1998/08/17 by J. W. Sulentic, Sulentic, J. W., P. Marziani +4
Decision Sciences · Mathematics · Physics and Astronomy · #Advanced Statistical Methods and Models #Astrophysical Phenomena and Observations #Astrophysics (astro-ph) #FOS: Physical sciences #Scientific Measurement and Uncertainty Evaluation #astro-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.astro-ph/9808166
11 pages, 3 figures, to be published in Structure and Kinematics of Quasars Broad Line Regions, Proceedings of a meeting held in Lincoln, March 23-36, 1998, ASP Conference Series, in press
arxiv created 1998/08/17 · openalex publication_date 1998/08/17 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
We review the evidence for AGN optical and X-ray broad line emission from an accretion disk. We argue that there is little, if any, statistical evidence to support this assertion. The inconsistency is strongest for the rare class of Balmer profiles that show double peaks. The line profiles predicted by a simple illuminated disk model are often incompatible with the observations. We suggest that the Fe Kalpha line in Seyfert 1 galaxies, where a broad line is most often and most strongly detected, is actually a composite of two lines both with Gaussian profiles; one narrow/unshifted and the other broad/redshifted.