X-ray Simulations of Polar Gas in Accreting Supermassive Black Holes’

Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN) host Supermassive Black Holes (SMBHs) at their center undergoing accretion of matter from their host galaxy. This process, through the formation of an accretion disk and subsequent radiation field, plays an integral role in the co-evolution of a SMBH and its host galaxy. Thus the detection of AGN and discovery of their properties, such as the mass and spin of the SMBH, the Eddington ratio of the accreting material, and the surrounding gas density, will provide key insights into the evolution of galaxies though cosmic time. Seen as unmistakable signatures of SMBH accretion, high ionization potential spectral lines (known as coronal lines) are one of the most useful tools in the discovery of AGN. In this poster, I will present state-of-the-art Cloudy spectral-synthesis simulations using accretion disk spectral energy distributions considering various SMBH masses, spins, Eddington ratios, ionization parameters, and surrounding gas densities to study for what SMBH properties coronal lines in the optical spectra of AGN are the strongest. These simulations also show how we can use their ratios with more easily detectable lines (such as [OIII]λ5007) to constrain SMBH properties using observations. In addition, they show agreement with previous samples of AGN and also highlight the usefulness of the James Webb Space Telescope in the search for AGN.