Spectrophotometric monitoring of high luminosity active galactic nuceli. I - The methods and data

Perez, Enrique; Penston, M. V.; Moles, M.
Bibliographical reference

Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society (ISSN 0035-8711), vol. 239, July 1, 1989, p. 55-90.

Advertised on:
7
1989
Number of authors
3
IAC number of authors
1
Citations
23
Refereed citations
21
Description
The 2.5-m Isaac Newton telescope has been used in a spectrophotometric monitoring program of high-luminosity AGN. The data acquisition and analysis techniques are first discussed. A comparison of the L-alpha, C IV, and C III profiles reveals that the profiles of different lines in a single object are not always the same as each other. An analysis of the first results of the program shows that significant emission line variations occur in high-luminosity high-redshift objects on time scales much shorter than those expected from photoionization models. These shorter time scales may be explained by the optical and UV continuum being beamed toward the observer, leading to an anisotropic broad-line region and a selection effect in favor of cases in which the axis of this anisotropy is close to the line-of-sight.