Joint analysis of the iron emission in the optical and near-infrared spectrum of I Zw 1

Denimara Dias dos Santos, Swayamtrupta Panda, Alberto Rodríguez-Ardila, Murilo Marinello

Published 2024-01-05Version 1

Constraining the physical conditions of the ionized media in the vicinity of an active supermassive black hole (SMBH) is crucial to understanding how these complex systems operate. Metal emission lines such as iron (Fe) are useful probes to trace the gaseous media's abundance, activity, and evolution in these accreting systems. Among these, the FeII emission has been the focus of many prior studies to investigate the energetics, kinematics, and composition of the broad-emission line region (BELR) from where these emission lines are produced. In this work, we present the first simultaneous FeII modeling in the optical and near-infrared (NIR) regions. We use CLOUDY photoionization code to simulate both spectral regions in the wavelength interval 4000-12000 Angstroms. We compare our model predictions with the observed line flux ratios for IZw1 - a prototypical strong FeII-emitting active galactic nuclei (AGN). This allows putting constraints on the BLR cloud density and metal content that is optimal for the production of the FeII emission, which can be extended to IZw1-like sources, by examining a broad parameter space. We demonstrate the salient and distinct features of the FeII pseudo-continuum in the optical and NIR, giving special attention to the effect of micro-turbulence on the intensity of the FeII emission.