The Intrinsic Nature of the Balwin Effect
Abstract
We explore the relationship between the fluxes of the two strongest UV emission lines and flux in the continuum for the well-studied Seyfert galaxy NGC 5548. It is shown that the scatter in the continuum-emission- line correlations is greatly reduced by removing light-travel time effects from the data so that the emission-line fluxes are referred to the continuum that is driving them. The correlations themselves are in basic agreement with results derived earlier because the continuum flux does not vary greatly over the timescale for emission-line response. The continuum-mission-line correlations have important implications regarding the nature of the ionizing continuum, and these are discussed.
- Publication:
-
The Astronomical Journal
- Pub Date:
- April 1992
- DOI:
- 10.1086/116127
- Bibcode:
- 1992AJ....103.1084P
- Keywords:
-
- Active Galactic Nuclei;
- Continuous Radiation;
- Emission Spectra;
- Galactic Radiation;
- Seyfert Galaxies;
- Astronomical Spectroscopy;
- Lyman Alpha Radiation;
- Spectral Correlation;
- Astrophysics;
- GALAXIES: SEYFERT;
- GALAXIES: INDIVIDUAL: NGC 5548;
- RADIO CONTINUUM: GALAXIES