Thursday, February 9, 2012

1202.1776 (Moshe Elitzur)

On the Unification of Active Galactic Nuclei    [PDF]

Moshe Elitzur
The inevitable spread in properties of the toroidal obscuration of active galactic nuclei (AGNs) invalidates the widespread notion that type 1 and 2 AGNs are intrinsically the same objects. Instead, AGNs are drawn \emph{preferentially} from the distribution of torus covering factors; type 2 are more likely drawn from the distribution higher end, type 1 from its lower end. Type 2 AGNs have a higher IR luminosity, lower narrow-line luminosity and a higher fraction of Compton thick X-ray obscuration than type 1. Meaningful studies of unification statistics cannot be conducted without first determining the intrinsic distribution function of torus covering factors.
View original: http://arxiv.org/abs/1202.1776

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