E. Quataert et al., Possible evidence for truncated thin disks in the low-luminosity active galactic nuclei M81 and NGC 4579, ASTROPHYS J, 525(2), 1999, pp. L89-L92
M81 and NGC 4579 are two of the few low-luminosity active galactic nuclei t
hat have an estimated mass for the central black hole, detected hard X-ray
emission, and detected optical/UV emission. In contrast to the canonical "b
ig blue bump," both have optical/UV spectra that decrease with increasing f
requency in a vL(v) plot. Barring significant reddening by dust and/or larg
e errors in the black hole mass estimates, the optical/UV spectra of these
systems require that the inner edge of a geometrically thin, optically thic
k accretion disk lies at similar to 100 Schwarzschild radii. The observed X
-ray radiation can be explained by an optically thin, two-temperature, adve
ction-dominated accretion flow at smaller radii.