The ionizing radiation of Seyfert 2 galactic nuclei

view Abstract Citations (46) References (39) Co-Reads Similar Papers Volume Content Graphics Metrics Export Citation NASA/ADS The Ionizing Radiation of Seyfert 2 Galactic Nuclei Ho, Luis C. ; Shields, Joseph C. ; Filippenko, Alexei V. Abstract We report the discovery of a nonrandom trend in the dispersion of emission-line intensity ratios for Seyfert 2 galaxies. The sense of this pattern suggests the influence of a single physical parameter, the hardness of the ionizing continuum, which controls the heating energy per ionizing photon. We compare the observed line ratios with new photoionization calculations and find that the observed distributions can be reproduced if the ionizing continuum is parametrized by a power law. Our results also suggest an inverse correlation between luminosity and continuum hardness for Seyfert 2 nuclei; if true, this trend extends a similar pattern known in quasars and Seyfert 1 galaxies to active galactic nuclei of lower luminosity. Samples of Seyfert 2 nuclei with improved selection uniformity are desirable for elaboration of these findings. Publication: The Astrophysical Journal Pub Date: June 1993 DOI: 10.1086/172775 Bibcode: 1993ApJ...410..567H Keywords: Active Galactic Nuclei; Ionizing Radiation; Seyfert Galaxies; Astronomical Models; Luminosity; Photoionization; Astrophysics; GALAXIES: ABUNDANCES; GALAXIES: ACTIVE; GALAXIES: NUCLEI; GALAXIES: SEYFERT full text sources ADS | data products SIMBAD (5)