We study the kinematics and excitation mechanisms of H 2 and [Fe II] lines in a sample of 67 emission-line galaxies with Infrared Telescope Facility SpeX near-infrared (0.8-2.4 μm) spectroscopy together with new photoionization models. H 2 emission lines are systematically narrower than narrow-line region lines, suggesting that the two are, very likely, kinematically disconnected. The new models and emission-line ratios show that the thermal excitation plays an important role not only in active galactic nuclei but also in star-forming galaxies. The importance of the thermal excitation in star-forming galaxies may be associated with the presence of supernova remnants close to the region emitting H 2 lines. This hypothesis is further supported by the similarity between vibrational and rotational temperatures of H 2 . We confirm that the diagram involving the line ratios H 2 2.121 μm/Brγ and [Fe II] 1.257 μm/Paβ is an efficient tool for separating emission-line objects according to their dominant types of activities. We suggest new limits to the line ratios in order to discriminate between the different types of nuclear activities.

We model the ultraviolet spectra of the Seyfert 1 galaxy NGC 5548 obtained with the Hubble Space Telescope during the 6 month reverberation mapping campaign in 2014. Our model of the emission from NGC 5548 corrects for overlying absorption and deblends the individual emission lines. Using the modeled spectra, we measure the response to continuum variations for the deblended and absorption-corrected individual broad emission lines, the velocity-dependent profiles of Lyα and C iv, and the narrow and broad intrinsic absorption features. We find that the time lags for the corrected emission lines are comparable to those for the original data. The velocity-binned lag profiles of Lyα and C iv have a double-peaked structure indicative of a truncated Keplerian disk. The narrow absorption lines show a delayed response to continuum variations corresponding to recombination in gas with a density of ∼105 cm−3. The high-ionization narrow absorption lines decorrelate from continuum variations during the same period as the broad emission lines. Analyzing the response of these absorption lines during this period shows that the ionizing flux is diminished in strength relative to the far-ultraviolet continuum. The broad absorption lines associated with the X-ray obscurer decrease in strength during this same time interval. The appearance of X-ray obscuration in ∼2012 corresponds with an increase in the luminosity of NGC 5548 following an extended low state. We suggest that the obscurer is a disk wind triggered by the brightening of NGC 5548 following the decrease in size of the broad-line region during the preceding low-luminosity state.

We have built a sample of 74 radio-selected broad absorption line quasars from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Data Release 5 (SDSS DR5) and Faint Images of the Radio Sky at Twenty Centimeters (FIRST), along with a well matched sample of 74 unabsorbed "normal" quasars. The sources have been observed with the NRAO Very Large Array/Expanded Very Large Array at 8.4 GHz (3.5 cm) and 4.9 GHz (6 cm). All sources have additional archival 1.4 GHz (21 cm) data. Here we present the measured radio fluxes, spectral indices, and our initial findings. The percentage of BAL quasars with extended structure (on the order of 10%) in our sample is similar to previous studies at similar resolutions, suggesting that BAL quasars are indeed generally compact, at least at arsecond resolutions. The majority of sources do not appear to be significantly variable at 1.4 GHz, but we find two previously unidentified BAL quasars that may fit into the "polar" BAL category. We also identify a significant favoring of steeper radio spectral index for BAL compared to non-BAL quasars. This difference is apparent for several different measures of the spectral index, and persists even when restricting the samples to only include compact objects. Because radio spectral index is a statistical indicator of viewing angle for large samples, these results suggest that BAL quasars do have a range of orientations but are more often observed farther from the jet axis compared to normal quasars.

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In this contribution, we achieve the primary goal of the AGN STORM campaign by recovering velocity-delay maps, which are the key to understanding the geometry, ionization structure, and kinematics of the broadline region, for the prominent broad emission lines, Lyα, C IV, He II and Hβ, in the spectrum of NGC 5548. The emission-line responses inhabit the interior of a virial envelope. The velocity-delay maps reveal stratified ionization structure. The He II response inside 5-10 light days has a broad single-peaked velocity profile. The Lyα, C IV, and Hβ responses peak inside 10 light days, extend outside 20 light days, and exhibit a velocity profile with two peaks separated by 5000 km s −1 in the 10-20 light-day delay range. The velocity-delay maps show that the "M"-shaped lag vs. velocity structure found in previous cross-correlation analysis is the signature of a Keplerian disk with a well-defined outer edge at R/c = 20 light days. The outer wings of the "M" arise from the virial envelope, and the "U"-shaped interior of the "M" is the lower half of an ellipse in the velocity-delay plane. The far side response is weaker than that from the near side, so that we see clearly the lower half, but only faintly the upper half, of the velocity-delay ellipse. The delay τ = (R/c)(1 − sin i) = 5 light days at line center is from the near edge of the inclined ring, giving the inclination i = 45 • . A black hole mass of M BH = 7 × 10 7 M is consistent with the velocity-delay structure. A 'barber pole' pattern with stripes moving from red to blue across the C IV and possibly Lyα line profiles suggests the presence of azimuthal structure rotating around the far side of the broad-line region and may be the signature of precession or orbital motion of structures in the inner disk. Further HST observations of NGC 5548 over a multi-year timespan but with a cadence of perhaps 10 days rather than 1 day could help to clarify the nature of this new AGN phenomenon.