Possible Evidence for Truncated Thin Disks in the Low-Luminosity Active Galactic Nuclei M81 and NGC 4579
Author(s) -
Eliot Quataert,
Tiziana Di Matteo,
Ramesh Narayan,
Luis C. Ho
Publication year - 1999
Publication title -
the astrophysical journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.376
H-Index - 489
eISSN - 1538-4357
pISSN - 0004-637X
DOI - 10.1086/312353
Subject(s) - astrophysics , physics , active galactic nucleus , accretion (finance) , black hole (networking) , spectral line , schwarzschild radius , accretion disc , luminosity , astronomy , thin disk , intermediate mass black hole , radiation , emission spectrum , galaxy , spin flip , optics , computer network , routing protocol , routing (electronic design automation) , computer science , link state routing protocol
M81 and NGC 4579 are two of the few low-luminosity active galactic nuclei that have an estimated mass for the central black hole, detected hard X-ray emission, and detected optical/UV emission. In contrast to the canonical "big blue bump," both have optical/UV spectra that decrease with increasing frequency in a nuLnu plot. Barring significant reddening by dust and/or large errors in the black hole mass estimates, the optical/UV spectra of these systems require that the inner edge of a geometrically thin, optically thick accretion disk lies at approximately 100 Schwarzschild radii. The observed X-ray radiation can be explained by an optically thin, two-temperature, advection-dominated accretion flow at smaller radii.
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