NOAO > Observing Info > Approved Programs > 2009B-0321
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NOAO > Observing Info > Approved Programs > 2009B-0321 |
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PI: Helene M.L.G. Flohic, University of California, Irvine, hflohic@uci.edu
Address: Physics Department, 4129 Frederick Reines Hall, Irvine, CA 92697, USA
CoI: Micheal Eracleous, The Pennsylvania State University
CoI: Karen T. Lewis, Dickinson College
Title: Determining the Structure of an AGN Accretion Disk through Spectroscopic Monitoring of a Double-Peaked Emitter
Abstract:
The accretion disks of Active Galactic Nuclei (AGNs) are the most
likely source of the broad emission lines that are the hallmark of this
class of object. A subset of AGNs display double-peaked broad emission
line profiles, offering us a direct view of their accretion disks.
Double-peaked line profile variability, commonly observed on a dynamical
timescale or longer, likely traces structural changes in the accretion
disk and has proven to be a very useful probe of the disk structure.
However spectroscopic time series of double-peaked AGNs have been hard
to obtain because they require decades of observations in order to
sample a few dynamical timescales. We propose a weekly spectroscopic
monitoring program of a double-peaked emitter with a lower mass black
hole for 33 weeks, which will build a rich dataset in a fraction of the
time that it took for the richest set currently available. With this
dataset, we will test models for accretion disk instabilities that lead
to short-term variations of the line profile and further our
understanding of accretion disk structure in all AGNs. The conclusions
will have far-reaching implications; for example, they will influence
the use of scaling relations that yield the black hole mass from the
widths of the broad-emission lines.
National Optical Astronomy Observatory, 950 North Cherry Avenue, P.O. Box 26732, Tucson, Arizona 85726, Phone: (520) 318-8000, Fax: (520) 318-8360
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NOAO > Observing Info > Approved Programs > 2009B-0321 |
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