On BLR Size Estimates in Reverberation Models

Following the approach of Melnikov & Shevchenko (2008), we explore how the nonlinearity in the emission-line luminosity Ll of a broad-line region cloud, in its dependence on the ionizing continuum flux Fi incident on the cloud, affects estimates of the size of the broad-line region by means of c...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Proceedings of the International Astronomical Union 2009-08, Vol.5 (S267), p.209-209
Main Authors: Melnikov, Alexander V., Shevchenko, Ivan I.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Astronomy
Astrophysics
Contributed Papers
Estimates
Quasars
Stars & galaxies
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Summary:Following the approach of Melnikov & Shevchenko (2008), we explore how the nonlinearity in the emission-line luminosity Ll of a broad-line region cloud, in its dependence on the ionizing continuum flux Fi incident on the cloud, affects estimates of the size of the broad-line region by means of cross-correlation methods. We show that the estimates obtained by straightforward cross-correlation of emission-line and continuum light curves can significantly underestimate the BLR size. We demonstrate examples of direct reverberation modelling of AGN emission-line light curves taking into account the nonlinearity of the “Ll–Fi” relation. This nonlinearity allows one to explain the differences in the time lags for different lines. Cross-correlation estimates of the BLR size turn out to be small in comparison to the estimates obtained by the direct reverberation modelling.
ISSN:1743-9213
1743-9221
DOI:10.1017/S1743921310006290