NGC 5548 in a Low-Luminosity State: Implications for the Broad-Line Region

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  • Misty C. Bentz
  • Kelly D. Denney
  • Edward M. Cackett
  • Matthias Dietrich
  • Jeffrey K. J. Fogel
  • Himel Ghosh
  • Keith D. Horne
  • Charles Kuehn
  • Takeo Minezaki
  • Christopher A. Onken
  • Bradley M. Peterson
  • Richard W. Pogge
  • Vladimir I. Pronik
  • Douglas O. Richstone
  • Sergey G. Sergeev
  • Vestergaard, Marianne
  • Matthew G. Walker
  • Yuzuru Yoshii
We describe results from a new ground-based monitoring campaign on NGC 5548, the best studied reverberation-mapped AGN. We find that it was in the lowest luminosity state yet recorded during a monitoring program, namely L(5100) = 4.7 x 10^42 ergs s^-1. We determine a rest-frame time lag between flux variations in the continuum and the Hbeta line of 6.3 (+2.6/-2.3) days. Combining our measurements with those of previous campaigns, we determine a weighted black hole mass of M_BH = 6.54 (+0.26/-0.25) x 10^7 M_sun based on all broad emission lines with suitable variability data. We confirm the previously-discovered virial relationship between the time lag of emission lines relative to the continuum and the width of the emission lines in NGC 5548, which is the expected signature of a gravity-dominated broad-line region. Using this lowest luminosity state, we extend the range of the relationship between the luminosity and the time lag in NGC 5548 and measure a slope that is consistent with alpha = 0.5, the naive expectation for the broad line region for an assumed form of r ~ L^alpha. This value is also consistent with the slope recently determined by Bentz et al. for the population of reverberation-mapped AGNs as a whole.
Original languageEnglish
Article number205
JournalAstrophysical Journal
Volume662
Issue number1
ISSN0004-637X
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 23 Feb 2007

    Research areas

  • astro-ph

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