Evidence for an InterMediate Line Region in AGN's Inner Torus Region and Its Evolution from Narrow to Broad Line Seyfert I Galaxies

摘要

We have decomposed the broad Ha, Hβ and Hγ lines of 90 Active Galactic Nuclei (AGNs) into a superposition of a very broad and an intermediate Gaussian components (VBGC and IMGC) and discovered that the two Gaussian components evolve with FWHM of the whole emission lines. We suggest that the VBGC and the IMGC are produced in different emission regions, namely, Very Broacl Line Region (VBLR) and Intermediate Line Region (IMLR). The details of the two components of Ha, Hβ and Hγ lines indicate that the radius obtained from the emission line reverberation mapping normally corresponds to the radius of the VBLR, but the radius obtained from the infrared reverberation mapping corresponding to IMLR, i.e., the inner boundary of the dusty torus. The existence of the IMGC may affect the measurement of the black hole mass in AGNs. Therefore, the deviation of NLSls from the M-sigma relation may be explained naturally in this way. The evolution of the two emission line regions may be related to the evolutionary stages of the broad line regions of AGNs from NLSls to BLSls. Other evidences for the existence of the IMLR are also presented.