| |
 |
| Paper: |
Rayleigh Scattered Lyα in Active Galactic Nuclei |
| Volume: |
343, Astronomical Polarimetry: Current Status and Future Directions |
| Page: |
441 |
| Authors: |
Lee, H.-W. |
| Abstract: |
In the presence of high column neutral hydrogen, the broad Lyα emission line in active galactic nuclei can be Rayleigh scattered and hence polarized. Such neutral components may exist in the shaded parts of the accretion disk or may be found in the molecular torus that hide the broad line region in type 2 active galactic nuclei. The width of the polarized flux will be determined by the neutral column density and the kinematics of the emission region. Depending on the anisotropy of the radiation field in the broad emission line region and relative geometry with respect to the accretion disk, a large range of degree of polarization up to 5 percent is obtained. It is argued that the accretion disk reflection, which gives the polarization perpendicular to the disk normal axis, dominantly contributes to the polarized broad Lyα flux. Our results are applied to the polarized Lyα of the radio quiet quasar PG1630+377. |
|
|
|
|
|
