Spectropolarimetry and the Geometry of Type 1 Seyfert Nuclei

Abstract

We describe the results of a detailed study of the polarization properties of the broad H-alpha emission line in Type 1 Seyfert nuclei. Our analysis of these data points to a model in which the broad Balmer lines are emitted by a rotating disk, and are scattered in two main regions - one co-planar with the disk and within the circum-nuclear torus, the other, the polar scattering region, outside the torus but aligned with its axis. The relative importance of the two sources of polarized light is largely determined by the inclination of the system axis to the line-of-sight.