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Spectropolarimetry Surveys of Obscured Active Galactic Nuclei Edward Moran Wesleyan University Aaron Barth (UC Irvine), Laura Kay (Barnard), Alex Filippenko (UC Berkeley), Mike Eracleous (Penn State)
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Moran et al. (2000) M. Urry & P. Padovani
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Moran et al. (2000) Where is the obscuration? narrow lines are unpolarized obscuration must be beyond the BLR, but interior to most of the NLR (i.e., ~ 1 – few pc) Where is the mirror? can extend from the opening of the torus to > 100 pc from the nucleus (i.e., in the NLR; Kishimoto 1999; Kishimoto et al. 2002a, 2002b)
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Starlight dilution N3081 N224 N3081 Seyfert 2 spectra dominated by unpolarized bulge starlight F g = 50–90% is typical; dilutes polarization signal but after starlight correction, P(H ) still > P(continuum) “F C2 ” also dilutes polarization; caused by hot stars (e.g., Gonzalez Delgado et al. 1998) High intrinsic polarizations obtained after correction for F C2 (Tran 1995)
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Spectropolarimetry Surveys sample: 24 “warm” IRAS galaxies & selected Seyfert 2s instrument: AAT 3.9-m results: some new detections, but no HBLR in majority Young et al. (1996) Heisler, Lumsden, & Bailey (1997) sample: 16 IRAS-selected Seyfert 2s, S 60 > 5 Jy instrument: AAT 3.9-m results: 1 new detection; 44% (7 objects) are HBLRs
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sample: 24 IRAS-selected Seyfert 2s, S 60 > 3 Jy, L FIR > 10 10 L , S 60 /S 25 < 8.85 instrument: AAT 3.9-m, WHT 4.2-m results: 1 new detection, 33% (8 objects) are HBLRs Lumsden et al. (2001) Tran (2001, 2003) sample: 49 objects from the CfA and 12 m samples instrument: Lick 3-m & Palomar 5-m results: 5 new detections; 45% (22 objects) are HBLRs Spectropolarimetry Surveys
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sample: 38 objects from Ulvestad & Wilson (1989; UW89) 31 bona fide Seyfert 2s 7 narrow-line X-ray galaxies (4 Sy 1.9s & 3 Sy 2s) distance-limited (cz < 4600 km s –1 ) instrument: Keck 10-m results: 9 new detections, 45% (17 objects) are HBLRs Us (Moran et al. 2000, 2001; Kay et al. 2006) Barth, Filippenko, & Moran (1999) sample: 14 LLAGNs objects from the Ho et al. (1997) survey instrument: Keck 10-m results: 3 new HBLRs in LINERs two LINER 1.9s (NGC 315, NGC 1052) one LINER 2 (NGC 4261)
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Differences between HBLR and Non-HBLR Seyfert 2s? Moran et al. (1992)
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Sample issues: Flux-limited surveys clearly defined luminosity bias Volume-limited surveys no bias completeness is a concern UW89 sample is relatively unbiased Impotant because luminosity is one of the main issues here
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Radio luminosity Lumsden et al. (2001): not much difference in total radio power P tot ; HBLRs slightly higher core luminosity P core Tran (2003): HBLRs slightly stronger in P tot Gu & Huang (2002): HBLRs significantly stronger in P tot UW89 result: HBLRs have somwhat higher P core
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CfA/12 m sample (Tran 2003) UW89 sample Far-infrared colors All previous studies find that HBLRs are significantly “warmer” than non-HBLRs (Heisler, Tran, Lumsden, Gu) UW89 result: differences not nearly as extreme
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Other indicators L([O III]) prior studies: HBLRs tend to be more luminous significant overlap between HBLRs and non-HBLRs Hard X-ray * N H distributions of HBLRs and non-HBLRs are similar (Alexander 2001; Tran 2001; Gu et al. 2001) * many UW89 sources too weak to model their spectra, and many are Compton-thick (Risaliti et al. 1999) Moran et al. (2001) composite X-ray spectra
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Luminosity differences HBLRs tend to be more luminous higher nuclear luminosity explains S 25 /S 60 results (Alexander 2001; Lumsden et al. 2001; Gu & Huang 2002) nucleus/host galaxy contrast effect? (Kay 1994; Lumsden & Alexander 2001) do luminosity differences establish that non-HBLR objects are “true” Seyfert 2s (Tran 2003)? before you decide, remember: spectropolarimetry is hard!
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NGC 5929 but bigger is better!near misses!
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UW89 sample [O III] equivalent width as a contrast indicator Lumsden et al. (2001)
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Alternatives to simple orientation low-luminosity = no BLR? (Tran 2003) accretion-rate issues? (Nicastro et al. 2003) BLR absent in low m objects possible candidates exist (e.g., Tran 2005) HBLRs in some LINERs? (Barth et al. 1999) dust lanes? (e.g., Malkan, Matt, Guainazzi, Lamastra et al.) many UW89 non-HBLRs have high N H 4/7 UW89 objects with log N H < 23 have HBLRs... torus dust lanes could obscure fraction of UW89 non-HBLRs non-HBLRs as edge-on NLS1s? (Zhang & Wang 2006)
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Summary ~ 50% of Seyfert 2s have polarized broad lines some luminosity differences exist between HBLRs and non-HBLRs but much overlap between the two types much overlap in EW([O III]) as well luminosity or contrast alone can’t explain polarization results take care when interpreting spectropolatimetry non-detections many reasons why techniques might not work possibility that more HBLRs will turn up in deeper observaton is very real
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NGC 2110
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Elliptical disk fit
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Early results from Lick Observatory NGC 1068: Miller & Antonucci (1983); Antonucci & Miller (1985); Miller, Goodrich, & Mathews (1991) 4 more hidden broad-line regions (HBLRs) among high- polarization Seyfert 2s: Miller & Goodrich (1990) Continuum polarizations of Seyfert 2s low, and starlight fractions high: Kay (1990; 1994) 4 more HBLRs: Tran, Miller, & Kay (1992) Detailed study of 10 HBLR Seyfert 2s – complex continua and dominance of electron scattering: Tran (1995)
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in the plane of the sky... in the plane of the scattering... Why a torus? Polarization suggests radiation field anisotropic prior to scattering obscuration cylindrically symmetric, roughly
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Hard X-ray evidence NGC 788 hard = 1.70 log N H = 23.7
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