Dm. Crenshaw et Sb. Kraemer, Intrinsic absorption lines in the Seyfert 1 galaxy NGC 5548: Ultraviolet echelle spectra from the space telescope imaging spectrograph, ASTROPHYS J, 521(2), 1999, pp. 572-576
We present the first observations of a Seyfert galaxy with the echelle grat
ings on the Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph (STIS), which provide high
-resolution (lambda/Delta lambda approximate to 40,000) coverage of the int
rinsic UV absorption lines in NGC 5548. We confirm the presence of five kin
ematic components of absorption in Ly alpha, C IV, and N V at radial veloci
ties of -160 to -1060 km s(-1) with respect to the emission lines, and find
an additional Lya component near the systemic velocity, which probably ari
ses in the interstellar medium of the host galaxy. Compared to Goddard High
-Resolution Spectrograph spectra of the N V and C IV absorption obtained si
milar to 2 yr earlier, the kinematic components have not changed in radial
velocity, but the ionic column densities for two components have decreased.
We attribute these variations to changes in the total column of gas, but f
or one component we cannot rule out changes in the ionization of the gas. W
e have calculated photoionization models to match the UV column densities f
rom each of the five components associated with the nucleus. In four of the
components, the ionization parameters (U = 0.15-0.80) and effective hydrog
en column densities (N-eff = 6.0 x 10(18) to 2.8 x 10(20) cm(-2)) cannot pr
oduce the O VII and O VIII absorption edges seen in the X-ray-warm absorber
. The remaining component is more highly ionized (U = 2.4, N-eff = 6.5 x 10
(21) cm(-2)), and our model matches the previously observed X-ray absorptio
n columns. This component is therefore likely to be responsible for the X-r
ay-warm absorber. It also has the highest outflow velocity and showed the l
argest variations in column density.