Self-shadowing Effects of Slim Accretion Disks in Active Galactic Nuclei: Diverse Appearance of the Broad-line Region

Abstract

Supermassive black holes in active galactic nuclei (AGNs) undergo a wide range of accretion rates, which lead to diversity of appearance. We consider the effects of anisotropic radiation from accretion disks on the broad-line region (BLR), from the Shakura-Sunyaev regime to slim disks with super-Eddington accretion rates. The geometrically thick funnel of the inner region of slim disks produces strong self-shadowing effects that lead to very strong anisotropy of the radiation field. We demonstrate that the degree of anisotropy of the radiation fields grows with increasing accretion rate. As a result of this anisotropy, BLR clouds receive different spectral energy distributions depending on their location relative to the disk, resulting in diverse observational appearance of the BLR. We show that the self-shadowing of the inner parts of the disk naturally produces two dynamically distinct regions of the BLR, depending on accretion rate. These two regions manifest themselves as kinematically distinct components of the broad H$\beta$ line profile with different line widths and fluxes, which jointly account for the Lorentzian profile generally observed in narrow-line Seyfert 1 galaxies. In the time domain, these two components are expected reverberate with different time lags with respect to the varying ionizing continuum, depending on the accretion rate and the viewing angle of the observer. The diverse appearance of the BLR due to the anisotropic ionizing energy source can be tested by reverberation mapping of H$\beta$ and other broad emission lines (e.g., \feii), providing a new tool to diagnose the structure and dynamics of the BLR. Other observational consequences of our model are also explored.

emulatapj style, 15 pages, 6 figures, in press

References in corpus (15)

• Dust Masses, PAH Abundances, and Starlight Intensities in the SINGS Galaxy Sample
• A Global Three Dimensional Radiation Magneto-hydrodynamic Simulation of Super-Eddington Accretion Disks
• The diversity of quasars unified by accretion and orientation
• A Comprehensive Study of 2 000 Narrow Line Seyfert 1 Galaxies from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey: I. The Sample
• The Hard X-ray Spectrum as a Probe for Black-Hole Growth in Radio-Quiet Active Galactic Nuclei
• Reverberation Measurements of the Inner Radius of the Dust Torus in 17 Seyfert Galaxies
• A Systematic Analysis of Fe II Emission in Quasars: Evidence for Inflow to the Central Black Hole
• Supermassive black holes with high accretion rates in active galactic nuclei: II. the most luminous standard candles in the Universe
• Size and properties of the narrow-line region in Seyfert-2 galaxies from spatially-resolved optical spectroscopy
• Dust-free quasars in the early Universe
• An accretion disc-corona model for X-ray spectra of active galactic nuclei
• Observational Constraints on the Dependence of Radio-Quiet Quasar X-ray Emission on Black Hole Mass and Accretion Rate
• Hbeta Profiles in Quasars: Evidence for an Intermediate-line Region
• Properties of dusty tori in AGN: I. The Case of SWIRE/SDSS Quasars
• A large sample of Kohonen-selected SDSS quasars with weak emission lines: selection effects and statistical properties

Cited by in corpus (47)

• The Pan-STARRS1 distant z>5.6 quasar survey: more than 100 quasars within the first Gyr of the universe
• Supermassive Black Holes with High Accretion Rates in Active Galactic Nuclei. IV. H$\beta$ Time Lags and Implications for Super-Eddington Accretion
• The Radius-Luminosity Relationship Depends on Optical Spectra in Active Galactic Nuclei
• X-ray Insights into the Nature of PHL 1811 Analogs and Weak Emission-Line Quasars: Unification with a Geometrically Thick Accretion Disk?
• Supermassive black holes with high accretion rates in active galactic nuclei. XI. Accretion disk reverberation mapping of Mrk 142
• Failed radiatively Accelerated Dusty Outflow model of the Broad Line Region in Active Galactic Nuclei. I. Analytical solution
• On the Observational Difference Between the Accretion Disk-Corona Connections among Super- and Sub-Eddington Accreting Active Galactic Nuclei
• What does Civλ1549 tell us about the physical driver of the Eigenvector Quasar Sequence?
• Dissecting the quasar main sequence: insight from host galaxy properties
• Size matters: are we witnessing super-Eddington accretion in high-redshift black holes from JWST?
• The dust origin of the Broad Line Region and the model consequences for AGN unification scheme
• Time-delay measurement of MgII broad line response for the highly-accreting quasar HE 0413-4031: Implications for the MgII-based radius-luminosity relation
• The picture of BLR in 2.5-D FRADO: Dynamics & Geometry
• Reverberation Mapping Measurements of Black Hole Masses and Broad-Line Region Kinematics in Mrk 817 and NGC 7469
• Black hole mass estimates in quasars - A comparative analysis of high- and low-ionization lines
• Reverberation mapping of narrow-line Seyfert 1 galaxy I Zwicky 1: black hole mass
• Evidence for Two Distinct Broad-Line Regions from Reverberation Mapping of PG 0026+129
• Rapid Black Hole Growth at the Dawn of the Universe: A Super-Eddington Quasar at z=6.6
• An Extreme X-ray Variability Event of a Weak-Line Quasar
• Sensitive Chandra coverage of a representative sample of weak-line quasars: revealing the full range of X-ray properties
• Spectral Classification and Ionized Gas Outflows in $z\sim 2$ WISE-Selected Hot Dust-Obscured Galaxies
• Radiation pressure on dust explains the Low Ionized Broad Emission Lines in Active Galactic Nuclei
• Broad line region and black hole mass of PKS 1510-089 from spectroscopic reverberation mapping
• SDSS J075101.42+291419.1: A Super-Eddington Accreting Quasar with Extreme X-ray Variability
• Reaching the Peak of the quasar spectral energy distribution - II. Exploring the accretion disc, dusty torus and host galaxy
• An extended size-luminosity relation for the reverberation-mapped AGNs: the role of the accretion rate
• High Eddington quasars as discovery tools: current state and challenges
• Extreme quasars as distance indicators in cosmology
• The Blueshift Of Civ Broad Emission Line In Qsos
• Testing Super-Eddington Accretion onto a Supermassive Black Hole: Reverberation Mapping of PG 1119+120
• The Seoul National University AGN monitoring project. II. BLR size and black hole mass of two AGNs
• AGN STORM 2. VII. A Frequency-resolved Map of the Accretion Disk in Mrk 817: Simultaneous X-ray Reverberation and UVOIR Disk Reprocessing Time Lags
• An X-ray fading, UV brightening QSO at $z\approx 6$
• The physical driver of the optical Eigenvector 1 in Quasar Main Sequence
• Spectropolarimetry and spectral decomposition of high-accreting Narrow Line Seyfert 1 galaxies
• Unveiling the quasar main sequence: illuminating the complexity of active galactic nuclei and their evolution
• Temperature Profiles of Accretion Disks in Luminous Active Galactic Nuclei derived from Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Variability
• Spectral variability studies in Active Galactic Nuclei: Exploring continuum and emission line regions in the age of LSST and JWST
• H$\beta$ line shape and radius-luminosity relation in 2.5D FRADO
• Accretion rates of stellar-mass compact objects embedded in AGN discs
• Shedding the envelope: JWST reveals a kiloparsec-scale [OIII]-weak Balmer shell around a z=7.64 quasar
• Rarefied Broad-Line Regions in Active Galactic Nuclei: Anomalous Responses in Reverberation Mapping and Implications for Weak Emission-Line Quasars
• The X-ray weakness of Little Red Dots and JWST-selected AGN: comparison with local AGN in different accretion regimes
• XMM-Newton spectrum of the radio-loud quasar 3C 215: slim accretion disk or SMBH binary?
• Investigating the origin of radio emission in candidate super-Eddington accreting black holes
• A quasar shedding its dust cocoon at redshift 2
• Reverberation Mapping of Two Luminous Quasars: the Broad-line Region Structure and Black Hole Mass