Issue |
A&A
Volume 485, Number 2, July II 2008
|
|
---|---|---|
Page(s) | L21 - L24 | |
Section | Letters | |
DOI | https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361:200810123 | |
Published online | 22 May 2008 |
Letter to the Editor
Discovery of a strong Baldwin effect in mid-infrared AGN lines*
1
Max-Planck-Institut für Radioastronomie, Auf dem Hügel 69, 53121 Bonn, Germany e-mail: shoenig@mpifr-bonn.mpg.de
2
European Southern Observatory, Casilla 19001, Santiago 19, Chile
3
Institut für Theoretische Physik und Astrophysik, Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel, Leibnizstr. 15, 24098 Kiel, Germany
4
Zentrum für Astronomie, ITA, Universität Heidelberg, Albert-Ueberle-Str. 2, 69120 Heidelberg, Germany
5
RIKEN Cosmic Radiation Lab, 2-1 Hirosawa, Wakoshi Saitama 351-0198, Japan
Received:
5
May
2008
Accepted:
14
May
2008
We present the discovery of a Baldwin effect in 8 nearby Seyfert galaxies for the three most prominent mid-infrared forbidden emission lines observable from the ground that are commonly found in AGN, [AR III](λ8.99 μm), [S IV](λ10.51 μm), and [Ne II](λ12.81 μm). The observations were carried out using the VLT/VISIR imager and spectrograph at the ESO/Paranal observatory. The bulk of the observed line emission originates in the innermost region within a diameter of 04, which corresponds to spatial scales of less than 100 pc within the targeted galaxies. The correlation index is approximately -0.6 and does not vary significantly for all lines studied. To date, this is the strongest anticorrelation that has been measured between line equivalent width and continuum luminosity. In the case of Circinus, we show that, despite using mid-infrared lines, obscuration by either the host galaxy or the circumnuclear dust torus might affect the measurement. Given the small observed spatial scales from which most of the line emission emanates, it is unclear how well these observations agree with the favored “disappearing NLR” scenario for the narrow-line Baldwin effect.
Key words: galaxies: Seyfert / galaxies: active / infrared: galaxies / galaxies quasars: emission lines / X-rays: galaxies
© ESO, 2008
Current usage metrics show cumulative count of Article Views (full-text article views including HTML views, PDF and ePub downloads, according to the available data) and Abstracts Views on Vision4Press platform.
Data correspond to usage on the plateform after 2015. The current usage metrics is available 48-96 hours after online publication and is updated daily on week days.
Initial download of the metrics may take a while.