Revisiting He-like X-ray Emission Line Plasma Diagnostics

A complete model of helium-like line and continuum emission has been incorporated into the plasma simulation code Cloudy. All elements between He and Zn are treated, any number of levels can be considered, and radiative and collisional processes are included. This includes photoionization from all levels, line transfer including continuum pumping and destruction by background opacities, scattering, and collisional processes. The model is calculated self-consistently along with the ionization and thermal structure of the surrounding nebula. The result is a complete line and continuum spectrum of the plasma. Here we focus on the ions of the He I sequence and reconsider the standard helium-like X-ray diagnostics. We first consider semi-analytical predictions and compare these with previous work in the low-density, optically-thin limit. We then perform numerical calculations of helium-like X-ray emission (such as is observed in some regions of Seyferts) and predict line ratios as a function of ionizing flux, hydrogen density, and column density. In particular, we demonstrate that, in photoionized plasmas, the $R$-ratio, a density indicator in a collisional plasma, depends on the ionization fraction and is strongly affected by optical depth for large column densities. We also introduce the notion that the $R$-ratio is a measure of the incident continuum at UV wavelengths. The $G$-ratio, which is temperature-sensitive in a collisional plasma, is also discussed, and shown to be strongly affected by continuum pumping and optical depth as well. These distinguish a photoionized plasma from the more commonly studied collisional case.Comment: 28 pages, 7 figures, accepted to Ap

Cosmic rays and the emission line regions of active galactic nuclei

The effects that the synchrotron emitting relativistic electrons could have on the emission line regions which characterize active nuclei are discussed. Detailed models of both the inner, dense, broad line region and the outer, lower density, narrow line region are presented, together with the first models of the optically emitting gas often found within extended radio lobes. If the relativistic gas which produces the synchrotron radio emission is mixed with the emission line region gas then significant changes in the emission line spectrum will result. The effects of the synchrotron emitting electrons on filaments in the Crab Nebula are discussed in an appendix, along with a comparison between the experimental calculations, which employ the mean escape probability formalism, and recent Hubbard and Puetter models

The line continuum luminosity ratio in AGN: Or on the Baldwin Effect

The luminosity dependence of the equivalent width of CIV in active galaxies, the "Baldwin" effect, is shown to be a consequence of a luminosity dependent ionization parameter. This law also agrees with the lack of a "Baldwin" effect in Ly alpha or other hydrogen lines. A fit to the available data gives a weak indication that the mean covering factor decreases with increasing luminosity, consistent with the inference from X-ray observations. The effects of continuum shape and density on various line ratios of interest are discussed

Which Stars are Ionizing the Orion Nebula ?

The common assumption that Theta-1-Ori C is the dominant ionizing source for the Orion Nebula is critically examined. This assumption underlies much of the existing analysis of the nebula. In this paper we establish through comparison of the relative strengths of emission lines with expectations from Cloudy models and through the direction of the bright edges of proplyds that Theta-2-Ori-A, which lies beyond the Bright Bar, also plays an important role. Theta-1-Ori-C does dominate ionization in the inner part of the Orion Nebula, but outside of the Bright Bar as far as the southeast boundary of the Extended Orion Nebula, Theta-2-Ori-A is the dominant source. In addition to identifying the ionizing star in sample regions, we were able to locate those portions of the nebula in 3-D. This analysis illustrates the power of MUSE spectral imaging observations in identifying sources of ionization in extended regions.Comment: 7 pages with 5 figure

Studies of NGC 6720 with Calibrated HST WFC3 Emission-Line Filter Images--I: Structure and Evolution

We have performed a detailed analysis of the Ring Nebula (NGC 6720) using HST WFC3 images and derived a new 3-D model. Existing high spectral resolution spectra played an important supplementary role in our modeling. It is shown that the Main Ring of the nebula is an ionization-bounded irregular non-symmetric disk with a central cavity and perpendicular extended lobes pointed almost towards the observer. The faint outer halos are determined to be fossil radiation, i.e. radiation from gas ionized in an earlier stage of the nebula when it was not ionization bounded. The narrow-band WFC3 filters that isolate some of the emission-lines are affected by broadening on their short wavelength side and all the filters were calibrated using ground-based spectra. The filter calibration results are presented in an appendix.Comment: Accepted for publication by the Astronomical Journa

Studies of NGC 6720 with Calibrated HST WFC3 Emission-Line Filter Images--II:Physical Conditions

We have performed a detailed analysis of the electron temperature and density in the the Ring Nebula using the calibrated HST WFC3 images described in the preceding paper. The electron temperature (Te) determined from [N II] and [O III] rises slightly and monotonically towards the central star. The observed equivalent width (EW) in the central region indicates that Te rises as high as 13000 K. In contrast, the low EW's in the outer regions are largely due to scattered diffuse Galactic radiation by dust. The images allowed determination of unprecedented small scale variations in Te. These variations indicate that the mean square area temperature fluctuations are significantly higher than expected from simple photoionization. The power producing these fluctuations occurs at scales of less than 3.5E15 cm. This scale length provides a strong restriction on the mechanism causing the large t^2 values observed.Comment: Accepted for publication in the Astronomical Journa

Hydrogen Two-Photon Continuum Emission from the Horseshoe Filament in NGC 1275

Far ultraviolet emission has been detected from a knot of Halpha emission in the Horseshoe filament, far out in the NGC 1275 nebula. The flux detected relative to the brightness of the Halpha line in the same spatial region is very close to that expected from Hydrogen two-photon continuum emission in the particle heating model of Ferland et al. (2009) if reddening internal to the filaments is taken into account. We find no need to invoke other sources of far ultraviolet emission such as hot stars or emission lines from CIV in intermediate temperature gas to explain these data.Comment: 9 pages, 8 figures. Accepted for publication in MNRA

Studies of NGC 6720 with Calibrated HST WFC3 Emission-Line Filter Images--III:Tangential Motions using AstroDrizzle Images

We have been able to compare with astrometric precision AstroDrizzle processed images of NGC 6720 (the Ring Nebula) made using two cameras on the Hubble Space Telescope. The time difference of the observations was 12.925 yrs. This large time-base allowed determination of tangential velocities of features within this classic planetary nebula. Individual features were measured in [N II] images as were the dark knots seen in silhouette against background nebular [O III] emission. An image magnification and matching technique was also used to test the accuracy of the usual assumption of homologous expansion. We found that homologous expansion does apply, but the rate of expansion is greater along the major axis of the nebula, which is intrinsically larger than the minor axis. We find that the dark knots expand more slowly that the nebular gas, that the distance to the nebula is 720 pc +/-30%, and the dynamic age of the Ring Nebula is about 4000 yrs. The dynamic age is in agreement with the position of the central star on theoretical curves for stars collapsing from the peak of the Asymptotic Giant Branch to being white dwarfs

Improved He I Emissivities in the Case B Approximation

We update our prior work on the case B collisional-recombination spectrum of He I to incorporate \textit{ab initio} photoionisation cross-sections. This large set of accurate, self-consistent cross-sections represents a significant improvement in He I emissivity calculations because it largely obviates the piecemeal nature that has marked all modern works. A second, more recent set of \textit{ab initio} cross-sections is also available, but we show that those are less consistent with bound-bound transition probabilities than our adopted set. We compare our new effective recombination coefficients with our prior work and our new emissivities with those by other researchers, and we conclude with brief remarks on the effects of the present work on the He I error budget. Our calculations cover temperatures $5000 \le T_e \le 25000$ K and densities $10^1 \le n_e \le 10^{14}$ cm$^{-3}$. Full results are available online.Comment: Accepted to MNRAS Letters; 4 pages, 4 figures, 2 tables, 1 supplemental fil