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On BLR Size Estimates in Reverberation Models

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 June 2010

Alexander V. Melnikov  and
Ivan I. Shevchenko
Alexander V. Melnikov
Affiliation:
Pulkovo Observatory of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Pulkovskoje Ave. 65, St. Petersburg 196140, Russia Email: [email protected], [email protected]
Ivan I. Shevchenko
Affiliation:
Pulkovo Observatory of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Pulkovskoje Ave. 65, St. Petersburg 196140, Russia Email: [email protected], [email protected]
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Following the approach of Melnikov & Shevchenko (2008), we explore how the nonlinearity in the emission-line luminosity Ll of a broad-line region cloud, in its dependence on the ionizing continuum flux Fi incident on the cloud, affects estimates of the size of the broad-line region by means of cross-correlation methods. We show that the estimates obtained by straightforward cross-correlation of emission-line and continuum light curves can significantly underestimate the BLR size. We demonstrate examples of direct reverberation modelling of AGN emission-line light curves taking into account the nonlinearity of the “Ll–Fi” relation. This nonlinearity allows one to explain the differences in the time lags for different lines. Cross-correlation estimates of the BLR size turn out to be small in comparison to the estimates obtained by the direct reverberation modelling.

Keywords

galaxies: nucleigalaxies: Seyfertquasars: emission lines
Type
Contributed Papers
Information
Proceedings of the International Astronomical Union , Volume 5 , Symposium S267: Co-Evolution of Central Black Holes and Galaxies , August 2009 , pp. 209
Copyright
Copyright © International Astronomical Union 2010

References

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