Evidence for an Accelerating Wind as the Broad-Line Region in NGC 3516

Zheng, W.; Kriss, G. A.; Koratkar, A. P.; Hutchings, J. B.; Green, R. F.; Kaiser, M. E.; Brotherton, M.

Canada, United States

Abstract

Spectroscopic data in wavelengths 900-3000 Å have been obtained in a low flux state of the nucleus of the Seyfert 1 galaxy NGC 3516. The line profiles show P Cygni characteristics, particularly in O VI λ1032, and are compared with data from an earlier and higher state. The profiles are suggestive of and consistent with an accelerating wind driven by a disk continuum source in which the ionization radii have changed. This scenario may apply to the formation of other broad emission lines in active galactic nuclei.

2001 The Astrophysical Journal
eHST 18