Inter-Percentile Velocity Width: An Alternative Parametrization of the Velocity Field of the Broad-Line Region
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Date
2012-06
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The Ohio State University
Abstract
In this project we compare an alternative parametrization of gas motions near supermassive black holes in active galactic nuclei (AGN) with other common parametrizations to see which best characterizes these motions and leads to accurate measurements of central black hole masses. Two parametrizations that are widely used for characterizing the widths of spectral emission lines are line dispersion and full width at half maximum (FWHM). This project involves writing the computer code for and testing an alternative parametrization, the inter-percentile velocity (IPV)width. The IPV is designed to avoid problems that affect the other parameters, principally noise with FWHM and blending with other features with line dispersion, and hopefully retain the positive aspects. The ultimate goal is to develop a simple prescription for accurate measurements of black hole
masses under a wide variety of conditions.
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Keywords
galaxies: active, galaxies: nuclei, galaxies: Seyfert, quasars: emission lines