Long term variability of the Broad Emission Line profiles in AGN

Abstract

Results of a long-term monitoring ($\gtrsim 10$ years) of the broad line and continuum fluxes of three Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN), 3C 390.3, NGC 4151, and NGC 5548, are presented. We analyze the H$\alpha$ and H$\beta$ profile variations during the monitoring period and study different details (as bumps, absorption bands) which can indicate structural changes in the Broad Line Region (BLR). The BLR dimensions are estimated using the time lags between the continuum and the broad lines flux variations. We find that in the case of 3C 390.3 and NGC 5548 a disk geometry can explain both the broad line profiles and their flux variations, while the BLR of NGC 4151 seems more complex and is probably composed of two or three kinematically different regions.

10 pages, 9 figures, New Astronomy Reviews (Proceeding of 7th SCSLSA), in press

References in corpus (4)

• Steps Toward Determination of the Size and Structure of the Broad-Line Region in Active Galactic Nuclei. XVI. A Thirteen-Year Study of Spectral Variability in NGC 5548
• Long-term variability of the optical spectra of NGC 4151: I. Light curves and flux correlations
• Profile variability of the H-alpha and H-beta broad emission lines in NGC5548
• Intermediate resolution H-beta spectroscopy and photometric monitoring of 3C 390.3 I. Further evidence of a nuclear accretion disk

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