Difference in Narrow Emission Line Spectra of Seyfert 1 and 2 galaxies

Abstract

In the unification scheme of Seyfert galaxies, a dusty torus blocks the continuum source and broad line region in Seyfert 2 galaxies. However it is not clear whether or not and to what extent the torus affects the narrow line spectra. In this paper, we show that Seyfert 1 and Seyfert 2 galaxies have different distributions on the [OIII]/H$β$ vs [NII]/H$α$ diagram (BPT diagram) for narrow lines. Seyfert 2 galaxies display a clear left boundary on the BPT diagram and only 7.3% of them lie on the left. By contrast, Seyfert 1 galaxies do not show such a cutoff and 33.0% of them stand on the left side of the boundary. Among Seyfert 1 galaxies, the distribution varies with the extinction to broad lines. As the extinction increases, the distribution on BPT diagram moves to larger [NII]/H$α$ value. We interpret this as an evidence for the obscuration of inner dense narrow line region by the dusty torus. We also demonstrate that the [OIII] and broad line luminosity correlation depends on the extinction of broad lines in the way that high extinction objects have lower uncorrected [OIII] luminosities, suggesting that [OIII] is partially obscured in these objects. Therefore, using [OIII] as an indicator for the nuclear luminosity will systematically under-estimate the nuclear luminosity of Seyfert 2 galaxies.