Emission Line Properties of Seyfert Galaxies in the 12 Micron Sample


Abstract in English

We present spectroscopy of emission lines for 81 Seyfert 1 and 104 Seyfert 2 galaxies in the IRAS 12$mu$m galaxy sample. We analyzed the emission-line luminosity functions, reddening, and other gas diagnostics. The narrow-line regions (NLR) of Sy1 and 2 galaxies do not significantly differ from each other in most of these diagnostics. Combining the H$alpha$/H$beta$ ratio with a new reddening indicator-the [SII]6720/[OII]3727 ratio, we find the average $E(B-V)=0.49pm0.35$ for Sy1s and $0.52pm0.26$ for Sy2s. The NLR of Sy1 galaxies has only marginally higher ionization than the Sy2s. Our sample includes 22 Sy1.9s and 1.8s. In their narrow lines, these low-luminosity Seyferts are more similar to the Sy2s than the Sy1s. We construct a BPT diagram, and include the Sy1.8s and 1.9s. They overlap the region occupied by the Sy2s. The C IV equivalent width correlates more strongly with [O III]/H$beta$ than with UV luminosity. The Sy1 and Sy2 luminosity functions of [OII]3727 and [OIII]5007 are indistinguishable. Unlike the LFs of Seyfert galaxies measured by SDSS, ours are nearly flat at low L. The larger number of faint Sloan AGN is attributable to their inclusion of weakly emitting LINERs and H II+AGN composite nuclei, which do not meet our classification criteria for Seyferts. An Appendix investigates which emission line luminosities provide the most reliable measures of the total non-stellar luminosity. The hard X-ray or near-ultraviolet continuum luminosity can be crudely predicted from either the [O III]5007 luminosity, or the combination of [O III]+H$beta$, or [N II]+H$alpha$ lines, with a scatter of $pm,4$ times for the Sy1s and $pm,10$ times for the Sy2s. The latter two hybrid (NLR+BLR) indicators have the advantage of predicting the same HX luminosity independent of Seyfert type.

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