The "red shelf" of the Hb line in the Seyfert 1 galaxies RXS J01177+3637 and HS 0328+05

A few Seyfert 1s have a Hb profile with a red wing usually called the "red shelf". The most popular interpretation of this feature is that it is due to broad redshifted lines of Hb and [OIII]4959,5007; we have observed two Seyfert 1s displaying a "red shelf" and showed that in these two objects the main contributor is most probably the HeI 4922,5016 lines having the velocity and width of the broad Hb component. There is no evidence for the presence of a broad redshifted component of Hb or [OIII] in any of these two objects.Comment: LaTeX file (uses AA vers. 5.1 class, enclosed), 8 pages, 9 figures. Accepted for publication in Astronomy & Astrophysics. Also available at http://www.obs-hp.fr/www/preprints.htm

Miscellaneous observations of active galactic nuclei. II

We observed 37 AGN candidates and classified them on the basis of their spectroscopic properties; three are confirmed QSOs, one is a BL Lac object, nine are Seyfert 1 galaxies, four Seyfert 2s, while twenty are HII regions.Comment: LaTeX 2e, 15 pages (4 tables and 9 .eps figures included in text). Uses L-AA 3.0, epsf.tex and psfig.sty (not included). Accepted to appear in A&

A spectrophotometric atlas of Narrow-Line Seyfert 1 galaxies

We have compiled a list of 83 objects classified as Narrow-Line Seyfert 1 galaxies (NLS1s) or known to have a broad Balmer component narrower than 2000 km/s. Out of these, 19 turned out to have been spectroscopically misidentified in previous studies; only 64 of the selected objects are genuine NLS1s. We have spectroscopically observed 59 of them and tried to characterize their Narrow and Broad-Line Regions (NLR and BLR) by fitting the emission-lines with Gaussian and/or Lorentzian profiles. In most cases, the broad Balmer components are well fitted by a single Lorentzian profile. This has consequences concerning their FWHMs and line ratios: when the broad Balmer components are fitted with a Lorentzian, most narrow line regions have line ratios typical of Seyfert 2s while, when a Gaussian profile isused for fitting the broad Balmer components, the line ratios are widely scattered in the usual diagnostic diagrams (Veilleux & Osterbrock 1987). We find that, in general, the [O III] lines have a relatively narrow Gaussian profile (~ 200-500 km/s FWHM) with often, in addition, a second broad (~ 500-1800 km/s FWHM), blueshifted Gaussian component. We do not confirm that the [O III] lines are weak in NLS1s. As previously suggested, there is a continuous transition of all properties between NLS1s and classical Broad-Line Seyfert 1 Galaxies (BLS1s) and the limit of 2000 km/s used to separate the two species is arbitrary; R_4570, the ratio of the Fe II to the H_beta fluxes, could be a physically more meaningful parameter to distinguish them. (abridged abstract)Comment: LaTeX file, 24 pages, 15 figures, uses the new A&A macro (enclosed: aa5.cls). Figs. 1-5 and 7 are bitmapped; non-bitmapped, high quality figures are included in the .ps and .pdf versions of the paper, available at http://www.obs-hp.fr/www/preprints.html. Accepted for publication in Astronomy & Astrophysic

The AGN properties of the starburst galaxy NGC 7582

NGC 7582 was identified as a Starburst galaxy in the optical \cite[(Veron et al. 1981)]{Veron et al.(1981)} but its X-Ray emission is typical of a Seyfert 1 galaxy \cite[(Ward et al. 1978)]{Ward et al.(1978)}. We analyzed a datacube of this object obtained with the GMOS-IFU on the Gemini-South telescope. After a subtraction of the stellar component using the {\sc starlight} code \cite[(Cid Fernandes et al. 2005)]{Cid Fernandes et al. (2005)}, we looked for optical signatures of the AGN. We detected a broad $H\alpha$ component (figure \ref{fig1}) in the source where \cite[Bianchi et al.(2007)]{Bianchi et al.(2007)} identified the AGN in an HST optical image. We also found a broad $H\beta$ feature (figure \ref{fig2}), but its emission reveals a extended source. We suggest that it is the light of the AGN scattered in the ionization cone. We propose that NGC 7582 is a Seyfert 1 galaxy. A number of other "hot-spots" and Wolf-Rayet features were also identified.Comment: 1 page, 2 figures, to be published in the Proceedings of the IAU Symposium no. 26

Probing the Ionizing Continuum of Narrow-Line Seyfert 1 Galaxies. I.Observational Results

We present optical spectra and emission-line ratios of 12 Narrow-Line Seyfert 1 (NLS1) galaxies that we observed to study the ionizing EUV continuum. A common feature in the EUV continuum of active galactic nuclei is the big blue bump (BBB), generally associated with thermal accretion disk emission. While Galactic absorption prevents direct access to the EUV range, it can be mapped by measuring the strength of a variety of forbidden optical emission lines that respond to different EUV continuum regions. We find that narrow emission-line ratios involving [OII]3727, Hbeta, [OIII]5007, [OI]6300, Halpha,[NII]6583, and [SII]6716,6731 indicate no significant difference between NLS1s and Broad-Line Seyfert 1 (BLS1) galaxies, which suggests that the spectral energy distributions of their ionizing EUV - soft X-ray continua are similar. The relative strength of important forbidden high ionization lines like [NeV]3426 compared to HeII4686 and the relative strength of [FeX]6374 appear to show the same range as in BLS1 galaxies. However, a trend of weaker F([OI]6300)/F(Halpha) emission-line ratios is indicated for NLS1s compared to BLS1s. To recover the broad emission-line profiles we used Gaussian components. This approach indicates that the broad Hbeta profile can be well described with a broad component (FWHM = 3275 +- 800 km/s) and an intermediate broad component (FWHM = 1200 +- 300 km/s). The width of the broad component is in the typical range of normal BLS1s. The emission-line flux that is associated with the broad component in these NLS1s amounts to at least 60% of the total flux. Thus it dominates the total line flux, similar to BLS1 galaxies.Comment: 34 pages, 9 figures. accepted for publication in the Astrophys.Journa

Fabry Perot Halpha Observations of the Barred Spiral NGC 3367

We report the gross properties of the velocity field of the barred spiral galaxy NGC 3367. The following values were found: inclination with respect to the plane of the sky, i=30 deg; position angle (PA) of receding semi major axis PA=51 and systemic velocity V(sys)=3032 km/s. Large velocity dispersion are observed of upt o 120 km/s in the nuclear region, of up to 70 km/s near the eastern bright sources just beyond the edge of the stellar bar where three spiral arms seem to start and in the western bright sources at about 10 kpc. Deviations from normal circular velocities are observed from all the disk but mainly from the semi circle formed by the string of south western Halpha sources. An estimate of the dynamical mass is M(dyn)=2x10^11 Msolar.Comment: Accepted to be published in May 2001 issue in the A.J. 19 pages, 7 figure

A catalogue of absorption-line systems in QSO spectra

We present a new catalog of absprption-line systems identified in the quasar spectra. It contains data on 821 QSOs and 8558 absorption systems comprizing 16139 absorption lines with measured redshifts in the QSO spectra. The catalog includes absorption-line systems consisting of lines of heavy elements, lines of neutral hydrogen, Lyman limit systems, damped Ly\alpha absorption systems, and broad absorption-line systems. The catalog is available in electronic form at the CDS via anonymous ftp to cdsarc.u-strasbg.fr (130.79.128.5) or via http://cdsweb.u-strasbg.fr/cgi-bin/qcat?J/A+A/412/707 and at www.ioffe.ru/astro/QC. Using the data of the present catalog we also discuss redshift distributions of absorption-line systems.Comment: 3 pages with 1 postscript figur