AGN Components • Observed Components and Interpretation • Dependence on AGN Type • Continuum Emission Regions • Emission-Line Regions 1 torus Observed Components of AGN (and probable physical components) Spatially Unresolved: • Optical/UV/soft X-ray continuum àaccretion disk • Hard X-ray continuum (E > 1 keV) àhot X-ray corona • IR thermal emission àdusty torus (barely resolved in a few nearby sources), NLR dust • Broad emission lines àbroad-line region (BLR) • Intrinsic UV/X-ray absorption lines à mass outflows Spatially Resolved: • Radio emission à core, jets, lobes • Narrow emission lines ànarrow-line region (NLR) • Ionized gas in the host galaxy àextended narrow-line region (ENLR) 3 Schematic Continuum SED for Seyferts Big Blue Bump IR bump Soft X-ray Compton excess hump 4 Characterization of Continuum SEDs • Typically characterized by power-laws over a limited range in frequency (or wavelength): -α F ∝ ν ν (larger α → "steeper" continuum) ν ν -α For F ∝ λ λ → α = 2 − α λ λ ν -1 -2 -1 X-ray folks tend to use photon flux (photons s cm keV ) -Γ F ∝ E → Γ = α + 1 ph ν • SED often plotted as νF - represents energy output at each ν ν 1−α pos.# If α < 1→νF ∝ν ν ∝ν (positive slope in νF plot) ν ν ν 1−α neg.# If α > 1→νF ∝ν ν ∝ν (negative slope in νF plot) ν ν ν 5 Observed Quasar SEDs (Elvis 1994) - Radio-quiet (RQ) quasars - similar to Seyfert 1s (EUV slightly steeper) - Radio-loud (RL) quasars ~100x brighter in radio than RQ 6 Continuum SEDs for Seyferts/Quasars 1) Optical/UV: α ≈ 0.5 to 1.0 ν Note: low luminosity AGN contaminated by starlight in optical 2) Soft X-rays (E < 1 - 2 keV): Γ > 2 (steep, "soft X-ray excess") - however, often absorbed by MW and host galaxy hydrogen, torus 3) Hard X-rays (E > 1 - 2 keV): Γ ≈ 1.7 (flat out to ~10 keV) - Compton reflection (down-scattering) from disk: hump at E>10 keV 4) EUV: Galaxy is optically thick to H-ionizing radiation - interpolate (Quasars are steeper) Optical (2500 Å) to X-ray (2 keV): α ≈ 1.5 ox 5) IR continuum: often fit with a combination of blackbodies (hot dust) - dust sublimates at T ≈ 2000 K, which leads to a minimum at ~1µm 6) Sub-mm break: sharp drop to radio, α > 2.5 - probably synchrotron self absorption 7) Radio: very weak in Seyferts and RQ quasars - VLBI detects weak, aligned radio blobs instead of relativistic jets (RL AGN: α < 0.5 - flat-spectrum (face-on), α > 0.5 - steep spectrum) ν ν 7 Correlation of α with Luminosity ox (Lusso et al. 2010, A&A, 512, 34) 8 1) Optical/UV/EUV: The BBB and Accretion Disks (Zheng, et al. ApJ, 475, 569) • Composite spectrum from quasars at different z’s • Turns over in EUV more quickly than previous predictions used in photoionization models (Mathews & Ferland 1987). 9 Big Blue Bump(BBB) - not so big? (Laor 1997) photoionization models Laor et al. observations 10