metallicity evolution of AGNs from UV emission lines based on a new index journal July 2014
The continuum emission spectrum of Hf 2-2 near the Balmer limit and the ORL versus CEL abundance and temperature discrepancy journal April 2014
Extreme C ii emission in type 2 quasars at z ∼ 2.5: a signature of κ-distributed electron energies? journal June 2014
Nuclear activity versus star formation: emission-line diagnostics at ultraviolet and optical wavelengths journal January 2016
The MUSE 3D view of feedback in a high-metallicity radio galaxy at z = 2.9 journal November 2017
O v] λλ1213.8,1218.3 emission from extended nebulae around quasars: contamination of Ly α and a new diagnostic for AGN activity in Ly α emitters journal April 2019
Statistical-Mechanical Foundation of the Ubiquity of Lévy Distributions in Nature journal November 1995
VLT spectropolarimetry of two powerful radio galaxies at z ∼ 1.4: ultraviolet continuum, emission-line properties and the nature of high-redshift dust journal July 2004
The many lives of active galactic nuclei: cooling flows, black holes and the luminosities and colours of galaxies journal January 2006
Lyα excess in high-redshift radio galaxies: a signature of star formation★: Star formation in high-z radio galaxies journal February 2007
Deep spectroscopy of the FUV-optical emission lines from a sample of radio galaxies at z  2.5: metallicity and ionization journal January 2008
Integral-field spectroscopy of type II QSOs at z= 0.3-0.4: Integral-field spectroscopy of type II QSOs journal August 2010
The Magnetosphere of Uranus: Hot Plasma and Radiation Environment journal July 1986
ON THE NONTHERMAL κ -DISTRIBUTED ELECTRONS IN PLANETARY NEBULAE AND H ii REGIONS: THE κ INDEX AND ITS CORRELATIONS WITH OTHER NEBULAR PROPERTIES journal January 2016
Electron Energy Distributions in H ii Regions and Planetary Nebulae: κ -distributions Do Not Apply journal July 2018

Similar Records

Related Subjects