The Lick AGN Monitoring Project 2016 : dynamical modeling of velocity-resolved Hβ lags in luminous Seyfert galaxies

We have modeled the velocity-resolved reverberation response of the Hβ broad emission line in nine Seyfert 1 galaxies from the Lick Active Galactic Nucleus (AGN) Monitoring Project 2016 sample, drawing inferences on the geometry and structure of the low-ionization broad-line region (BLR) and the mass of the central supermassive black hole. Overall, we find that the Hβ BLR is generally a thick disk viewed at low to moderate inclination angles. We combine our sample with prior studies and investigate line-profile shape dependence, such as log10(FWHM/σ), on BLR structure and kinematics and search for any BLR luminosity-dependent trends. We find marginal evidence for an anticorrelation between the profile shape of the broad Hβ emission line and the Eddington ratio, when using the rms spectrum. However, we do not find any luminosity-dependent trends, and conclude that AGNs have diverse BLR structure and kinematics, consistent with the hypothesis of transient AGN/BLR conditions rather than systematic trends.

Citation

Villafaña , L , Williams , P R , Treu , T , Brewer , B J , Barth , A J , U , V , Bennert , V N , Alexander Vogler , H , Guo , H , Bentz , M C , Canalizo , G , Filippenko , A V , Gates , E , Hamann , F , Joner , M D , Malkan , M A , Woo , J-H , Abolfathi , B , Abramson , L E , Armen , S F , Bae , H-J , Bohn , T , Boizelle , B D , Bostroem , K A , Brandel , A , Brink , T G , Channa , S , Cooper , M C , Cosens , M , Donohue , E , Fillingham , S P , González-Buitrago , D , Halevi , G , Halle , A , Hood , C E , Horne , K , Chuck Horst , J , de Kouchkovsky , M , Kuhn , B , Kumar , S , Leonard , D C , Loveland , D , Manzano-King , C , McHardy , I , Michel , R , Kae B. Olaes , M , Park , D , Park , S , Pei , L , Ross , T W , Runco , J N , Sánchez , J , Scott , B , Sexton , R O , Shin , J , Shivvers , I , Spencer , C L , Stahl , B E , Stegman , S , Stomberg , I , Valenti , S , Walsh , J L , Yuk , H & Zheng , W 2022 , ' The Lick AGN Monitoring Project 2016 : dynamical modeling of velocity-resolved H β lags in luminous Seyfert galaxies ' , Astrophysical Journal , vol. 930 , no. 1 , 52 . https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ac6171

Publication

Astrophysical Journal

Status

Peer reviewed

DOI

https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ac6171

ISSN

0004-637X

Type

Journal article

Rights

Copyright © 2022 The Author(s). Original content from this work may be used under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 licence. Any further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the title of the work, journal citation and DOI.

Description

K.H. acknowledges support from STFC grant ST/R000824/1.

Collections

University of St Andrews Research

URI

http://hdl.handle.net/10023/25289