Intermediate-line Emission in AGNs: The Effect of Prescription of the Gas Density

The requirement of intermediate line component in the recently observed spectra of several AGNs points to possibility of the existence of a physically separate region between broad line region (BLR) and narrow line region (NLR). In this paper we explore the emission from intermediate line region (ILR) by using the photoionization simulations of the gas clouds distributed radially from the AGN center. The gas clouds span distances typical for BLR, ILR and NLR, and the appearance of dust at the sublimation radius is fully taken into account in our model. Single cloud structure is calculated under the assumption of the constant pressure. We show that the slope of the power law cloud density radial profile does not affect the existence of ILR in major types of AGN. We found that the low ionization iron line, Fe~II, appears to be highly sensitive for the presence of dust and therefore becomes potential tracer of dust content in line emitting regions. We show that the use of disk-like cloud density profile computed at the upper part of the accretion disc atmosphere reproduces the observed properties of the line emissivities. In particular, the distance of H${\beta}$ line inferred from our model agrees with that obtained from the reverberation mapping studies in Sy1 galaxy NGC 5548.Comment: 15 pages, 13 figure

The intermediate line region in active galactic nuclei

We show that the recently observed suppression of the gap between the broad line region (BLR) and the narrow line region (NLR) in some AGN can be fully explained by an increase of the gas density in the emitting region. Our model predicts the formation of the intermediate line region (ILR) that is observed in some Seyfert galaxies by the detection of emission lines with intermediate velocity full width half maximum (FWHM) $\sim$ 700 - 1200 km s$^{-1}$. These lines are believed to be originating from an ILR located somewhere between the BLR and NLR. As it was previously proved, the apparent gap is assumed to be caused by the presence of dust beyond the sublimation radius. Our computations with the use of {\sc cloudy} photoionization code, show that the differences in the shape of spectral energy distribution (SED) from the central region of AGN, do not diminish the apparent gap in the line emission in those objects. A strong discontinuity in the line emission vs radius exists for all lines at the dust sublimation radius. However, increasing the gas density to $\sim$ 10$^{11.5}$ cm$^{-3}$ at the sublimation radius provides the continuous line emission vs radius and fully explains the recently observed lack of apparent gap in some AGN. We show that such a high density is consistent with the density of upper layers of an accretion disk atmosphere. Therefore, the upper layers of the disk atmosphere can give rise to the formation of observed emission line clouds.Comment: 9 pages, 6 figures, accepted for publication in Ap

The Curious Conundrum Regarding Sulfur Abundances In Planetary Nebulae

Sulfur abundances derived from optical emission line measurements and ionization correction factors in planetary nebulae are systematically lower than expected for the objects' metallicities. We have carefully considered a large range of explanations for this "sulfur anomaly", including: (1) correlations between the size of the sulfur deficit and numerous nebular and central star properties; (2) ionization correction factors which under-correct for unobserved ions; (3) effects of dielectronic recombination on the sulfur ionization balance; (4) sequestering of S into dust and/or molecules; and (5) excessive destruction of S or production of O by AGB stars. It appears that all but the second scenario can be ruled out. However, we find evidence that the sulfur deficit is generally reduced but not eliminated when S^+3 abundances determined directly from IR measurements are used in place of the customary sulfur ionization correction factor. We tentatively conclude that the sulfur anomaly is caused by the inability of commonly used ICFs to properly correct for populations of ionization stages higher than S^+2.Comment: 40 pages, 14 figures, 3 tables. Accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journa

Temperature Fluctuations in Photoionized Nebulae

Recombination lines in gaseous nebulae frequently yield parent-ion abundances that are several times larger than abundances derived from forbidden lines. One possible explanation for this discrepancy is the presence of temperature fluctuations. We examine temperature fluctuations in model nebulae by utilizing Peimbert\u27s t2 parameter. We have run large grids of models, varying the stellar temperature and the total hydrogen density. We consider two abundance sets: The first uses typical planetary nebulae abundances, while the second examines the effect of increasing the metals and grains by a factor of 3. We also consider both a constant density distribution and one which varies sinusoidally with radius. We examine the method of deriving t2 observationally, which uses measured [O III] and Balmer temperatures. We find that this derived t2 shows no correlation with the t2 based on the integral definition. We discuss the reasons for this discrepancy, which include nonvalidity of some of the basic assumptions and theoretical and observational difficulties with the Balmer temperature. We find that, in high-metallicity objects especially, noncollisional contributions to [O III] λ4363 can significantly affect the derived temperature. We argue that while temperature fluctuations may result in non-negligible abundance corrections in some objects, they are insufficient to resolve the abundance discrepancy

Grains in Ionized Nebulae. II. Heavy-Element Depletion

The presence of grains in gaseous nebulae can have significant effects on the thermal balance and radiative line transfer in these objects. The depletion of condensable elements onto grains provides evidence that dust exists in the ionized regions of nebulae. In this paper, we consider the elements Sc, Ti, V, and Cr, all of which are strongly depleted in the general interstellar medium. We construct simple three-level atoms for several ions of these elements, and incorporate them into our photoionization code CLOUDY. For both a model planetary nebula and a model H II region, we find that several lines of these elements should be easily detectable, provided that their gas-phase abundances are solar. This suggests that these elements are strongly depleted in ionized regions of these nebulae. We quantify these expectations by defining and comparing line ratios which are relatively insensitive to stellar and nebular parameters with recently measured intensities of [V IV], [Cr IV], and [Cr V] lines in NGC 7027. We encourage both further theoretical and observational work on these ions

Theoretical HeI Line Intensities in Gaseous Nebulae: NGC 1976, 6572 and IC 4997

Smits has recently calculated theoretical He I intensities for a large number of lines for conditions appropriate to gaseous nebulae. These are likely to remain the definitive calculations for some time to come. A comparison of these line ratios with observed values in three nebulae reveals some discrepancies. We show that these discrepancies are reduced when collisional effects from the metastable 23S level are included, and that it is not necessary to invoke an unknown depopulation mechanism for the He I23S level

The Effects of Charge Transfer on the Thermal Equilibrium of Photoionized Nebulae

Charge transfer can affect both the ionization and thermal balance of astrophysical plasmas. Using the most recent rate coefficients and energy defects, we calculate the heating/cooling rates for charge transfer reactions between hydrogen and elements up to Z=30. We incorporate these values into the photoionization code CLOUDY. Results from models approximating a wide range of astrophysical objects and conditions suggest that charge transfer can make a significant contribution to the heating near the H ionization front, particularly in objects with a hard ionizing continuum or enhanced abundances. Charge transfer heating can also be important in regimes in which the usual heating/cooling agents are suppressed, such as the emission-line clouds near quasars. We list those reactions that are most important for determining the thermal balance, in the hopes of facilitating improved atomic data

Collisional Effects in He I: An Observational Analysis

Accurate and reliable helium abundances can test modern theories of galactic and primordial nucleosynthesis. Unfortunately, there is some question whether current theory can account for collisional contributions to He I. We present new observations of two planetary nebulae (PNs) in the range λ850-λ9650, which we use to assess the importance of collisonal effects in the He I spectrum. The first object, NGC 7027, is expected to show relatively strong collisional enhancement, while the second, NGC 7026, should display only small effects. We derive new collision-to-recombination correction factors, based on new collision strengths from the 29-state quantal calculation of He I extending to n = 5. Our results show that the correction factors based on \u27standard\u27 theory are correct, but that the errors acquired in such an observational analysis are appreciable. We find no convincing observational evidence for the existence of an unknown agent depopulating the 23S state in Pns

Temperature Fluctuations in Photoionized Nebulae. II. The Effect of Inhomogeneous Abundances

Recent abundance determinations based on recombination lines in several emission-line nebulae yield ionic abundances several times larger than those derived from forbidden lines. These results cast uncertainty over all abundance determinations in such objects. One possible explanation for these discrepancies frequently cited in the literature is the presence of chemical inhomogeneities. We have run a series of photoionization models to examine what effect such inhomogeneities will have on the resulting temperature structure of nebulae. We then derive abundances from these models, utilizing Peimbert\u27s t2 formalism. Our results suggest that, although chemical inhomogeneities may produce nonnegligible biases in abundance determinations in a small number of objects, it is highly unlikely that they can resolve the observed discrepancy for most nebulae. We also stress the importance of continued high spatial resolution observations in nebulae to clarify the presence or absence of inhomogeneities in gaseous nebulae