B3 Non-refereed article in a conference publication

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




AuthorsJ. León Tavares, V. Chavushyan, A. Lobanov, E. Valtaoja, T. G. Arshakian

Conference nameInternational Astronomical Union Symposia

Publication year2015

JournalProceedings of the International Astronomical Union

Number in seriesS313

Volume10

Issue313

First page 43

Last page47

Number of pages5

ISSN0074-1809

DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1017/S1743921315001842


Abstract

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.



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