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The link between broad emission line fluctuations and non-thermal emission from the inner AGN jet

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 March 2015

J. León Tavares
Affiliation:
Instituto Nacional de Astrofísica Óptica y Electrónica (INAOE), Apartado Postal 51 y 216, 72000, Puebla, México email: [email protected]
V. Chavushyan
Affiliation:
Instituto Nacional de Astrofísica Óptica y Electrónica (INAOE), Apartado Postal 51 y 216, 72000, Puebla, México email: [email protected]
A. Lobanov
Affiliation:
Max-Planck-Institut für Radioastronomie, Auf dem Hügel 69, 53121 Bonn, Germany Institut für Experimentalphysik, Universität Hamburg, Luruper Chaussee 149, 22761 Hamburg, Germany
E. Valtaoja
Affiliation:
Tuorla Observatory, Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Turku, 20100 Turku, Finland
T. G. Arshakian
Affiliation:
I. Physikalisches Institut, Universität zu Köln, Zülpicher Str. 77, 50937 Köln, Germany
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Abstract

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AGN reverberate when the broad emission lines respond to changes of the ionizing thermal continuum emission. Reverberation measurements have been commonly used to estimate the size of the broad-line region (BLR) and the mass of the central black hole. However, reverberation mapping studies have been mostly performed on radio-quiet sources where the contribution of the jet can be neglected. In radio-loud AGN, jets and outflows may affect substantially the relation observed between the ionizing continuum and the line emission. To investigate this relation, we have conducted a series of multi-wavelength studies of radio-loud AGN, combining optical spectral line monitoring with regular VLBI observations. Our results suggest that at least a fraction of the broad-line emitting material can be located in a sub-relativistic outflow ionized by non-thermal continuum emission generated in the jet at large distances (> 1 pc) from the central engine of AGN. This finding may have a strong impact on black hole mass estimates based on measured widths of the broad emission lines and on the gamma-ray emission mechanisms.

Type
Contributed Papers
Copyright
Copyright © International Astronomical Union 2015 

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