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dc.contributor.authorHall, Patrick
dc.contributor.authorSarrouh, Ghassan
dc.contributor.authorHorne, Keith
dc.date.accessioned2018-02-20T10:30:06Z
dc.date.available2018-02-20T10:30:06Z
dc.date.issued2018-02-20
dc.identifier.citationHall , P , Sarrouh , G & Horne , K 2018 , ' Non-blackbody disks can help explain inferred AGN accretion disk sizes ' , Astrophysical Journal , vol. 854 , no. 2 , 93 . https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/aaa768en
dc.identifier.issn0004-637X
dc.identifier.otherPURE: 252040701
dc.identifier.otherPURE UUID: 1d3b8741-7787-4db9-a613-02b1fa618380
dc.identifier.otherArXiv: http://arxiv.org/abs/1705.05467v1
dc.identifier.otherScopus: 85042730155
dc.identifier.otherWOS: 000425306100016
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/10023/12758
dc.description.abstractIf the atmospheric density ρatm in the accretion disk of an active galactic nucleus (AGN) is sufficiently low, scattering in the atmosphere can produce a non-blackbody emergent spectrum. For a given bolometric luminosity, at ultraviolet and optical wavelengths such disks have lower fluxes and apparently larger sizes as compared to disks that emit as blackbodies. We show that models in which ρatm is a sufficiently low fixed fraction of the interior density ρ can match the AGN STORM observations of NGC 5548 but produce disk spectral energy distributions that peak at shorter wavelengths than observed in luminous AGN in general. Thus, scattering atmospheres can contribute to the explanation for large inferred AGN accretion disk sizes but are unlikely to be the only contributor. In the appendix section, we present unified equations for the interior ρ and T in gas pressure-dominated regions of a thin accretion disk.
dc.format.extent10
dc.language.isoeng
dc.relation.ispartofAstrophysical Journalen
dc.rights© 2018, American Astronomical Society. This work has been made available online in accordance with the publisher’s policies. This is the author created, accepted version manuscript following peer review and may differ slightly from the final published version. The final published version of this work is available at https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/aaa768en
dc.subjectAccretion disksen
dc.subjectGalaxies: activeen
dc.subjectGalaxies: individual (NGC 5548)en
dc.subjectQuasars: generalen
dc.subjectQB Astronomyen
dc.subjectQC Physicsen
dc.subjectNDASen
dc.subject.lccQBen
dc.subject.lccQCen
dc.titleNon-blackbody disks can help explain inferred AGN accretion disk sizesen
dc.typeJournal articleen
dc.contributor.sponsorScience & Technology Facilities Councilen
dc.description.versionPostprinten
dc.contributor.institutionUniversity of St Andrews. School of Physics and Astronomyen
dc.contributor.institutionUniversity of St Andrews. St Andrews Centre for Exoplanet Scienceen
dc.identifier.doihttps://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/aaa768
dc.description.statusPeer revieweden
dc.identifier.grantnumberST/M001296/1en


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