BLR Modeling: A New Approach

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We present a new scheme for modeling the broad line region in active galactic nuclei. It involves photoionization calculations applied to a number of variable emission lines at all times. We demonstrate how fitting all lines simultaneously provide strong constraints on several of the more important parameters, such as the density and column density, and the radial distribution of the emission line clouds. When applying the model to the Seyfert 1 galaxy NGC 5548, we are able to reconstruct the light curves of four emission-lines, in time and in absolute flux. We argue that the Balmer line light curves, and possibly also the MgII light curve, do not fit this scheme because of the limitations of present-day photoionization codes. We rule out models where the particle density scales as r⁻² and favor models where it scales as r⁻⁽¹⁻¹.⁵⁾. We can place lower limits on the column density at a distance of 10 ld, of Ncol(r=10)>10²² cm⁻², and limit the particle density to be in the range of 10¹¹>N(r=10)>10⁹.⁵ cm⁻³.