The Structure of the Broad-line Region in Active Galactic Nuclei. II. Dynamical Modeling of Data From the AGN10 Reverberation Mapping Campaign

Abstract

We present inferences on the geometry and kinematics of the broad-H β  line-emitting region in four active galactic nuclei monitored as part of the fall 2010 reverberation mapping campaign at MDM Observatory led by the Ohio State University. From modeling the continuum variability and response in emission-line profile changes as a function of time, we infer the geometry of the H β -emitting broad-line regions (BLRs) to be thick disks that are close to face-on to the observer with kinematics that are well-described by either elliptical orbits or inflowing gas. We measure the black hole mass to be for Mrk 335,  for Mrk 1501,  for 3C 120, and  for PG 2130+099. These black hole mass measurements are not based on a particular assumed value of the virial scale factor f , allowing us to compute individual f factors for each target. Our results nearly double the number of targets that have been modeled in this manner, and we investigate the properties of a more diverse sample by including previously modeled objects. We measure an average scale factor in the entire sample of when the line dispersion is used to characterize the line width, which is consistent with the values derived using the normalization of the – σ relation. We find that the scale factor f for individual targets is likely correlated with the black hole mass, inclination angle, and opening angle of the BLR, but we do not find any correlation with the luminosity.