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What Does the Virial Coefficient of the \Hb Broad-Line Region Depend On?

2023/04/13 by Lizvette Villafaña, Villafaña, Lizvette, P. R. Williams +77 · 2 citations
Physics and Astronomy · #Astrophysical Phenomena and Observations #Astrophysics of Galaxies (astro-ph.GA) #FOS: Physical sciences #Pulsars and Gravitational Waves Research

paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2304.06764

openalex publication_date 2023/04/13 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28

Abstract

We combine our dynamical modeling black hole mass measurements from the Lick AGN Monitoring Project 2016 sample with measured cross-correlation time lags and line widths to recover individual scale factors, f, used in traditional reverberation mapping analyses. We extend our sample by including prior results from Code for AGN Reverberation and Modeling of Emission Lines (caramel) studies that have utilized our methods. Aiming to improve the precision of black hole mass estimates, as well as uncover any regularities in the behavior of the broad-line region (BLR), we search for correlations between f and other AGN/BLR parameters. We find (i) evidence for a correlation between the virial coefficient log10(fmean,σ) and black hole mass, (ii) marginal evidence for a similar correlation between log10(frms,σ) and black hole mass, (iii) marginal evidence for an anti-correlation of BLR disk thickness with log10(fmean,FWHM)and log10(frms,FWHM), and (iv) marginal evidence for an anti-correlation of inclination angle with log10(fmean,FWHM), log10(frms,σ), and log10(fmean,σ). Lastly, we find marginal evidence for a correlation between line-profile shape, when using the root-meansquare spectrum, log10(FWHM/σ)rms, and the virial coefficient, log10(frms,σ), and investigate how BLR properties might be related to line-profile shape using caramel models.

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