Reverberation Mapping of the Broad Line Region: application to a hydrodynamical line-driven disk wind solution

TL;DR

This paper presents the first predictions of reverberation mapping echo images for a hydrodynamical line-driven disk wind model of the broad line region in active galactic nuclei, showing similarities to other virialized models and exploring observational signatures.

Contribution

It introduces a radiative transfer methodology to generate echo image predictions from a hydrodynamical disk wind model, linking physical simulations with observable reverberation mapping data.

Findings

Echo images resemble virialized BLR models like Keplerian disks.

Line profiles are mostly single-peaked.

Transfer functions show extended tails and blue-shifted excess at low inclinations.

Abstract

The latest analysis efforts in reverberation mapping are beginning to allow reconstruction of echo images (or velocity-delay maps) that encode information about the structure and kinematics of the broad line region (BLR) in active galactic nuclei (AGNs). Such maps can constrain sophisticated physical models for the BLR. The physical picture of the BLR is often theorized to be a photoionized wind launched from the AGN accretion disk. Previously we showed that the line-driven disk wind solution found in an earlier simulation by Proga and Kallman is virialized over a large distance from the disk. This finding implies that, according to this model, black hole masses can be reliably estimated through reverberation mapping techniques. However, predictions of echo images expected from line-driven disk winds are not available. Here, after presenting the necessary radiative transfer methodology, we carry out the first calculations of such predictions. We find that the echo images are quite similar to other virialized BLR models such as randomly orbiting clouds and thin Keplerian disks. We conduct a parameter survey exploring how echo images, line profiles, and transfer functions depend on both the inclination angle and the line opacity. We find that the line profiles are almost always single peaked, while transfer functions tend to have tails extending to large time delays. The outflow, despite being primarily equatorially directed, causes an appreciable blue-shifted excess on both the echo image and line profile when seen from lower inclinations ($i \lesssim 45^\circ$). This effect may be observable in low ionization lines such as $\rm{H}\beta$.