Spectropolarimetry of Compton-thin Seyfert 2 galaxies

Abstract

We present new spectropolarimetry of a sample of nearby Compton-thin Seyfert 2 galaxies (i.e. those with NH < 1023 cm -2). We show that the detection rate of scattered broad Ha in this sample is considerably higher than in Seyfert 2 galaxies as a whole. Our results also show that in this low obscuration set it is possible to find scattered broad Hα even when the global properties of the galaxy are largely dominated by the host galaxy and not the active galactic nucleus. These results argue against the existence of a population of 'pure' Seyfert 2 galaxies.