A High-Quality velocity-delay map of the broad-line region in NGC 5548

TL;DR

This paper presents a high-quality velocity-delay map of the broad-line region in NGC 5548, revealing disk-like geometry, anisotropic emission, and long-term variability indicating inflow and virialized phases.

Contribution

The study constructs detailed velocity-delay maps over multiple years, providing new insights into the geometry and dynamics of the BLR in NGC 5548 using the maximum entropy method.

Findings

BLR shows symmetric velocity-delay structure suggestive of a disk geometry

Long-term maps reveal inflow and virialized phases in the BLR

Evidence of anisotropic emission and changing BLR size over years

Abstract

NGC 5548 has been well spectroscopically monitored for reverberation mapping of the central kinematics by 19 campaigns. Using the maximum entropy method in this Letter, we build up a high-quality velocity-delay map of the H$\beta$ emission line in the light curves of the continuum and the line variations observed between 2015-2016. The map shows the response strength and lags of the velocity fields of the H$\beta$ emitting regions. The velocity-delay structure of the map is generally symmetric, with strong red and blue wings at time lag $\tau \leq 15$ days, a narrower velocity distribution at $\tau \geq 15$ days, and a deficit of response in the core. This is suggestive of a disk geometry of the broad-line region (BLR). The relatively weaker H$\beta$ response at the longer lags in the red side indicates anisotropic emission from the outer part of the BLR. We also recover the velocity-delay maps of NGC 5548 from the historical data of 13 years to investigate the long-term variability of its BLR. In general, the BLR of NGC 5548 was switching between the inflow and virialized phases in the past years. The resultant maps of seven years reveal inflow signatures and show decreasing lags, indicating that the changes in the BLR size are related to the infalling BLR gas. The other four maps show potential disk signatures which are similar to our map.