An increasing number of Active Galactic Nuclei (AGNs) exhibit broad, doublepeaked Balmer emission lines,which represent some of the best evidence for the existence of relatively large-scale accretion disks in AGNs. A set of 20 double-peaked emitters have been monitored for nearly a decade in order to observe long-term variations in the profiles of the double-peaked Balmer lines. Variations generally occur on timescales of years, and are attributed to physical changes in the accretion disk. Here we characterize the variability of a subset of seven double-peaked emitters in a model independent way. We find that variability is caused primarily by the presence of one or more discrete "lumps" of excess emission; over a timescale of a year (and sometimes less) these lumps change in amplitude and shape, but the projected velocity of these lumps changes over much longer timescales (several years). We also find that all of the objects exhibit red peaks that are stronger than the blue peak at some epochs and/or blueshifts in the overall profile, contrary to the expectations for a simple, circular accretion disk model, thus emphasizing the need for asymmetries in the accretion disk. Comparisons with two simple models, an elliptical accretion disk and a circular disk with a spiral arm, are unable to reproduce all aspects of the observed variability, although both account for some of the observed behaviors. Three of the seven objects have robust estimates of the black hole masses. For these objects the observed variability timescale is consistent with the expected precession timescale for a spiral arm, but incompatible with that of -2an elliptical accretion disk. We suggest that with the simple modification of allowing the spiral arm to be fragmented, many of the observed variability patterns could be reproduced.

The Swift Burst Alert Telescope (BAT) survey of Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN) is providing an unprecedented view of local AGNs (< z >≈ 0.03) and their host galaxy properties. In this paper, we present an analysis of the optical spectra of a sample of 64 AGNs from the 9-month survey, detected solely based on their 14-195 keV flux. Our analysis includes both archived spectra from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey and our own observations from the 2.1-m Kitt Peak National Observatory telescope. Among our results, we include line ratio classifications utilizing standard emission line diagnostic plots, [O III] 5007Å luminosities, and Hβ derived black hole masses. As in our Xray study, we find the type 2 sources to be less luminous (in [O III] 5007Å and 14-195 keV luminosities) with lower accretion rates than the type 1 sources. We find that the optically classified LINERs, H II/composite galaxies, and ambiguous sources have the lowest luminosities, while both broad line and narrow line Seyferts have similar luminosities. From a comparison of the hard X-ray (14-195 keV) and [O III] luminosities, we find that both the observed and extinction-corrected [O III] luminosities are weakly correlated with X-ray luminosity. In a study of the host galaxy properties from both continuum fits and measurements of the stellar absorption indices, we find that the hosts of the narrow line sources have properties consistent with late type galaxies.

We present XMM-Newton and Suzaku observations of the Broad-Line Radio Galaxy (BLRG) 3C 390.3 acquired in October 2004 and December 2006, respec-tively. An archival Swift BAT spectrum from the 9 month survey is also analyzed, as well as an optical spectrum simultaneous to XMM-Newton. At soft X-rays, no absorption features are detected in the RGS spectrum of 3C 390.3; a narrow emission line is found at 0.564 keV, most likely originating in the Narrow Line Region. Both the EPIC and XIS datasets confirm the presence of an Fe Kα emission line at 6.4 keV with EW=40 eV. The Fe Kα line has a width FWHM ∼ 8,800 km/s, consistent within a factor two with the width of the double-peaked Hα line, suggesting an origin from the Broad Line Region. The data show for the first time a weak, broad bump extending from 5 to 7 keV. When fitted with a Gaussian, its centroid energy is 6.6 keV in the source's rest-frame with FWHM of 43,000 km/s and EW of 50 eV; its most likely interpretation is emission from He-like Fe (Fe XXV), suggesting the presence of an ionized medium in the inner regions of 3C 390.3. The broad-band 0.5-100 keV continuum is well described by a single power law with photon index Γ = 1.6 and cutoff energy 157 keV, plus cold reflection with strength R = 0.5. In addition, ionized reflection is required to account for the 6.6 keV bump in the broad-band continuum, yielding an ionization parameter ξ ∼ 2700 ergs cm s −1 ; the inner radius of the ionized reflector is constrained to be larger than 20r G , although this result depends on the assumed emissivity profile of the disk. If true, we argue that the lack of broad Fe K emission from within 20r G indicates that the innermost regions of the disk in 3C 390.3 are obscured and/or poorly illuminated. While the SED of 3C 390.3 is generally dominated by accretion-related continuum, during accretion low states the jet can significantly contribute in the optical to X-ray bands via synchrotron self-Compton emission. The Compton component is expected to extend to and peak at GeV gamma-rays where it will be detected with the Fermi Gamma-Ray Space Telescope during its first few years of operation.

We report on the results from a Chandra ACIS observation of the young, compact, supernova remnant N103B. The unprecedented spatial resolution of Chandra reveals sub-arcsecond structure, both in the brightness and in spectral variations. Underlying these small-scale variations is a surprisingly simple radial structure in the equivalent widths of the strong Si and S emission lines. We investigate these radial variations through spatially resolved spectroscopy using a plane-parallel, non-equilibrium ionization model with multiple components. The majority of the emission arises from components with a temperature of 1 keV: a fully ionized hydrogen component; a high ionization timescale (n e t> 10 12 s cm −3 ) component containing Si, S, Ar, Ca, and Fe; and a low ionization timescale (n e t∼10 11 s cm −3 ) O, Ne, and Mg component. To reproduce the strong Fe Kα line, it is necessary to include additional Fe in a hot (> 2 keV), low ionization (n e t∼10 10.8 s cm −3 ) component. This hot Fe may be in the form of hot Fe bubbles, formed in the radioactive decay of clumps of 56 Ni. We find no radial variation in the ionization timescales or temperatures of the various components. Rather, the Si and S equivalent widths increase at large radii because these lines, as well as those of Ar and Ca, are formed in a shell occupying the outer half of the remnant. A shell of hot Fe is located interior to this, but there is a large region of overlap between these two shells. In the inner 30% of the remnant, there is a core of cooler, 1 keV Fe. We find that the distribution of the ejecta and the yields of the intermediate mass species are consistent with model prediction for Type Ia events.