arXiv subjects

Bozena Czerny

Publications and source records attributed to Bozena Czerny.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

arXiv2022

Radiation pressure on dust explains the Low Ionized Broad Emission Lines in Active Galactic Nuclei

Broad emission lines are the most characteristic features in the spectra of active galaxies. They mostly show either a single-peaked or double-peaked profiles; and originate from a complex dynamics of the likely discrete clouds moving in a spatially extended region so-called Broad Line Region (BLR). We follow a non-hydrodynamical single-cloud approach to the BLR dynamics based on the dust-driving model of Czerny & Hryniewicz. We previously showed in details that the 2.5D version of the model could provide us with the 3D geometry of the BLR. In this paper, we provide a large grid of results based on which we aim at testing the model with calculation of the spectral line generic profiles. We show that the shape of profiles not only depends on the accretion rate of the source, the black hole mass, and the viewing angle, but also it is most significantly affected by the adopted dust-to-gas mass ratio that regulates the strength of the radiation pressure. We also show that the model can appropriately explain the low ionized broad emission lines of the mean spectrum of quasars, such as MgII and Hbeta.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2021

Mass loss rate of accretion disk in FRADO

We have developed the 2.5D version of the basic physically motivated 1D model of Czerny & Hryniewicz (2011), i.e. Failed Radiatively Accelerated Dusty Outflow (FRADO) model. This model is based on the idea that radiation pressure acting on dust is responsible for the formation of the low ionized part of the Broad Line Region (BLR). Such radiation pressure is strong enough to form a fast outflow from the disk surface in the inner part of low ionized BLR. The outflow properties depend on the basic physical parameters, like black hole mass, Eddington ratio and gas metallicity. We here aim at estimating the disk mass loss rate due to this process, and comparing the results with outflows detected in Broad Absorption Line (BAL) quasars.

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arXiv2021

Modeling changing-look (CL) AGN phenomenon in 1D using accretion disk instabilities

Apart from regular, low-level stochastic variability, some AGN occasionally show exceptionally large changes in the luminosity, spectral shape, and/or X-ray absorption. The most notable are the changes of the spectral type when the source classified as a Seyfert 1 becomes a Seyfert 2 galaxy or vice versa. Thus a name was coined of 'Changing-Look AGN' (CL AGN). The origin of this phenomenon is still unknown, but for most of the sources, there are strong arguments in favor of the intrinsic changes. Understanding the nature of such rapid changes is a challenge to the models of black hole accretion flows since the timescales of the changes are much shorter than the standard disk viscous timescales. We aim to model the CL AGN phenomenon assuming that the underlying mechanism is the time-dependent evolution of a black hole accretion disk unstable due to the dominant radiation pressure. We use a 1-dimensional, vertically integrated disk model, but we allow for the presence of the hot coronal layer above the disk and the presence of the inner purely hot flow. We focus on the variability timescales and amplitudes, which can be regulated by the action of large-scale magnetic fields, the description of the disk-corona coupling, and the presence of an inner optically thin flow, like Advection-Dominated Accretion Flow (ADAF). We compare model predictions for the accretion disk around black hole mass 10$^7$M$_{\odot}$.

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arXiv2021

The picture of BLR in 2.5-D FRADO: Dynamics & Geometry

The dynamics of the Broad Line Region (BLR) in Active galaxies is an open question, direct observational constraints suggest a predominantly Keplerian motion, with possible traces of inflow or outflow. In this paper we study in detail the physically motivated BLR model of (Czerny & Hryniewicz, 2011) based on the radiation pressure acting on dust at the surface layers of accretion disk (AD). We consider here a non-hydrodynamical approach to the dynamics of the dusty cloud under the influence of radiation coming from the entire AD. We use here the realistic description of the dust opacity, and we introduce two simple geometrical models of the local shielding of the dusty cloud. We show that the radiation pressure acting on dusty clouds is strong enough to lead to dynamical outflow from the AD surface, so the BLR has a dynamical character of (mostly failed) outflow. The dynamics strongly depend on the Eddington ratio of the source. Large Eddington ratio sources show a complex velocity field and large vertical velocities with respect to the AD surface, while for lower Eddington ratio sources vertical velocities are small and most of the emission originates close to the AD surface. Cloud dynamics thus determines the 3-D geometry of the BLR.

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arXiv2021

Insight-HXMT observations of jet-like corona in a black hole X-ray binary MAXI J1820+070

A black hole X-ray binary produces hard X-ray radiation from its corona and disk when the accreting matter heats up. During an outburst, the disk and corona co-evolves with each other. However, such an evolution is still unclear in both its geometry and dynamics. Here we report the unusual decrease of the reflection fraction in MAXI J1820+070, which is the ratio of the coronal intensity illuminating the disk to the coronal intensity reaching the observer, as the corona is observed to contrast during the decay phase. We postulate a jet-like corona model, in which the corona can be understood as a standing shock where the material flowing through. In this dynamical scenario, the decrease of the reflection fraction is a signature of the corona's bulk velocity. Our findings suggest that as the corona is observed to get closer to the black hole, the coronal material might be outflowing faster.

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arXiv2021

Viewing angle effects in quasar application to cosmology

The symmetry axes of active galactic nuclei (AGN) are randomly distributed in space but highly inclined sources are heavily obscured and are not seen as quasars with broad emission lines. The obscuring torus geometry determines the average viewing angle, and if the torus geometry changes with the redshift, this average viewing angle will also change. Thus the ratio between the isotropic luminosity and observed luminosity may change systematically with redshift. Therefore, if we use quasars to measure the luminosity distance by evaluating the isotropic absolute luminosity and measuring the observed flux, we can have a redshift-dependent bias which can propagate to cosmological parameters. We propose a toy model for testing the effect of viewing angle uncertainty on measurement of the luminosity distance. The model is based on analytical description of the obscuring torus applied to one-parameter observational data. It illustrates the possible change of the torus covering factor between the two chosen redshift ranges. We have estimated the possible error on specific cosmological parameters (H0,Omega_m) for the flat Lambda-CDM cosmology if a method is calibrated at low redshift and applied to the higher redshift. The errors on cosmological parameters due to potential dependence of viewing angle on redshift are found to be potentially significant, and the effect will have to be accommodated in the future in all quasar-based cosmological methods. A careful systematic study of AGN mean viewing angle across redshift is necessary, with the use of appropriate samples and models which uniquely determine the inclination of each source.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2020

Broad He I 1.08 μm absorption from the obscurer in the active galaxy NGC 5548

The nucleus of the active galaxy NGC 5548 was the target of two intensive spectroscopic monitoring campaigns at X-ray, ultraviolet (UV), and optical frequencies in 2013/14. These campaigns detected the presence of a massive obscuration event. In 2016/17, Landt et al. conducted a near-IR spectroscopic monitoring campaign on NGC 5548 and discovered He i 1.08 μm absorption. Here we decompose this absorption into its components and study its time variability. We attribute the narrow He i absorption lines to the warm absorber and, as for the newly appeared low-ionization warm absorber lines in the UV, their presence is most likely due to a reduction in ionization parameter caused by the obscurer. The observed variability of the narrow He i absorption is consistent with what is expected for the warm absorber. Most importantly, we also detect fast, broad He i absorption, which we attribute to the obscurer. This He i broad absorption, which is indicative of a high-column density gas, is unsaturated and variable on time-scales of a few months. The observed variability of the obscurer is mainly due to changes in ionization, although density changes also play a role. We test the physical cycle model of Dehghanian et al. which proposes that helium recombination can account for how the obscurer influences the physics of the warm absorber gas. Our results support their model, but also indicate that the reality might be more complex.

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arXiv2020

Clumpy wind accretion in Cygnus X-1

Cygnus X-1 is one of the brightest X-ray sources observed and shows the X-ray intensity variations on time scales from milliseconds to months in both the soft and hard X-rays. The accretion onto the black hole is believed to be wind fed due to focused stellar wind from the binary companion HDE-226868. We aim to understand the physical mechanism responsible for the short timescale X-ray variability ($<$100 s) of the source in its Hard/Low state. We compute the 2D relativistic hydrodynamic simulation of the low angular momentum accretion flow with a time dependent outer boundary condition that reflects the focused, clumpy wind from the super-giant in this X-ray binary system. We follow the dynamical evolution of our model for about 100 s and present the results showing an oscillatory shock, being a potential explanation of variability observed in hard X-rays. The simulated model with shock solutions is in good agreement with the observed power density spectra of the source.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2020

Distribution of Radio Spectral Slopes of Galaxies in Optical Diagnostic Diagrams

For about 500 intermediate-redshift sources ($0.04<z<0.4$), whose radio flux densities at $1.4\,{\rm GHz}$ are larger than 10 mJy, we performed additional observations at 4.85 GHz and 10.45 GHz using 100-m Effelsberg telescope. Our radio-optical galaxies are located preferentially in the composite and AGN spectral classes in the narrow line optical diagnostic diagrams (ODD). In the analysis, we focused on the distribution of radio spectral indices of radio synchrotron power-law profiles, $S_ν\propto ν^{+α}$, in the ODDs. Using different analysis techniques, both observationally motivated and machine-learning based, we found three distinct groups--clusters in the radio loudness, [OIII]/H$β$ ratio, and spectral index volume: (1) sources with steep radio spectral index, large radio loudness and large [OIII]/H$β$ ratio; (2) sources with flat radio spectral index, intermediate radio loudness and lower [OIII]/H$β$ ratio; (3) sources with inverted radio spectral index, low radio loudness and low [OIII]/H$β$. The groups (1), (2), and (3) are located along the Seyfert-LINER spectral classes towards lower ionization ratios in the ODDs and hence can represent different activity cycles/accretion modes of AGNs, which could be in some cases associated with different merger stages.

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arXiv2020

Effect of Electromagnetic Interaction on Galactic Center Flare Components

Recently, near-infrared GRAVITY@ESO observations at $2.2\,μ{\rm m}$ have announced the detection of three bright "flares" in the vicinity of the Galactic center supermassive black hole (SMBH) that exhibited orbital motion at a distance of about $6 - 11$ gravitational radii from an $\sim 4\times 10^6\, M_{\odot}$ black hole. There are indications of the presence of a large-scale, organized component of the magnetic field at the Galactic center. Electromagnetic effects on the flare dynamics were previously not taken into account despite the relativistic motion of a plasma in magnetic field leading to the charge separation and nonnegligible net charge density in the plasma. Applying various approaches, we find the net charge number density of the flare components of the order of $10^{-3} - 10^{-4}$ cm$^{-3}$, while the particles' total number density is of the order of $10^{6} - 10^{8}$ cm$^{-3}$. However, even such a tiny excess of charged particles in the quasi-neutral plasma can significantly affect the dynamics of flare components, which can then lead to the degeneracy in the measurements of spin of the SMBH. Analyzing the dynamics of recent flares in the case of the rapidly rotating black hole, we also constrain the inclination angle between the magnetic field and spin axis to $α< 50^{\circ}$, as for larger angles, the motion of the hot spot is strongly chaotic.

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arXiv2020

R-L Relation in Realistic FRADO Model

In Failed Radiatively Accelerated Dusty Outflow (FRADO) model which provides the source of material above the accretion disk (AD) as an option to explain the formation mechanism of Broad Line Region (BLR) in AGNs, the BLR inner radius ($\rm{BLR}_{in}$ hereafter) is set by the condition that the dust evaporates immediately upon departure from the AD surface. On the other hand, the location of BLR clouds obtained observationaly via reverberation mapping shows some scaling with the source luminosity, so-called RL relation. We assume $\rm{BLR}_{in}$ to be the location of BLR clouds, then using a realistic expression for the radiation pressure of an AD, and having included the proper values of dust opacity, and shielding effect as well, we report our numerical results on calculation of $\rm{BLR}_{in}$ based on FRADO model. We investigate how it scales with monochromatic luminosity at 5100 angstrom for a grid of blackhole masses and Eddington ratios to compare along with the FRADO analytically predicted RL directly to observational data.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2020

BLR size in Realistic FRADO Model: The role of shielding effect

The effective size of Broad Line Region (BLR), so-called the BLR radius, in galaxies with active galactic nuclei (AGN) scales with the source luminosity. Therefore by determining this location either observationally through reverberation mapping or theoretically, one can use AGNs as an interesting laboratory to test cosmological models. In this article we focus on the theoretical side of BLR based on the Failed Radiatively Accelerated Dusty Outflow (FRADO) model. By simulating the dynamics of matter in BLR through a realistic model of radiation of accretion disk (AD) including the shielding effect, as well as incorporating the proper values of dust opacities, we investigate how the radial extension and geometrical height of the BLR depends on the Eddington ratio [and blackhole mass], and modeling of shielding effect. We show that assuming a range of Eddington ratios and shielding we are able to explain the measured time-delays in a sample of reverberation-measured AGNs.

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arXiv2019

Quasar Main Sequence: a line or a plane?

A quasar main sequence is widely believed to reveal itself through objects represented in a plane spanned by two parameters: the full-width at half-maximum (FWHM) of H$β$, and the ratio of Fe II to H$β$ equivalent width. This sequence is related to the application to quasar properties of principal component analysis (PCA), which reveals that the main axis of variance (Eigenvector 1) is co-directional with a strong anti-correlation between these two measurements. We aim to determine whether the dominance of two Eigenvectors, originally discovered over two decades ago, is replicated in newer high-quality quasar samples. If so, we aim to test if a non-linear approach is an improvement on the linear PCA method by finding two new parameters which represent a more accurate projection of the variances than the Eigenvectors recovered from PCA. We selected quasars from the XSHOOTER archive and a major quasar catalog to build high quality samples. These samples were tested with PCA. We find that the new high-quality samples do indeed have two dominant Eigenvectors as originally discovered. Subsequently we find that the fitting of a non-linear decay curve to the main sequence allows a new plane spanned by linearly independent axes to be defined, based on the distance along the decay curve as the main axis and the distance of each quasar datapoint from the curve as the secondary axis respectively. The results show that it is possible to define a new plane based on the quasar main sequence which accounts for the majority of the variance. The most likely candidate for the new main axis is an anti-correlation with black hole mass. In this case the secondary axis likely represents luminosity. However, given the results of previous studies, inclination angle likely plays a role in H$β$ width.

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arXiv2019

Modelling broad emission lines in active galactic nuclei

Broad Emission Lines are the most characteristic features of Active Galaxies, but the mechanism of creating a medium able to emit these intense lines is not quite clear. Observations clearly indicate that the motion of the material is predominantly Keplerian, with traces of inflow and clear signatures of outflow, but this still does not point out whether the lines partially come from the disk surface, or exclusively from the circumnuclear material, and whether this material originates from the disk as a wind, or comes, at least partially, from outside. I review the basic scenarios for the formation of the Broad Line Region (BLR), and the recent progress in modelling the physical conditions in the emitting medium. The current state is the the outer radius of the BLR is fixed by the dust sublimation temperature in the medium exposed to the irradiation from the central source, the inner radius is likely fixed by the dust sublimation temperature in the atmosphere of the non-illuminated accretion disk, and the local cloud density is a universal number fixed by the radiation pressure confinement. The time-dependent aspects of the BLR formation, however, still wait for serious modelling effort matching the quality of the observational data.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2019

Slim accretion disks: theory and observational consequences

Slim accretion disks idea emerged over 30 years ago as an answer to several unsolved problems. Since that time there was a tremendous increase in the amount of observational data where this model applies. However, many critical issues on the theoretical side remain unsolved, as they are inherently difficult. This is the issue of the disk stability under the radiation pressure, the role of the magnetic field in the energy transfer inside the disk and the formation (or not) of a warm corona, and outflows. Thus the progress has to be done both through further developments of the model and through the careful comparison to the observational data.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2019

Constraining the charge of the Galactic centre black hole

In this contribution, we summarize our results concerning the observational constraints on the electric charge associated with the Galactic centre black hole - Sgr A*. According to the no-hair theorem, every astrophysical black hole, including supermassive black holes, is characterized by at most three classical, externally observable parameters - mass, spin, and the electric charge. While the mass and the spin have routinely been measured by several methods, the electric charge has usually been neglected, based on the arguments of efficient discharge in astrophysical plasmas. From a theoretical point of view, the black hole can attain charge due to the mass imbalance between protons and electrons in fully ionized plasmas, which yields about $\sim 10^8\,{\rm C}$ for Sgr A*. The second, induction mechanism concerns rotating Kerr black holes embedded in an external magnetic field, which leads to electric field generation due to the twisting of magnetic field lines. This electric field can be associated with the induced Wald charge, for which we calculate the upper limit of $\sim 10^{15}\,{\rm C}$ for Sgr A*. Although the maximum theoretical limit of $\sim 10^{15}\,{\rm C}$ is still 12 orders of magnitude smaller than the extremal charge of Sgr A*, we analyse a few astrophysical consequences of having a black hole with a small charge in the Galactic centre. Two most prominent ones are the effect on the X-ray bremsstrahlung profile and the effect on the position of the innermost stable circular orbit.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2019

Accretion in Active Galactic Nuclei

We review the current status of the understanding how the accretion onto the central black hole proceeds in Active Galaxies. Standard accretion disk is a key element in all relatively bright active galaxies like Seyferts and quasars, although it is not present in very low luminosity sources, like Sgr A*. However, the standard disk does not explain the broad band spectrum, so the disk has to be supplemented with a number of additional components, and our deeper understanding of these components is still far from being complete. These additional elements are: compact hard X-ray corona, inner hot flow, warm corona, disk wind and the Broad Line Region, and finally dusty/molecular torus. All these elements seem to be needed in various proportions, depending predominantly on the Eddington ratio of a given source. These elements also interact with each other which is not yet fully taken into account.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2019

Time delay measurement of Mg II line in CTS C30.10 with SALT

We report 6 yr monitoring of a distant bright quasar CTS C30.10 (z = 0.90052) with the Southern African Large Telescope (SALT). We measured the rest-frame time-lag of $562\pm 2$ days between the continuum variations and the response of the Mg II emission line, using the Javelin approach. More conservative approach, based on five different methods, imply the time delay of $564^{+109}_{-71}$ days. This time delay, combined with other available measurements of Mg II line delay, mostly for lower redshift sources, shows that the Mg II line reverberation implies a radius-luminosity relation very similar to the one based on a more frequently studied H$β$ line.

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