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# 1 Introduction

## 1 Introduction

Observation of novel phenomena often paves the way to new physics. For instance, $`\beta `$ decays, parity and flavor violation required the existence of a new force, the weak interactions. At present, it is often thought that $`CP`$-violation could signal new physics beyond the standard model. Although the latter can indeed account for the observed effects 111a notable exception is the baryon asymmetry in the universe (even $`ϵ^{}/ϵ`$ may be described by the standard model) its predictions are not well tested (compared to physics at LEP) and therefore a comprehensive study of $`CP`$-violation experiments is important. As sketched in figure 1, $`CP`$-violation manifests itself in many areas; only a comparison between them can determine the correct description. In the standard model, all $`CP`$-violation resides in the CKM matrix 222I do not discuss the so-called $`\theta `$ term which describes the couplings of the W-bosons to the quarks of different charges. Therefore all appreciable $`CP`$-violation occurs within flavor physics. Thus, one obvious strategy to search for new forces and particles would be to look for non-zero $`CP`$-violating effects where no flavour changes are involved, such as in electric dipole moments or asymmetries in nuclear reactions. Unfortunately, the effects of new physics are judged to be quite small (apart from the dipole moments). Therefore more chance is given to the flavor sector instead, that is the physics of Kaons and mostly B-mesons. For a recent extensive review of $`CP`$-violation, see ref. ().

The unitarity of the CKM matrix

$$V=\left(\begin{array}{ccc}V_{ud}& V_{us}& V_{ub}\\ V_{cd}& V_{cs}& V_{cb}\\ V_{td}& V_{ts}& V_{tb}\end{array}\right)$$
(1)
implies among others the triangle relation

$$V_{ud}V_{ub}^{}+V_{cd}V_{cb}^{}+V_{td}V_{tb}^{}=0$$
(2)
which relates observable products of matrix elements and gives stringent tests of the validity of the standard model. Using the Wolfenstein parametrization and scaling as usual the bottom side to one, we can write for the other sides of the scaled triangle

$$R_b=\frac{1}{A\lambda ^3}V_{ud}V_{ub}^{}=\overline{\varrho }+i\overline{\eta },R_t=\frac{1}{A\lambda ^3}V_{td}V_{tb}^{}=1(\overline{\varrho }+i\overline{\eta }).$$
(3)
Here, following ref. , the quantities

$$\overline{\varrho }=\varrho (1\frac{\lambda ^2}{2})\overline{\eta }=\eta (1\frac{\lambda ^2}{2})$$
(4)
are introduced to take into account even higher powers of $`\lambda `$.

An elaborate analysis of superallowed $`\beta `$ decay, semileptonic Kaon and $`D`$-meson decays and decays of $`B`$ mesons into charmed and charmless final states yields

$$\begin{array}{cc}V_{ud}=0.9736\pm 0.001& V_{cs}=1.010\pm 0.16\\ V_{us}=0.2205\pm 0.0018& V_{cd}=0.224\pm 0.016\\ V_{ub}=0.04\pm 0.002& V_{cb}=0.0036\pm 0.006\end{array}$$
(5)
These are (apart from corrections) all tree-level processes and therefore thought to be governed by the standard model 333of course, the small $`bu`$ transition could be due to new physics. They are however not sufficient to check unitarity (unless very precise data from $`t`$ decays would be available, or if the sum of the squares would be significantly away from $`1`$).

Further input comes from loop-induced observables. They can be calculated within perturbation theory and input from hadronic physics. While the former are rather reliable and usually give results accurate to 10 percent or so, the latter are generally difficult to estimate. One usually considers the Kaon-mixing quantity $`ϵ_K`$, the mass difference of the $`B`$ and the $`\overline{B}`$ mesons (and also of the $`B_s`$ and $`\overline{B}_s`$ mesons). This analysis has resulted in the range of values for the three angles $`\alpha `$, $`\beta `$ and $`\gamma `$ of the unitary triangle and its sides. The hadronic uncertainties are summarized in  and are reflected by

$$|R_b|=0.39\pm 0.07|R_t|=0.98+0.040.22$$
(6)
and by

$$(\mathrm{sin}2\beta )_{\mathrm{SM}}=0.75\pm 0.20.$$
(7)
The new results of last summer and of the beginning of this year concern the angle $`\beta `$. It was found that the coefficient $`a`$ of $`sin(\mathrm{\Delta }M_{B_d})`$ in the asymmetry for $`BJ/\mathrm{\Psi }K_S`$ is

$`a=0.79\pm 0.4(CDF)\text{[8]}`$ (8)
$`a=0.58\pm 0.35(Belle)\text{[9]}`$ (9)
$`a=0.34\pm 0.25(BaBar)\text{[10]}`$ (10)
In the standard model, one has $`a=sin(2\beta )`$; comparing eqs. (7) and (10) we see a surprising inconsistency. Of course, this is a preliminary result, and may disappear as experiments collect more statistics. However, it makes it mandatory to investigate $`CP`$-violation in a (standard) model independent way. Unless $`CP`$-violation within the standard model is grossly wrong, this program essentially amounts to making many measurements and extracting discrepancies between quantities thought to be the same in the standard model. Many authors have discussed this situation; see e.g. .

## 2 A more general framework

New physics may affect every process. Because the standard model describes the most important weak decays, we will assume that it accounts for semileptonic and tree-level quark decays, at least to the required accuracy. This assumption can be tested, by investigating the consistency of different semileptonic decays, bounds from LEP etc. As an example consider the strengths of the effective Hamiltonians

$`_{eff}=G_F(\overline{c}_L\gamma _\mu b_L)(\overline{s}_L\gamma ^\mu c_L)`$ (11)
$`_{eff}=G_F(\overline{u}_L\gamma _\mu b_L)(\overline{s}_L\gamma ^\mu u_L).`$ (12)
In the standard model, they are proportional to $`\lambda ^2`$ and $`\lambda ^4`$, respectively. On the other hand, a new neutral intermediate boson, say $`Z^{}`$, may exist, coupled to the currents $`(\overline{s}_L\gamma _\mu b_L)`$ and $`(\overline{c}_L\gamma _\mu c_L)`$. If it also couples to quark and lepton pairs, such as $`(\overline{u}_L\gamma _\mu u_L)`$ and $`(\overline{c}_L\gamma _\mu c_L)`$, it would contribute to the above Hamiltonians, to $`B_s`$ mixing, to $`B_sl^+l^{}`$ etc. If the couplings are the same for all these pairs, the effective strength would be the same for the two terms in eqs. (11) and (12). Therefore a new $`Z^{}`$-mediated interaction would induce a deviation from the standard model result that the couplings of the two interactions have a relative strength of $`\lambda ^2`$. Thus detailed studies could in principle also test the first assumption. But of course, there are various experimental and theoretical difficulties to overcome before one will obtain accurate enough results.

From fig. 3 we see that the determination of the angle $`\gamma `$ from tree level processes involves the interference of amplitudes proportional to $`V_{ub}`$ and $`V_{ub}`$ respectively. This is achieved in processes where the two diagrams of fig. 3 contribute. A well known example are the decays $`BDK`$ ; more recently the advantage of $`B_cDD_s`$ was stressed . The idea is the same as in the previous papers on $`BDK`$ : One needs to measure the six amplitudes shown in Fig. 4. However due to the different $`CKM`$ elements, the sides of the triangles in Fig. 3 are now of similar length and an extraction of $`\gamma `$ seems possible with the $`10^{10}`$ or so $`B_c`$-mesons expected at LHC. This method does not suffer from hadronic uncertainties.

The experimental difficulties associated with these decays have lead to other possiblities. The decays $`BK\pi `$ are sensitive to the interference of the tree level diagram (with $`V_{ub}`$) and the penguin diagram. This also yields the angle $`\gamma `$ if the penguin graph has no extra phase. This decay has been discussed by many people .

A third possibility that was investigated are the decays $`B^0D^\pm \pi ^{}`$ . The usual mixing-decay formalism yields for the time dependent asymmetries the coefficients

$`aIm(e^{i(2\varphi _{mix}+\gamma )})const`$ (13)
$`\overline{a}Im(e^{i(2\varphi _{mix}+\gamma )})/const.`$ (14)
where const is an unknown hadronic number. It cancels in the product which then yields the combination

$$2\varphi _{mix}+\gamma .$$
(15)
The $`B\overline{B}`$ mixing angle $`\varphi _{mix}`$ can be determined as usual from the decay $`BJ/\mathrm{\Psi }K_s`$.

The other angles of the triangle cannot be determined independently by a tree level analysis. But we see, that the tree level analysis allows to determine the unitary triangle of the standard model. It yields, in principle, also the unknown side $`R_t`$ and the angle $`\beta `$. Any further independent measurement of these quantities checks the standard model with high accuracy, but it requires loop effects.

## 3 New Physics: Phenomenology

Among the $`CP`$-violating observables, the mixing-decay asymmetry is the cleanest theoretically . It is therefore reasonable to start an investigation of new physics with this quantity. Denoting the coefficient of $`sin(\mathrm{\Delta }mt)`$ by $`a`$, one has in general

$$a_{MF}=Im((\frac{p}{q})_M\frac{a}{\overline{a}}(\frac{p}{q})_F)$$
(16)
where ($`\frac{p}{q}`$) are the mixing parameters and $`a`$, $`\overline{a}`$ the amplitudes for $`MF`$ and $`M\overline{F}`$, respectively.

Setting for the $`B`$-meson mixing element $`M_{12}`$

$$M_{12}=r^2e^{2i\varphi ^{NP}}e^{2i\beta }|M_{12}^{SM}|$$
(17)
to account for a possible new phase and magnitude of the mixing, the asymmetry coefficient is given in the table below:

| $`quarks`$ | $`B_d`$ | $`a`$ | $`B_s`$ | $`a`$ |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| $`bc\overline{c}s`$ | $`\mathrm{\Psi }K_s`$ | $`\beta +\varphi _d^{NP}`$ | $`DD_s`$ | $`\varphi _s^{NP}`$ |
| $`bs\overline{s}s`$ | $`\mathrm{\Phi }K_s`$ | $`\beta +\varphi _d^{NP}+\varphi ^A`$ | $`\mathrm{\Phi }\mathrm{\Phi }`$ | $`\varphi _s^{NP}+\varphi ^A`$ |
| $`bu\overline{u}s`$ | $`\pi \pi `$ |  |  |  |
| $`bc\overline{c}d`$ | $`D^+D^{}`$ |  |  |  |
| $`bu\overline{u}s`$ | $`\pi ^0K_s`$ |  |  |  |
| $`bs\overline{s}s`$ | $`\mathrm{\Phi }\pi `$ |  |  |  |

The phase $`\varphi ^A`$ takes into account a possible new phase in the decay. The entries left out receive possibly sizeable contributions from penguin diagrams and cannot be brought to the simple form. This result tells us that comparing the different asymmetries, we can check the consistency of the standard model and determine the phases of new physics.

New physics will also influence other $`CP`$-violating observables, such as the direct asymmetries of, say, charged B-meson decays. In cases such as $`BK\pi `$, where the asymmetry is small in the standard model new physics may give rise to sizeable asymmetries. Of course, one needs to continue the experimental search for these, but because of the difficulty of calculating direct asymmetries, only quantitative statements are possible.

## 4 New Physics: Analysis

If new physics is associated with a scale $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ much above the weak scale ($`M_W`$), the total Lagrangian density may be written in the form

$$=^{SM}+d_i𝒪_i^{NP}$$
(18)
where the $`O_i`$ are operators of dimension six induced by new physics and their coefficients $`d_i`$ are of order($`1/\mathrm{\Lambda }^2`$). This ’effective’ Lagrangian is not renormalizable, and therefore one usually uses the new operators only at tree level (see a discussion by). The $`CP`$\- violation induced by effective operators $`𝒪_i^NP`$ can in most cases only be seen when they are in loops, because the imaginary part (discontinuity) of the corresponding Feynman graph is responsible for $`CP`$-asymmetry. 444an exception is the electric dipole moment At low energies we then have an effective Hamiltonian

$$=c_i𝒪_i^{SM}+d_i𝒪_i^{NP}.$$
(19)
The amplitudes for a process $`IF`$ and the CP conjugated one $`\overline{I}\overline{F}`$ then are

$$A(IF)=c_j(R_j+iI_j)^{SM}+d_j(R_j+iI_j)^{NP}$$
(20)
where $`R`$ and $`I`$ are the dispersive and absorptive parts of the matrix elements. For the charge-conjugated process we have similarly

$$A(\overline{I}\overline{F})=c_j^{}(R_j+iI_j)^{SM}+d_j^{}(R_j+iI_j)^{NP}$$
(21)
When we calculate the $`CP`$-violating asymmetry $`\alpha (|A(IF)|^2|A(\overline{I}\overline{F})|^2)`$, we obtain in leading order in QCD and in NP

$$\alpha Im(cd^{})(R^{SM}I^{NP}R^{NP}I^{SM}).$$
(22)
$`R^{NP}`$ is a (finite) tree level amplitude, however also the loop $`I^{NP}`$ is finite. Therefore the problems associated with a the non-rnormalizable theory $`d_i𝒪_i^{NP}`$ disappear and exact predictions are indeed possible for the the $`CP`$-violating asymmetry. Therfore, an analysis of the effects of new operators is possible also at for CP-violating asymmetries, and not just at tree level!

## 5 New Physics: Models

Virtually any model beyond the standard one carries new sources for flavour and $`CP`$-violations. It is therefore more economical to look at them in increasing complexity.

The simplest one are the minimal flavour violating ones (MFV) where all sources of flavour violation reside in the CKM matrix. This results in many cases in a simple modification of the coefficients in the usual loop expressions. However, there still is a unitary triangle, but its sizes and angles may change. It was analyzed by Ali and London ; recently Buras and Buras  found a clever lower bound on $`sin(2\beta )`$. The idea is simple. For both $`ϵ`$ and the $`B`$-meson mass difference, the standard model contribution consists mostly of a $`WWtt`$ box diagram; its value might be denoted by $`F_{tt}`$. The $`MFV`$ modify this to

$$F_{tt}=S_0(m_t)(1+f).$$
(23)
Then we can write for $`ϵ_K`$

$$ϵ_K\overline{\eta }\left[(1\overline{\varrho })A^2\eta _2F_{tt}+P_c(\epsilon )\right]A^2\widehat{B}_K$$
(24)
while the $`B`$-meson mass difference yields the relation

$$R_t=1.26\frac{R_0}{A}\frac{1}{\sqrt{F_{tt}}},$$
(25)
where

$$R_0=\sqrt{\frac{(\mathrm{\Delta }M)_d}{0.47/\mathrm{ps}}}\left[\frac{200mev}{F_{B_d}\sqrt{\widehat{B}_d}}\right]\sqrt{\frac{0.55}{\eta _B}}.$$
(26)
With

$$\mathrm{sin}2\beta =\frac{2\overline{\eta }(1\overline{\varrho })}{R_t^2}$$
(27)
one gets

$$\mathrm{sin}2\beta =\frac{1.26}{R_0^2\eta _2}\left[\frac{0.226}{A^2\widehat{B}_K}\overline{\eta }P_c(\epsilon )\right].$$
(28)
Since unitarity implies $`\overline{\eta }R_b`$, there exists a lower bound on $`\mathrm{sin}2\beta `$. A careful numerical analysis implies

$$\mathrm{sin}2\beta 0.42.$$
(29)
The lower bound in fact corresponds to a $`F_{tt}`$ which is three times larger than the standard model value.

Supersymmetry is a attractive candidate for new physics. In general, there are many new $`CP`$-violating phases. Since they can directly affect observables such a the electric dipole moment, it is natural to take them to be small (approximate $`CP`$-violation, ). In this situation, also $`CP`$-violating effects in the $`B`$-system are small. This implies a small angle $`\beta `$. This is in contrast to the standard model, where the flavour structure suppresses CP-violation. The problem with this scheme is that it is hard to get $`ϵ_K`$ right and that $`ϵ^{}/ϵ`$ tends to be to small.

Similarly, models with left-right symmetry tend to have small $`CP`$-violating phases, thus the effects tend to be small also.

## 6 $`CP`$-violation in $`D`$-mesons

In the standard model, $`CP`$-violation is small in the $`D`$-System. This is partly due to the rather large tree-level decay rates and small coupling of the third generation. Therefore one would expect new physics $`CP`$-violation mostly in the mixing (see  for a more detailed discussion). Recent studies of time-dependent decay rates of $`D^0K^+\pi ^{}`$ by the CLEO collaboration  and measurements of the combination of $`D^0K^+K^{}`$ and $`D^0K^{}\pi ^+`$ rates by the FOCUS collaboration  gave first information on the mixing.

As usual, one define the mixing quantities

$$x\frac{m_2m_1}{\mathrm{\Gamma }},y\frac{\mathrm{\Gamma }_2\mathrm{\Gamma }_1}{2\mathrm{\Gamma }}.$$
(30)
CP-violation in the mixing is defined by the angle $`\varphi `$. The experiments find that the quantity $`y\mathrm{cos}\varphi `$ is significantly larger than the expectation in the standard model. The errors being large, this result is not yet significant, but it shows the potential of $`D`$-meson physics.

## 7 $`K`$-Physics

Finally let me mention $`K`$-physics. Of course, efforts continue in calculating $`ϵ^{}/ϵ`$ and to overcome the hadronic difficulties, and there will be substantial progress. However, the rare decays $`K^+\pi ^+\nu \overline{\nu }`$ and $`K^0\pi ^0\nu \overline{\nu }`$ provide a theoretically clean way to measure (in the standard model) $`|V_{td}|`$ and $`ImV_{td}`$ . Clearly, this can be used as a test of the unitary triangle, however the measurement of the neutral decays is not easy and probably many years away.

## 8 Conclusions

The new results on $`\mathrm{sin}2\beta `$ are surprising; they may indicate a failure of the standard model. Several parameters have to be stretched beyond their reasonable values to account for them. One can modify the standard model to accommodate the small value of$`\mathrm{sin}2\beta `$, but it is not clear that these modifications are consistent.

Nevertheless, the result brings back the (old) view, that a (standard) model independent and broad analysis of $`CP`$-violation is required in order to fully understand this phenomenon and the need for new interaction. this implies in particular measurements of many decay channels.

I have sketched strategies to determine the source of $`CP`$-violation for the case that the standard model accounts for tree level processes and given a phenomenological framework to calculate the effects of new operators. Needless to say that all of this will take many years of hard work on both the experimental and the theoretical side and that also less perfect measurements have to be pursued.

Acknowledgments

I thank H. Haber and all speakers for an interesting and exciting meeting. I am grateful to Georgia Hamel and Jacqueline Pizzuti at SCIPP and Ruth McDunn and Terry Anderson at SLAC for their tireless efforts in helping to make RADCOR-2000 a success. I thank my collaborators, expecially G. Colangelo and R. Fleischer.


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# The Variable Diffuse Continuum Emission of Broad Line Clouds

## 1 INTRODUCTION

From the early work of Davidson & Netzer (1979) to the more advanced models of Rees, Netzer, & Ferland (1989), Goad, Gondhalekar, & O’Brien (1993), Kaspi & Netzer (1999) and many others, much attention has been given to the theoretical modeling of the prominent broad emission lines of active galactic nuclei (AGN; including quasars) and their variability in order to understand the lines’ origin and the story of the AGN phenomenon. However, with few exceptions (e.g., Davidson 1976; Wamsteker et al. 1990; Maoz et al. 1993) very little has been said about the diffuse continuum emission from the same emitters of the broad lines. Korista et al. (1995; hereafter K95) presented six high signal-to-noise “continuum window” light curves of NGC 5548 between 1145 Å and 2195 Å (rest frame; their Figure 6), and they noted systematic decreases in the variability amplitude and sharpness of the variations. While they could not measure it directly, K95 suspected these characteristics to be the signature of a wavelength-dependent continuum lag, whose origin was either with the continuum source and/or with contaminating diffuse continuum emission from the broad line region (BLR). If the diffuse continuum emitted by broad line clouds is significant, it will have the following impacts on models for the broad emission line region and the UV-optical continuum emitter: (1) the lag between the emission line variations and those of the local “continuum” may underestimate the characteristic sizes of the line emitting regions, (2) the shape of the underlying nuclear continuum may be misinferred and thus misinterpreted, (3) interband continuum lags may be misinterpreted, (4) the reverberation of the diffuse continuum emitted by the BLR may account for perhaps one-third of the observed effect that the $`\lambda `$1350 – $`\lambda `$5100 continuum becomes bluer as it becomes brighter (even after accounting for non-variable optical starlight), and (5) as in other models of the broad emission line gas, a significant yet unobserved Lyman jump is predicted. Here we investigate the importance of the diffuse continuum to the mean and variable light spectra of AGN using the well-studied AGN NGC 5548 as a case in point.

## 2 DIFFUSE CONTINUUM EMISSION FROM THE BROAD LINE REGION

### 2.1 The Photoionization Grid

We adopted the grid of photoionization computations presented in Korista & Goad (2000; hereafter, Paper I) to model the UV broad line emission from NGC 5548. The reader is directed there for details; here we mention some of the salient features of the grid.

Using Ferland’s spectral synthesis code, Cloudy (v90.04) (Ferland 1997; Ferland et al. 1998) we generated a grid of photoionization models of BEL emitting entities, here assumed to be simple slabs, each of which we assumed has constant gas density and a clear view to the source of ionizing photons. The grid dimensions spanned 7 orders of magnitude in total hydrogen gas number density, $`7\mathrm{log}n_H(\mathrm{cm}^3)14`$, and hydrogen-ionizing photon flux, $`17\mathrm{log}\mathrm{\Phi }_H(\mathrm{cm}^2\mathrm{s}^1)24`$, and stepped in 0.125 decade intervals in each dimension (3,249 separate Cloudy models). We will refer to the plane defined by these two parameters as the density – flux plane. For the present simulations we assumed all clouds have a single total hydrogen column density, $`N_H=10^{23}\mathrm{cm}^2`$. For very low values of the ionization parameter, $`U_H\mathrm{\Phi }_H/n_Hc`$, the cloud computations stopped at an electron temperature of 4000 K rather than at the total hydrogen column density $`10^{23}`$ cm-2. This artifact had little impact upon the results presented here (or in Paper I), since these clouds contributed little to the light of the model BLR. Descriptions of the slightly sub-solar abundances, the incident continuum spectral energy distribution (SED), and the cloud distribution functions in gas density and radius to model the mean UV spectrum of NGC 5548 are given in Paper I.

For the choice of cosmological parameters from Paper I ($`H_\mathrm{o}=75\mathrm{km}\mathrm{s}^1\mathrm{Mpc}^1`$; $`q_\mathrm{o}=0.5`$; $`z=0.0172`$), $`\mathrm{log}\lambda L_{\lambda 1350}43.54`$ ergs s-1 from the mean, dereddened value of $`\lambda F_\lambda (1350)`$ of the 1993 HST campaign. The central continuum SED adopted in Paper I (see also Walter et al. 1994) then finds the mean hydrogen-ionizing luminosity to be $`\mathrm{log}L_{ion}44.26`$ ergs s-1. At this luminosity a $`\mathrm{log}\mathrm{\Phi }_H=20`$ $`\mathrm{cm}^2\mathrm{s}^1`$ corresponds to a distance from the continuum source of $`R12.6(75/H_\mathrm{o})`$ light-days.

### 2.2 The Diffuse Continuous Emission from Broad-Line Clouds

The diffuse continuum emission includes a component of reflected incident continuum (see Korista & Ferland 1998) in addition to true (i.e., thermal) diffuse, non-line emission from the cloud. The ratios of twelve diffuse continuum band fluxes to the incident continuum flux measured at 1215 Å, $`\lambda F_\lambda (d)/\lambda F_{\lambda 1215}(i)`$, spanning the UV-optical spectrum, are plotted in contour in the density – flux plane in Figures 1a,b. Lines of constant ionization parameter run at $`45\mathrm{°}`$ angles from the lower left to the upper right of each panel. In all cases the solid triangle marks the peak ratio. As noted by Rees, Netzer, & Ferland (1989), the high density clouds are efficient emitters of continua.

Across most of the optical-UV spectral region, the diffuse continuum is dominated by hydrogen free-bound emission. The diffuse to incident continuum ratio contours generally run gently downhill diagonally toward the lower left corner, steeply downhill at the highest densities toward low values of $`\mathrm{log}\mathrm{\Phi }_H`$, and steeply downhill toward the upper left corner of each panel. This behavior is explained as follows. The ionization parameter increases toward the upper left of each panel, and the gas becomes highly ionized so that the diffuse emission becomes a combination of weak free-free and electron scattering ($`\tau _{es}(max)0.07`$ for the cloud column density considered here). Toward the lower left corner, the density diminishes along constant ionization parameter, and emission lines at diminishing optical depth cool the gas more efficiently. Toward the lower right corner, the ionization parameter becomes very small and the electron temperature drops significantly, squelching the exponential nature of the free-bound emission. Toward the upper right the lines become thermalized at large optical depth, and continuum processes (especially free-bound) cool the gas more efficiently. While the diffuse continuum emissivity increases toward high gas densities, that which is emitted at ever shorter wavelengths from a bound-free continuum edge becomes ever more sensitive to the electron temperature due to the Boltzmann factor. The temperature is sensitive to the ionization parameter, and so the emissivity becomes ever more dependent upon the ionizing photon flux as well. Compare in Figure 1 the contour locations and orientations of the $`\lambda `$1793 band to those of the $`\lambda `$3644 Balmer jump. Optical depth effects play a similar though much more minor role in governing the diffuse continuum emission efficiencies in the density – flux plane (Figure 1). For example, the optical depth within the Balmer continuum is always larger nearer to the bandhead at any value of the incident photon flux, and the optical depth increases with increasing incident photon flux due to increased excited state populations of hydrogen and larger emission depths. This has the effect of skewing the emission near the bandhead to larger radii (smaller incident photon fluxes), as compared to those wavelengths lying ever shortward of the bandhead.

The band at $`\lambda `$1218 lies near the peak of the Rayleigh scattering albedo feature whose strength and wavelength width are in proportion to the neutral hydrogen column density (see Korista & Ferland 1998). This feature generally dominates the diffuse continuum at this wavelength. This band’s contours of intensity relative to the incident continuum are essentially flat with a value of $``$ 1 (lower-right half of the density – flux plane), since the effective albedo due mainly to Rayleigh scattering is roughly 1 for neutral hydrogen column densities exceeding a few $`\times 10^{20}`$ cm-2. Also the contrast of the Rayleigh scattering feature above the “background” (primarily Thomson scattering) albedo changes in near inverse proportion to the Thomson scattering albedo, that is in turn proportional to $`U_H`$ for a fixed total column density cloud. At sufficiently large ionization parameters, the hydrogen ionization front emerges out the back ends of the clouds and the Rayleigh scattering feature disappears rapidly (upper-left half of the density – flux plane).

In summary, the diffuse continuum $`\lambda F_\lambda (d)`$ for wavelengths longward of Ly$`\alpha `$ is near a minimum at the $`\lambda `$1458 band, while it reaches its maximum at the Balmer jump for gas densities exceeding $`10^{10}`$ cm-3, and at the Rayleigh scattering feature for lower gas densities.

### 2.3 The Observed UV-Optical Spectrum of NGC 5548

We placed the mean HST/FOS spectrum and the mean optical spectrum from the 1993 monitoring campaign on the same scale in $`\lambda F_\lambda `$ as best we could. They are plotted in Figure 2a. The purpose in bringing together these two high quality spectra was to place modest constraints on the strength of the predicted diffuse continuum, as presented below. The optical spectrum is the mean of a subset of the total optical data set that included only those spectra from the KAST spectrograph of the Lick Observatory spanning the duration of the HST portion of the 1993 campaign (K95). We forced the flux ratio $`F_\lambda (1350)/F_\lambda 5100)`$ to match the mean one spanning the HST portion of the 1993 campaign (K95). Finally, the mean HST and optical spectra were dereddened with the parameters adopted from Paper I. Note that the HST aperture ($`4\mathrm{}.3\times 1\mathrm{}.4`$) was significantly smaller than the optical aperture. Thus the additive starlight contribution in the optical spectrum ($``$ 37% at 5100 Å; K95) will be that much larger relative to whatever weak contribution is present in the UV. We made no attempt to correct for the starlight contributions, and starlight likely accounts for the optical spectrum’s slight rise in $`\lambda F_\lambda `$ toward the red for wavelengths longer than 4200 Å, as may be perceived in Figure 2a. Notice the overall flatness of the spectrum in $`\lambda F_\lambda `$. This shape differs somewhat (it’s harder) from the SED we adopted for our photoionization calculations in Paper I and used here.

### 2.4 Model Predictions of the Diffuse Continuum Intensity

Adopting the same fit of the cloud distribution function parameters to match the mean UV line spectrum of the 1993 HST monitoring campaign as described in Paper I, we determined the model BLR’s integrated diffuse continuum emission in 35 wavelength bins, spanning 400 Å to 1.1 µm. In brief, our model-integrated spectra included clouds distributed spherically around the continuum source whose gas densities and distances from the central source of ionizing photons spanned $`8\mathrm{log}n_H(\mathrm{cm}^3)12`$ and 1 – 140 light days (see Paper I for details). We showed in Paper I that this same model was also reasonably successful in reproducing the observed UV broad emission line variability characteristics. The lower solid curve in Figure 2a shows the integrated diffuse continuum emission of the model from Paper I, appropriately scaled relative to the observed UV spectrum. To this end, the sum of the diffuse continuum plus some model for the underlying continuum (discussed below) was forced to pass through the data at 1145 Å, and the ratio of the diffuse continuum to the underlying continuum at 1215 Å then matched the ratio (0.284) predicted by the model presented in Paper I. The diffuse emission declines rapidly shortward of the Rayleigh scattering Ly$`\alpha `$ feature within the exponential tail of the Balmer recombination continuum; just longward of the Lyman jump, the value drops to 0.016 in units of Figure 2a. The most impressive feature is the Balmer continuum. This model predicts $`\lambda L_\lambda (3646)`$/$`L`$(Ly$`\alpha )2.7`$, as integrated over the full BLR. This is large in comparison to “classical” BLR predictions due to the contributions of high-density gas that is efficient in producing continua, but not Ly$`\alpha `$. Averaged over the full UV-optical spectrum, excluding the high-contrast broad emission lines, the diffuse continuum’s contribution to the total UV/optical nuclear light is $``$ 15%.

The shape of the underlying incident continuum is not well constrained. However, in order to directly compare the approximate contribution of the predicted diffuse continuum to the data, we considered two ad hoc underlying continua to add to the diffuse spectrum. Our first choice was an $`F_\nu \nu ^{0.7}`$ ($`\lambda F_\lambda \lambda ^{0.3}`$) power law spectrum (dotted curve in Figure 2a). The UV portion of the observed spectrum is nearly flat, and this choice of power law was the flattest possible without exceeding the data at the Balmer jump, while when combined with the diffuse continuum also going through the data at 1145 Å. This also happened to be the approximate slope of the 0.2 keV – 200 keV spectrum observed by BeppoSax in 1997 (Nicastro et al. 2000), although it is unlikely that these power law continua could be the same. The asterisk icon in Figure 2a indicates the estimated level of the starlight-subtracted nuclear continuum at 5100 Å (Romanishin et al. 1995). Such a flat power law clearly passes well above the expected level at this wavelength. The observed flux at 5100 Å would have to lie some 27% above its plotted position in Figure 2a, in order for the nuclear continuum (underlying plus diffuse) to pass through the asterisk. Even given the uncertainties in the interspectrum normalization and level of starlight contribution, we consider this unlikely. The larger optical aperture admitted relatively more starlight than did the UV aperture, and our choice of interstellar extinction correction was conservative (Paper I). Thus improvements in the UV-optical intercalibration and reddening correction are more likely to push the optical spectrum a bit lower relative to the UV spectrum, than shown in Figure 2a. Next we chose a $`F_\nu \nu ^{1/3}`$ ($`\lambda F_\lambda \lambda ^{4/3}`$) with an appropriate decaying exponential to flatten and make more convex the UV spectrum in $`\lambda F_\lambda `$ (dashed curve in Figure 2a). This is the rough equivalent of a classical accretion disk spectrum. When added to the diffuse continuum spectrum, the sum passes through the data at 1145 Å and very near the expected starlight subtracted flux level at 5100 Å. It also passes just underneath the bulk of the observed UV spectrum, leaving some room for overlapping broad emission line wing emission and any possible weak UV starlight contributions. The mismatch shortward of the Balmer jump may be accounted for by weak starlight and significant overlapping broad Fe II emission. It should be also noted that a spectral feature may appear in the vicinity of the Balmer jump due to the central continuum source (e.g., Hubeny et al. 2000). The mismatch just longward of the Balmer jump may be accounted for by overlapping high order Balmer line series, helium lines, Fe II emission, and some starlight. Despite the better match, however, we don’t place too much confidence in this particular shape of the underlying continuum. In particular, this underlying continuum shape is almost certainly too soft shortward of $``$ 1150 Å, and too steep for wavelengths longer than $``$ 6000 Å or so, and the actual nuclear light probably lies between the dashed and dotted curves for these wavelengths (Figure 2a).

The point of the above exercise was to gain some appreciation for the relative contribution of the diffuse continuum to the total (diffuse $`+`$ underlying) nuclear continuum, as illustrated in Figure 2b. At $`\lambda `$1460 the contribution is about 8%, whereas at $`\lambda `$5100 the contribution is about 20%, and at the Balmer jump it is over 40% of the total nuclear continuum flux. The Rayleigh scattering feature might account for part of the very broad wings of the Ly$`\alpha `$ broad emission line. The emission line profile decomposition of Ly$`\alpha `$, the results of which were presented in K95, included the broadest wings of any of the UV emission lines, part of which may be due to Rayleigh scattering. However, additional data shortward of 1136 Å in the rest frame could prove useful in better constraining the strength of this Rayleigh scattering feature.

It is also apparent from Figures 2a,2b that the contribution from the diffuse continuum would flatten (in $`\lambda F_\lambda `$) an intrinsically “blue” underlying UV/optical continuum. As we discussed above, it is clear that the nuclear continuum rises toward the UV (in $`\lambda F_\lambda `$), after removing the starlight contribution from the spectrum. However, the contribution of the diffuse continuum light emerging from the BLR to the overall nuclear continuum light tends to increase toward longer wavelengths. Summing the diffuse continuum spectrum with the second choice of underlying continuum in Figure 2a changes the spectral power law slope measured between 1350 Å and 5100 Å by 0.12 ($`0.63`$ to $`0.51`$ for $`\lambda F_\lambda \lambda ^\beta `$). This can be important as more sophisticated spectral models of the central continuum source are matched to the observed continua of AGN. In a later section we demonstrate how variability of the diffuse continuum can induce variability in the measured UV/optical “continuum” slope.

In Figure 2c we show the contribution of reflected continuum light to the total (reflected plus thermal) diffuse continuous light emerging from the model BLR. Recently, Korista & Ferland (1998) discussed the UV/optical albedo of broad line clouds. Thomson scattering and Rayleigh scattering, as modified by background continuous opacity sources, predominate through the UV/optical spectrum as sources of reflection. Given the total column density of the model clouds ($`10^{23}`$ cm-2), at most $``$ 7% of the light incident upon a cloud can be scattered via electron scattering. The effective albedo will be diminished by continuous opacities, e.g., near bound-free edges where the thermal diffuse continuous emission is also strongest, and lie near their expected values where such opacities are smallest, e.g., on the longward side of the Balmer jump where the thermal diffuse continuous emission is also weak. We note that the model integrated cloud emission did not include the contributions from nearly transparent clouds of very high ionization parameter ($`U_H30`$); no UV/optical emission lines are emitted by this gas. If these clouds are present with the same distribution functions as adopted for the UV/optical emission line clouds, the diffuse continuum light in Figure 2a could be $``$ 20% higher due to electron scattering of the incident continuum by these highly-ionized clouds, except near the Balmer jump and the Rayleigh scattering feature.

Finally, while our integrated LOC model did not consider the effects of anisotropic emission from the broad line clouds (or other geometrical effects), we plot in Figure 2d the ratio of the inward to total diffuse continuum flux ratio for a slab, as weighted by the adopted model cloud distribution functions in Paper I. Davidson & Netzer (1979), Ferland et al. (1992), and O’Brien, Goad, & Gondhalekhar (1994) discussed the anisotropy of line emission from simple broad line clouds. Any reflection components will be highly anisotropic (inward/total $`1`$), by definition, for simple slab clouds. Figure 2d shows a strong Rayleigh scattering reflection feature, but it also shows enhanced inward emission on the long wavelength side of the Balmer recombination continuum edge. Our model simulations show that the integrated ratio of the inward to total thermal diffuse continuum emission ratio is 0.52 at 3649 Å and 0.57 at 3644 Å; the UV/optical thermal diffuse continua just aren’t all that optically thick and so are emitted nearly isotropically. Thus the primary reason for the significant emission anisotropies shown in Figure 2d is the reflection of the incident continuum via Thomson and Rayleigh scattering. The more anisotropically emitting bands will be generally more sensitive to the emitter/observer geometry, and we have not considered these complications. However, to keep things in perspective, the approximate nature of the line and diffuse continuum transfer formalisms adopted in spectral simulation codes such as Cloudy is as problematic.

### 2.5 Model Predictions of the Diffuse Continuum Reverberation

In this section we will tabulate the predicted diffuse continuum emission band – $`\lambda `$1350 continuum lags, present their light curves, and attempt to elucidate the effects of the diffuse continuum on broad emission line – continuum and continuum – continuum reverberation analyses.

#### 2.5.1 Incident Continuum – Diffuse Continuum Lags

We used the observed $`\lambda `$1350 continuum light curves from the 1989 IUE and 1993 IUE/HST monitoring campaigns of NGC 5548 (Clavel et al. 1991; Korista et al. 1995) to drive our model to predict the diffuse continuum emitted by the broad line clouds as a function of time. In other words we assumed that the true driving continuum, lying mainly at ionizing energies, varies in lock-step with the $`\lambda `$1350 continuum. We weighted the response of the cloud emission by the local responsivity (see Goad, Gondhalekar, & O’Brien 1993). Once generated, we subtracted off the small diffuse continuum emission contribution from the observed light at $`\lambda `$1350 for each observation date, and then iterated using this slightly altered continuum driver. This perturbative approach should be relatively accurate, since the diffuse continuum contribution at this wavelength is small. As in Paper I we did not consider any geometrical effects, such as the anisotropy of the emission. The resulting light curves are shown in Figures 3a,3b. Other than the $`\lambda `$1218 and $`\lambda `$3644 bands that are scaled down by factors of 1.7 and 2, respectively, the light curves in Figures 3a,3b are plotted to the same scale. Note that these light curves are not just scaled versions of one another; they differ in amplitude and some of the bands’ light curves weave in and out of others. This means that the response of the diffuse continuum will ripple along in wavelength as a function of time. Of all the bands, those that lie within the hydrogen Paschen continuum (optical spectrum) respond the most coherently. Figure 3c shows the model rms variability of the diffuse continuum normalized by the mean diffuse light as a function of wavelength for both campaigns. Averaged over the full UV-optical spectrum, this normalized variability amplitude is roughly two-thirds that of the driving continuum (as represented by the continuum at $`\lambda `$1350). As a function of wavelength, it is in rough inverse proportion to the luminosity-weighted radius of the emission (larger regions cannot respond as coherently as smaller ones). Notice, too, that the strongest diffuse continuum variations are expected (1) underneath the C IV $`\lambda `$1549 emission line, (2) just longward of the Balmer jump, and (3) shortward of $``$ 1100 Å. However, Figure 2b shows that the diffuse continuum is also weak within each of these spectral regions.

Next, we computed the local responsivity-weighted lags for the diffuse continuum bands relative to the corrected $`\lambda `$1350 continuum; these are plotted as a function of wavelength in Figure 4, and tabulated in Table 1 for those bands plotted in Figure 1. These lags are determined from the cross-correlation functions computed over the entire duration of each of these two UV campaigns (White & Peterson 1994). Note that the lags differ for the two campaigns — this is due to the differences in the continuum variability characteristics of each of the two campaigns. Figure 4 and Table 1 indicate that one should expect lags characteristic of the inner broad emission line region, overlapping with the emission line lags of Ly$`\alpha `$, C IV $`\lambda `$1549, Si IV $`\lambda `$1400, and for spectral bands shortward of $`1070`$ Å — more characteristic of N V $`\lambda `$1240 and He II $`\lambda `$1640. The Rayleigh scattering feature, effectively due to the extreme damping wings of the Ly$`\alpha `$ emission transition, will have lags relative to the incident continuum that mimic that of the broad emission line of Ly$`\alpha `$ itself. Like the Ly$`\alpha `$ emission line, the Rayleigh scattering feature is expected to be emitted highly anisotropically, though our model does not take this geometrical complexity into account.

Maoz et al. (1993) found an overall lag of $``$ 10 days between diffuse emission components in the “small blue bump” (after subtracting off an estimate to the underlying continuum) and the $`\lambda `$1350 continuum during the 1989 campaign. This is similar to our model’s predictions given in Table 1 and Figure 4, with an important caveat being that their derived diffuse emission light curves included the pseudo-continuum emission of Fe II in addition to the Balmer continuum. The last column of Table 1 in Maoz et al., labeled “Opt1,” lists their measurements of the diffuse light flux between 3245 Å and 3635 Å over the duration of the 1989 campaign, temporally sparse as they were. They considered this band to contain primarily Balmer continuum. The mean of their measurements is approximately $`2.8\times 10^{12}`$ ergs s-1 cm-2 (rest-frame). If we divide this wide-band flux by the width of the band (390 Å) and then multiply by the central wavelength of the band (3440 Å), we find an approximate mean value of the diffuse flux $`\lambda F_\lambda (3440)2.9\times 10^{11}`$ ergs s-1 cm-2 (corrected for reddening, rest frame). This is very nearly the model’s time-averaged value for $`\lambda F_\lambda (3644)=2.7\times 10^{11}`$ ergs s-1 cm-2 for the 1989 campaign; see bottom panel of Figure 3a. In addition the variability amplitude for this model diffuse continuum band is 1.7, in good agreement with the value measured by Maoz et al. for their “Opt1” component (1.6). The model developed in Paper I was not constrained by any information pertaining to the Balmer continuum. Nevertheless, the model does remarkably well in predicting the Balmer continuum’s overall strength and general variability characteristics.

Summarizing: wavelength dependencies in variability amplitude and lag for the diffuse continua are to be expected. The exponential nature of the bound-free emissivity sensitivity to temperature sets the run of the luminosity-weighted radius vs. wavelength (at wavelengths where the thermal continua dominate). This means that the lag, $`\tau (\lambda )`$, of the diffuse continuum relative to the ionizing continuum is a generally increasing function of wavelength across the UV-optical spectrum. This general result is not all that sensitive to the choice of model of the broad line region, but is a simple result of the gas thermodynamics.

#### 2.5.2 Inter-Band Continuum Lags

What effect does a variable diffuse continuum have upon the measurements of the so-called “continuum” windows? To investigate this, one can simply assume that the underlying nuclear continuum varies coherently with wavelength, and then dilute the delay signal of the diffuse continuum light (Figure 4) by multiplying this by the mean fraction of the diffuse light to the underlying nuclear continuum light at each wavelength. The results for both assumptions of the underlying continuum are shown in Figure 5a,5b. Here it is shown that the $`\lambda `$1460 continuum band lies near the minimum in the curves shown, with a lag of 0.3–0.5 days relative to an unpolluted underlying continuum. This lag is also typical for the spectral region between 1350 Å and 1600 Å. However, at 5100 Å the measured continuum may lag behind the ionizing continuum by 1–2 days. Thus the characteristic lag of the broad H$`\beta `$ emission line, whose light curve is generally cross-correlated with the continuum band at 5100 Å, may actually be a bit longer relative to the ionizing continuum than has been reported. Comparison of these UV and optical continuum band lags leads to an UV-optical inter-band ($`\lambda `$1350 – $`\lambda `$5100) continuum lag of approximately 0.6–1.7 days, again assuming that the underlying UV-optical continuum varies coherently. Larger (smaller) UV-optical inter-band lags would be expected if the underlying UV-optical continuum exhibited a lag relative to the ionizing continuum proportional (inversely proportional) to wavelength (see Wanders et al. 1997; Collier et al. 1999). K95 found a possible lag between $`\lambda `$1350 and $`\lambda `$5100 of 0.7–1.2 days (the latter lagging behind the former) in NGC 5548, with significant uncertainty due to the 1 day time-sampling of the campaign. Monte Carlo simulations indicated a 1.2 day upper limit (90% confidence level) to any inter-band continuum lag present in the data. The results presented here suggest that such a lag may be real and due primarily to diffuse continuum emission from the BLR. They would also suggest that this diffuse continuum is at least partially responsible for the systematic changes in the amplitude and sharpness within the UV continuum band light curves presented in K95. It should also be noted that the typically-chosen continuum windows are likely contaminated with emission from weak lines and overlapping wings of strong lines at levels that could rival the diffuse continuum in some of the weaker diffuse continuum bands.

Hard evidence of a wavelength-dependent UV/optical interband continuum lag was found in NGC 7469 by Wanders et al. (1997), and confirmed by Collier et al. (1999) and Kriss et al. (2000). The relationship was found to be consistent with that expected by the reprocessing of X-rays illuminating an accretion disk: $`\tau (\lambda )\lambda ^{4/3}`$ (see also Nandra et al. 2000 for a description of X-ray/UV variability). However, note the similarity of this relationship, also plotted in Figure 5, to the model $`\tau (\lambda )`$ relation that considers the contribution of a variable diffuse continuum from the BLR to a coherently varying underlying continuum. These results bring into question the interpretation of the origin of the wavelength-dependent interband continuum lags. Indeed, Figure 14 in Kriss et al. (2000) shows that their longest wavelength UV continuum bands’ lags are systematically too high compared to the illuminated disk model, in just the way expected if there were significant contamination from diffuse Balmer continuum from the BLR. The uncertainties in the measured continuum band lags will need to be reduced substantially to determine whether or not the accretion disk reprocessing scenario is the correct one, and/or better constrain the diffuse continuum emission in AGN. For the time being it would be prudent not to ignore the contribution of the diffuse continuum from the same gas that emits the lines to the variable spectra of AGN.

#### 2.5.3 Bluer When Brighter

First noticed in NGC 5548 by Wamsteker et al. (1990), and again by Maoz et al. (1993) and Korista et al. (1995), the UV/optical continuum, as measured between $`\lambda `$1350 – $`\lambda `$5100, becomes bluer as it becomes brighter. This effect has also been observed in the behavior of other Seyfert nuclei variability, though apparently not in Fairall 9 (see Santos-Lleó et al. 1997). The nature of this effect has lain in some doubt due to known contamination from non-variable sources of light, such as starlight that is important primarily at the longer wavelengths. However, Romano & Peterson (1998) find this effect to remain even after subtracting a range of estimates for starlight contribution at 5100 Å, at least in the case of NGC 5548. For the starlight contribution determined observationally by Romanishin et al. (1995), and adopted here, Romano & Peterson find the relation $`\alpha _{1350/5100}=6.09\times 10^3F_{\lambda 1350}+0.800`$, with $`F_\nu \nu ^\alpha `$ defining the logarithmic slope and $`F_{\lambda 1350}`$ in units of $`10^{15}`$ ergs cm-2 s-1 Å-1. Their relationship did not take reddening into account, but this affects only the intercept of their relation. If intrinsic to the nuclear light, the nature of this relationship is telling us something important about the central continuum source. A continuum that becomes bluer when brighter may be indicative of X-ray heating of an accretion disk, for example.

Figure 6a shows the ratio of the flux ($`\lambda F_\lambda `$) at $`\lambda `$1350 to that at $`\lambda `$5100, after adding the model diffuse continuum light for each date of the 1989 IUE campaign to the underlying continuum at each of the two wavelength bands. We used the second assumption for the underlying continuum in Figure 2a as a model for the underlying UV/optical continuum. The underlying UV/optical continuum’s value at 1350 Å was very nearly the measured value (corrected by a small amount of diffuse light), and as pointed out above, its value at 5100 Å added to the diffuse light there is nearly equal to the starlight subtracted flux. (Whether or not we corrected the $`\lambda `$1350 light curve for a small amount of diffuse continuum emission had very little impact on the results presented here.) The model underlying continuum’s shape was held fixed, and had a logarithmic slope of $`\alpha _{1350/5100}=0.363`$ ($`F_\nu \nu ^\alpha `$). Figure 6a shows that the predicted flux ratio fluctuates by $`\pm `$5% about a mean of 1.98, and is correlated with the underlying continuum at $`\lambda `$1350 at the 87% level with the ratio leading the underlying continuum by a couple of days (see also the top panel of Figure 3a). In other words, the effective nuclear light becomes bluer when it becomes brighter due to the reverberation of the diffuse continuum within the BLR. The same effect was seen in similar simulations of the 1993 HST campaign, with slightly smaller fluctuations about a mean ratio of 1.91, again with the continuum flux ratio leading slightly the underlying continuum. Figure 6b shows the effective logarithmic slope, $`\alpha _{1350/5100}`$, as a function of the flux of the underlying continuum at $`\lambda `$1350 for both monitoring campaigns. The effective slope was determined from the flux ratio above, and so considers the sum of the underlying plus diffuse continuum components. We adopted the same format as in Figure 3 of Romano & Peterson to ease comparison. This slope is highly correlated with the underlying $`\lambda `$1350 continuum in both campaigns, though with differing relationships — likely due to the differences in the continuum variability characteristics of each of the two campaigns. Note, too, that the effective logarithmic slope may deviate from that of the underlying continuum (0.363) by up to 0.2 (with $`\alpha _{eff}(\mathrm{max})0.56`$), with the total UV/optical continuum light being significantly softer than the underlying nuclear continuum. Greatest deviations between the underlying and effective UV/optical slopes are expected when the underlying continuum is low (assuming that the ionizing and underlying continua are well-correlated). Figure 3c shows that the diffuse continuum at 1350 Å is somewhat more variable and Figure 4 shows it to have a smaller lag than the diffuse continuum at 5100 Å. The diffuse continuum is less variable than the underlying continuum at all wavelengths. Taken together these account for the results presented in Figures 6a,6b. However, comparing the slopes of the lines fitted to the points in Figure 6b to the slope of the relation found by Romano & Peterson (above), one sees that the reverberation of the diffuse continuum emitted by the BLR can account for only $``$ 1/3 of the observed effect, meaning that the underlying continuum likely does become bluer as it becomes brighter. What we have demonstrated here is that not all of this effect should be automatically attributed to the underlying continuum.

## 3 DISCUSSION & SUMMARY

### 3.1 The Rayleigh and Electron Scattering Features

The shortest wavelength continuum band reported by K95, $`\lambda `$1145, lies within the blue wing of the predicted Ly$`\alpha `$ Rayleigh scattering feature in Figure 2a. In the spectrum from any single cloud the width of this feature is proportional to the neutral column density (Korista & Ferland 1998), and unlike all other features in the diffuse continuum spectrum, it is observed only in reflection. While the light curve data in this band were noisy, K95 reported that this band had the largest amplitude and sharpest variations, though neither characteristic was much different from those in the $`\lambda `$1350 band. Nevertheless, based upon the observed characteristics of the light curves one might expect less contamination of diffuse continuum emission from the BLR within the $`\lambda `$1145 band than elsewhere, in possible contradiction to the model results. Extending the observed spectral coverage to shorter wavelengths should help constrain the model predictions of this scattering feature. It is also clear that this feature contributes to the measured Ly$`\alpha `$ broad emission line flux and has similar reverberation properties.

The effects of electron scattering on the diffuse continuum spectrum are fairly minimal in these simulations given our choice of constant column density clouds with $`\mathrm{log}N_H=23`$ (see Figure 2c). As mentioned above, however, most of the anisotropy in the diffuse emission from the clouds (Figure 2d) is expected to arise from the electron scattering component (well outside the Rayleigh scattering feature). For wavelengths well longward of the Ly$`\alpha `$ Rayleigh scattering feature ($`\lambda 1800`$ Å) the reflected-light component of the diffuse continuum, mainly Thomson scattering of the incident continuum, has a luminosity-weighted radius that is roughly 30% that of the Ly$`\alpha `$ emission line and the peak of the Rayleigh scattering feature (all of which are predicted to be heavily inwardly beamed). This is expected in models that geometrically weight the contributions of light from clouds nearer to the continuum source — the stronger electron-scattering mirrors are those clouds with larger ionized hydrogen column densities. The expected lag of this reflected-light component is very nearly independent of wavelength across the UV/optical spectrum, in contrast to that of the thermal diffuse light for which the lag generally increases with wavelength, and whose emission is expected to be much less anisotropic. Thus larger contributions from electron scattering of the incident continuum off the broad line clouds (1) will result in a greyer response; (2) the anisotropic nature of the electron-scattered light may increase the amplitude of the response by reducing the range in time-delays over which we see the diffuse light; (3) the anisotropic nature of the electron-scattered light will offset the electron-scattered light’s tendencies to have smaller luminosity-weighted radii than the thermal diffuse continuum.

### 3.2 The Lyman and Balmer Continua

The model predicts a Lyman jump in emission with an intensity similar to that of the peak of the Ly$`\alpha `$ Rayleigh scattering feature in Figure 2a, amounting to a $``$ 25% jump in the total nuclear light near 912 Å, assuming the underlying continuum is featureless in the vicinity of the jump. After considering spectral broadening due to bulk gas motions, this jump might only be $``$ 20% — but still easily observable. Our model $`\lambda L_\lambda (912)`$/$`L`$(Ly$`\alpha )`$ is roughly 2.4, large in comparison to “classical” BLR predictions due to the contributions of high-density gas ($`n_H>10^{10}`$ cm-3) that is efficient in producing continua, but not Ly$`\alpha `$. It is important to note that the prediction of a Lyman feature in emission is generic to virtually all spectral simulations of the broad-line emitting gas. However, while the Balmer continuum is observed within the little blue bump, the Lyman continuum is never observed. In fact the quasar spectra in this region are remarkably featureless (Koratkar & Blaes 1999), with only hints of a small depression near 912 Å in some objects (e.g., Kriss et al. 1995). This has been a long-standing puzzle for models of both broad line clouds and accretion disks, though the more recent considerations of Comptonization (Kriss et al.) and non-LTE effects (Hubeny et al. 2000) generally produce weaker absorption features in the vicinity of the Lyman limit than the earlier models of accretion disk spectra. As averaged over our BLR model, some 90% of the diffuse continuum at the Lyman jump is beamed inward, and perhaps this plays some role in hiding it from view. It is also conceivable that a conspiracy of sorts exists whereby the accretion disk feature in absorption near 912 Å counteracts the feature expected in emission from the broad line gas, as suggested by Carswell & Ferland (1988). But these are rather unsatisfying scenarios, and we must admit we do not have a good understanding of the Lyman continuum spectral feature.

Since the Balmer continuum is observed in emission, an understanding of its origin would constrain models of broad emission line gas as well as those of accretion disks — the Balmer continuum could appear in emission in a chromosphere of an accretion disk. If the Balmer continuum is emitted primarily in the BLR, a significant lag ($``$ 1 week for NGC 5548) is expected between flux variations in the emission near the jump and those of the underlying continuum. If, on the other hand, the Balmer continuum is emitted in the chromosphere of an illuminated accretion disk, the lags would be expected to be much smaller. In fact in this case, the wavelength-dependent interband continuum lag would deviate from the simple $`\lambda ^{4/3}`$ relationship, and behave in a way similar to that presented in Figure 5a except that the lags should be much smaller across the Balmer continuum. The results of the analysis of Maoz et al. (1993) would appear to favor an origin in the BLR, but this must be confirmed with follow-up observations of NGC 5548 and other AGN. Weak Balmer and Paschen continua from broad line gas is a signature of either the predominance of low density gas ($`n_H10^{12}`$ cm-3), or the presence of a mechanism that broadens the local line profiles significantly above their thermal values. Local line broadening reduces the line optical depths, effectively increasing the cooling efficiency of the lines. Bottorff et al. (2000) explored the effect of local line broadening to quasar spectra. Simulations from that work (Bottorff 2000) and some of our own show that by increasing the local line width from thermal to 1000 $`\mathrm{km}\mathrm{s}^1`$, the model luminosity of the Balmer jump ($`\lambda L_\lambda (3646)`$) falls by a factor of 2.5, and its ratio with respect to the luminosity of Ly$`\alpha `$ falls by a factor of 4.8. In addition, the strength of the Balmer jump relative to Ly$`\alpha `$ and the strengths of the diffuse recombination continua in general are very sensitive to the presence and importance of high density gas ($`n_H>10^{10}`$ cm-3), especially if the local line widths are thermal. The presence of super-solar metallicity gas would also diminish the thermal diffuse continua, due to the accompanying decreases in electron temperatures, though these metallicities are not expected to occur in Seyfert 1 nuclei. Again, we emphasize that these trends are general and not dependent upon our particular model of the BLR of NGC 5548. It is clear that the under-explored Balmer continuum should be mined for its important physical constraints.

### 3.3 Interband Continuum Variations in Other AGN

Short, but intense, multiwavelength monitoring campaigns have been mounted to detect correlated variability amongst the various energy bands (X-ray, UV, optical) emitted by Seyfert 1 nuclei. Edelson et al. (1996) reported good correlations between X-ray, UV, and optical continuum variations during the 9-day monitoring campaign of NGC 4151, but could not measure any lags within or between any of these bands, and set a limit of $``$ 1 day lag between $`\lambda `$1275 and $`\lambda `$5125. In the 3-day campaign of NGC 3516 Edelson et al. (2000) reported correlated hard and soft X-ray variations and correlated optical variations, but the X-ray and optical bands showed very different variability behavior. They set a limit of $``$ 0.15 day lag between the $`\lambda `$3590 and $`\lambda `$5510 bands, and suggested that their findings represent serious problems for “reprocessing” models in which the X-ray source heats the accretion disk. It is unlikely that either of these experiments were long enough for the continuum variations to sufficiently sample the BLRs in order to detect variations from the diffuse continuum. This is in contrast to the high temporal resolution campaign of NGC 7469 that spanned 50 days. As discussed above, significant lags were found across its UV and optical continuum bands, and were found to be consistent with a simple model of an X-ray illuminated accretion disk. However, the results presented here suggest that this conclusion may be premature, as the variable diffuse continuum from the BLR may broadly mimic the signature of an X-ray heated accretion disk.

### 3.4 Summary

Unless some mechanism is present that acts to suppress the emission of diffuse thermal continua, that which is emitted in the UV/optical by broad line clouds will be significant. Its presence in combination with the light reflected from the broad line clouds has the following impacts on models for the broad emission line region and the UV-optical continuum emitter: (1) the lag between the emission line variations and those of the local “continuum” may underestimate the characteristic sizes of the line emitting regions, (2) the shape of the underlying nuclear continuum may be misinferred and thus misinterpreted, (3) interband continuum lags may be misinterpreted, (4) the reverberation of the diffuse continuum emitted by the BLR may account for perhaps one-third of the observed effect that the $`\lambda `$1350 – $`\lambda `$5100 continuum becomes bluer as it becomes brighter (even after accounting for non-variable optical starlight), and (5) as in other models of the broad emission line gas, a significant yet unobserved Lyman jump is predicted. The underexplored diffuse continuum, most easily observable near the Balmer jump, holds clues to our understanding of both the line and central continuum emitting regions in AGN. Long-term, high temporal resolution, spectroscopic monitoring with full UV-optical spectral coverage is required to understand the nature of UV-optical continuum and its variability in AGN. This can be accomplished with a dedicated multiwavelength orbital platform.

We are grateful to Gary Ferland for maintaining his freely distributed code, Cloudy, to Brad Peterson for supplying the mean optical spectrum of NGC 5548, and to Mark Bottorff for supplying some spectral simulation results. We also acknowledge helpful conversations with Stefan Collier, and the constructive comments of an anonymous referee.