Estimation of the size and structure of the broad line region using Bayesian approach

Abstract

Understanding the geometry and kinematics of the broad line region (BLR) of active galactic nuclei (AGN) is important to estimate black hole masses in AGN and study the accretion process. The technique of reverberation mapping (RM) has provided estimates of BLR size for more than 100 AGN now, however, the structure of the BLR has been studied for only a handful number of objects. Towards this, we investigated the geometry of the BLR for a large sample of 57 AGN using archival RM data. We performed systematic modeling of the continuum and emission line light curves using a Markov Chain Monte Carlo method based on Bayesian statistics implemented in PBMAP (Parallel Bayesian code for reverberation-MAPping data) code to constrain BLR geometrical parameters and recover velocity integrated transfer function. We found that the recovered transfer functions have various shapes such as single-peaked, double-peaked and top-hat suggesting that AGN have very different BLR geometries. Our model lags are in general consistent with that estimated using the conventional cross-correlation methods. The BLR sizes obtained from our modeling approach is related to the luminosity with a slope of 0.583 (+/-) 0.026 and 0.471 (+/-) 0.084 based on Hβ and Hα lines, respectively. We found a non-linear response of emission line fluxes to the ionizing optical continuum for 93\% objects. The estimated virial factors for the AGN studied in this work range from 0.79 to 4.94 having a mean at 1.78 (+/-) 1.77 consistent with the values found in the literature.

arXiv comment20 pages, 16 figures, 5 tables, Accepted for publication in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society (MNRAS), 30 December 2020

References in corpus (73)

• Unified Schemes for Radio-Loud Active Galactic Nuclei
• A Fundamental Relation Between Supermassive Black Holes and Their Host Galaxies
• A Relationship Between Nuclear Black Hole Mass and Galaxy Velocity Dispersion
• The slope of the black-hole mass versus velocity dispersion correlation
• Central Masses and Broad-Line Region Sizes of Active Galactic Nuclei. II. A Homogeneous Analysis of a Large Reverberation-Mapping Database
• On characterising the variability properties of X-ray light curves from active galaxies
• The Low-Luminosity End of the Radius-Luminosity Relationship for Active Galactic Nuclei
• Are the Variations in Quasar Optical Flux Driven by Thermal Fluctuations?
• Modeling the Time Variability of SDSS Stripe 82 Quasars as a Damped Random Walk
• Central Masses and Broad-Line Region Sizes of Active Galactic Nuclei: I. Comparing the Photoionization and Reverberation Techniques
• Supermassive Black Holes in Active Galactic Nuclei. II. Calibration of the M-sigma Relationship for AGNs
• On Uncertainties in Cross-Correlation Lags and the Reality of Wavelength-Dependent Continuum Lags in Active Galactic Nuclei
• The Radius-Luminosity Relationship for Active Galactic Nuclei: The Effect of Host-Galaxy Starlight on Luminosity Measurements II. The Full Sample of Reverberation-Mapped AGNs
• Reverberation Measurements of the Inner Radius of the Dust Torus in Nearby Seyfert 1 Galaxies
• Systematic Effects in Measurement of Black Hole Masses by Emission-Line Reverberation of Active Galactic Nuclei: Eddington Ratio and Inclination
• X-ray Spectral Variability and Rapid Variability of the Soft X-ray Spectrum Seyfert 1 Galaxies Ark 564 and Ton S180
• An expanded M_bh-sigma diagram, and a new calibration of active galactic nuclei masses
• Quantifying Quasar Variability As Part of a General Approach To Classifying Continuously Varying Sources
• The AGN Black Hole Mass Database
• Reverberation Mapping Measurements of Black Hole Masses in Six Local Seyfert Galaxies
• An Alternative Approach To Measuring Reverberation Lags in Active Galactic Nuclei
• Modeling reverberation mapping data II: dynamical modeling of the Lick AGN Monitoring Project 2008 dataset
• Spatially resolved rotation of the broad-line region of a quasar at sub-parsec scale
• The black hole mass - stellar velocity dispersion relation of narrow-line Seyfert 1 galaxies
• Supermassive black holes with high accretion rates in active galactic nuclei: I. First results from a new reverberation mapping campaign
• Reverberation Measurements of the Inner Radius of the Dust Torus in 17 Seyfert Galaxies
• What the Optical Recombination Lines Can Tell Us About the Broad Line Regions of Active Galactic Nuclei
• The Sloan Digital Sky Survey Reverberation Mapping Project: H$\alpha$ and H$\beta$ Reverberation Measurements From First-year Spectroscopy and Photometry
• Reverberation Mapping Results for Five Seyfert 1 Galaxies
• On the Reliability of Cross Correlation Function Lag Determinations in Active Galactic Nuclei
• Supermassive Black Holes with High Accretion Rates in Active Galactic Nuclei. IX 10 New Observations of Reverberation Mapping and Shortened H$\beta$ Lags
• The Structure of the Broad Line Region in AGN: I. Reconstructed Velocity-Delay Maps
• Multiwavelength observations of short time-scale variability in NGC 4151. IV. Analysis of multiwavelength continuum variability
• Supermassive Black Holes with High Accretion Rates in Active Galactic Nuclei. V. A New Size-Luminosity Scaling Relation for the Broad-Line Region
• The Black Hole Mass Scale of Classical and Pseudo Bulges in Active Galaxies
• Geometric and Dynamical Models of Reverberation Mapping Data
• The Structure of the Broad-Line Region In Active Galactic Nuclei. II. Dynamical Modeling of Data from the AGN10 Reverberation Mapping Campaign
• Supermassive black holes with high accretion rates in active galactic nuclei: II. the most luminous standard candles in the Universe
• Variability of Active Galactic Nuclei
• The Sloan Digital Sky Survey Reverberation Mapping Project: First Broad-line Hbeta and MgII Lags at z>~0.3 from six-Month Spectroscopy
• The Lick AGN Monitoring Project: Velocity-Delay Maps from the Maximum-Entropy Method for Arp 151
• The broad emission-line region: the confluence of the outer accretion disc with the inner edge of the dusty torus
• The effect of nuclear gas distribution on the mass determination of supermassive black holes
• Locally Optimally-Emitting Clouds and the Variable Broad Emission Line Spectrum of NGC 5548
• Limitations on the recovery of the true AGN variability parameters using Damped Random Walk modeling
• The Mass of the Central Black Hole in the Seyfert Galaxy NGC 4151
• A Bayesian Approach to Estimate the Size and Structure of the Broad-line Region in Active Galactic Nuclei Using Reverberation Mapping Data
• Reverberation Mapping of the Seyfert 1 Galaxy NGC 7469
• The Lick AGN Monitoring Project 2011: Dynamical Modeling of the Broad-Line Region
• Supermassive Black Holes with High Accretion Rates in Active Galactic Nuclei. VIII. Structure of the Broad-Line Region and Mass of the Central Black Hole in Mrk 142
• The Lick AGN Monitoring Project 2011: Dynamical Modeling of the Broad Line Region in Mrk 50
• The resolved size and structure of hot dust in the immediate vicinity of AGN
• The Mass of the Black Hole in Arp 151 from Bayesian Modeling of Reverberation Mapping Data
• Can reverberation-measured quasars be used for cosmology?
• X-ray vs. Optical Variations in the Seyfert 1 Nucleus NGC 3516: A Puzzling Disconnectedness
• The Mass of the Central Black Hole in the Nearby Seyfert Galaxy NGC5273
• X-ray flux variability of active galactic nuclei observed using NuSTAR
• Supermassive black holes with high accretion rates in active galactic nuclei: X. Optical variability characteristics
• MgII Line Variability of High Luminosity Quasars
• The first spectroscopic dust reverberation programme on active galactic nuclei: the torus in NGC 5548
• Dust reverberation-mapping of the Seyfert 1 galaxy WPVS48
• Differential interferometry of QSO broad line regions I: improving the reverberation mapping model fits and black hole mass estimates
• Untangling Optical Emissions of the Jet and Accretion Disk in the Flat-Spectrum Radio Quasar 3C 273 with Reverberation Mapping Data
• Determination of the size of the dust torus in H0507+164 through optical and infrared monitoring
• Supermassive black holes with high accretion rates in active galactic nuclei. VII. Reconstruction of velocity-delay maps by maximum entropy method
• A Method to Measure the Unbiased Decorrelation Timescale of the AGN Variable Signal from Structure Functions
• Time Series Analysis of Active Galactic Nuclei: The case of Arp 102B, 3C 390.3, NGC 5548 and NGC 4051
• Spectral optical monitoring of a double-peaked emission line AGN Arp 102B: I. Variability of spectral lines and continuum
• Imaging the AGN Torus in Cygnus
• Relation between the variations in the MgII $\lambda 2798$ emission-line and the 3000 Å continuum
• Masses of Black Holes in Active Galactic Nuclei: Implications for NLS1s
• Dust Reverberation Mapping of Z229-15
• Line and Continuum Variability in Active Galaxies

Cited by in corpus (4)

• An optical perspective on early-stage AGN with extreme radio flares
• HALO I: Photometric continuum reverberation mapping of Fairall 9
• Hunting for the nature of the enigmatic narrow-line Seyfert 1 galaxy PKS 2004-447
• Chemical enrichment in LINERs from MaNGA. I. Tracing Oxygen and Nitrogen Nuclear Abundances in LINERs with Varied Ionizing Sources