Profile of and Variability in Double-Peaked Balmer Emission Lines in 3C 445

Abstract

Abstract We extract the multiple-epoch Balmer-line profiles of the heavily obscured quasar 3C 445 from the spectral curves in the literature, and analyze the emission-line profiles of the Hα and Hβ lines and the profile variability in the Hα line in the large time interval of more than three decades. The profile comparison between the Hα and Hβ lines shows that both Balmer lines share the profile with the same form, while the blue system of the Hβ line is seriously weaker than that of the Hα line. Moreover, the blue system of the Hα line suddenly disappeared completely and then did not appear again, however the other two components did not exhibit significant variation in the velocity or the amplitude. These findings suggest that the blue system of 3C 445, as with SDSS J153636.22+044127.0 and its analogs, is probable the result of the shock-heated outflowing gases. The observation angle of almost edge-on which the previous studies suggested can easily produce the high-speed and high-temperature shock in the collision between the massive outflow and the inner surface of the dusty torus.