Baldwin Effect and Additional BLR Component in AGN with Superluminal Jets

Abstract

We study the Baldwin Effect (BE) in 96 core-jet blazars with optical and ultraviolet spectroscopic data from a radio-loud AGN sample obtained from the MOJAVE 2 cm survey. A statistical analysis is presented of the equivalent widths (Wλ) of emission lines Hβ λ4861, Mg II λ2798, C IV λ1549, and continuum luminosities at 5100 Å, 3000 Å, and 1350 Å. The BE is found statistically significant (with confidence level c.l.≥ 95%) in Hβ and C IV emission lines, while for Mg II the trend is slightly less significant (c.l. = 94.5%). The slopes of the BE in the studied samples for Hβ and Mg II are found steeper and with statistically significant difference than those of a comparison radio-quiet sample. We present simulations of the expected BE slopes produced by the contribution to the total continuum of the non-thermal boosted emission from the relativistic jet, and by variability of the continuum components. We find that the slopes of the BE between radio-quiet and radio-loud AGN should not be different, under the assumption that the broad line is only being emitted by the canonical broad line region around the black hole. We discuss that the BE slope steepening in radio AGN is due to a jet associated broad-line region.