A comparative study of the physical properties for a representative sample of Narrow and Broad-line Seyfert galaxies

We present a comparative study of the physical properties of a homogeneous sample of 144 Narrow line Seyfert 1 (NLSy1) and 117 Broad-line Seyfert 1 (BLSy1) galaxies. These two samples are in a similar luminosity and redshift range and have optical spectra available in the 16\(^{th}\) data release of...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:arXiv.org 2021-12
Main Authors: Jha, Vivek Kumar, Hum Chand, Ojha, Vineet, Omar, Amitesh, Rastogi, Shantanu
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Active galactic nuclei
Asymmetry
Comparative studies
Correlation analysis
Kurtosis
Line shape
Luminosity
Outflow
Parameters
Physical properties
Principal components analysis
Quasars
Red shift
Seyfert galaxies
Sky surveys (astronomy)
Soft x rays
X ray spectra
X-ray astronomy
XMM (spacecraft)
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Summary:We present a comparative study of the physical properties of a homogeneous sample of 144 Narrow line Seyfert 1 (NLSy1) and 117 Broad-line Seyfert 1 (BLSy1) galaxies. These two samples are in a similar luminosity and redshift range and have optical spectra available in the 16\(^{th}\) data release of Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS-DR16) and X-ray spectra in either XMM-NEWTON or ROSAT. Direct correlation analysis and a Principal Component Analysis (PCA) have been performed using ten observational and physical parameters obtained by fitting the optical spectra and the soft X-ray photon indices as another parameter. We confirm that the established correlations for the general quasar population hold for both types of galaxies in this sample despite significant differences in the physical properties. We characterize the sample also using the line shape parameters, namely the asymmetry and kurtosis indices. We find that the fraction of NLSy1 galaxies showing outflow signatures, characterized by blue asymmetries, is higher by a factor of about 3 compared to the corresponding fraction in BLSy1 galaxies. The presence of high iron content in the broad-line region of NLSy1 galaxies in conjunction with higher Eddington ratios can be the possible reason behind this phenomenon. We also explore the possibility of using asymmetry in the emission lines as a tracer of outflows in the inner regions of Active Galactic Nuclei. The PCA results point to the NLSy1 and BLSy1 galaxies occupying different parameter spaces, which challenges the notion that NLSy1 galaxies are a subclass of BLSy1 galaxies.
ISSN:2331-8422
DOI:10.48550/arxiv.2112.09150