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arXiv · 1303.0219

The Distribution of AGN Covering Factors

Andy Lawrence·Isaac Roseboom·Jack Mayo·Martin Elvis·Yue Shen·Heng Hao·Sara Petty
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Abstract

We review our knowledge of the most basic properties of the AGN obscuring region - its location, scale, symmetry, and mean covering factor - and discuss new evidence on the distribution of covering factors in a sample of ~9000 quasars with WISE, UKIDSS, and SDSS photometry. The obscuring regions of AGN may be in some ways more complex than we thought - multi-scale, not symmetric, chaotic - and in some ways simpler - with no dependence on luminosity, and a covering factor distribution that may be determined by the simplest of considerations - e.g. random misalignments.

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Andy Lawrence, Isaac Roseboom, Jack Mayo, Martin Elvis, Yue Shen, Heng Hao, Sara Petty. 2013-03-01. The Distribution of AGN Covering Factors. https://arxiv.org/abs/1303.0219

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