The link between the hidden broad line region and the accretion rate in Seyfert 2 galaxies

In the past few years, more and more pieces of evidence have been presented for a revision of the widely accepted unified model of active galactic nuclei. A model based solely on orientation cannot explain all the observed phenomenology. In the following, we will present evidence that accretion rate is also a key parameter for the presence of hidden broad line regions (HBLRs) in Seyfert 2 galaxies. Our sample consists of 21 sources with polarized hidden broad lines and 18 sources without hidden broad lines. We use stellar velocity dispersions from several studies on the Ca II and Mg b triplets in Seyfert 2 galaxies to estimate the mass of the central black holes via the M _BH-σ relation. The ratio between the bolometric luminosity, derived from the intrinsic (i.e., unabsorbed) X-ray luminosity, and the Eddington luminosity is a measure of the rate at which matter accretes onto the central supermassive black hole. A separation between Compton-thin HBLR and non-HBLR sources is clear, both in accretion rate (log L _bol/L _Edd = -1.9) and in luminosity (log L _bol = 43.90). When properly luminosity-corrected Compton-thick sources are included, the separation between HBLR and non-HBLR is less sharp but no HBLR source falls below the Eddington ratio threshold. We speculate that non-HBLR Compton-thick sources with accretion rate higher than the threshold do possess a BLR, but something, probably related to their heavy absorption, is preventing us from observing it even in polarized light. Our results for Compton-thin sources support theoretical expectations. In a model presented by Nicastro, the presence of broad emission lines is intrinsically connected with disk instabilities occurring in proximity of a transition radius, which is a function of the accretion rate, becoming smaller than the innermost stable orbit for very low accretion rates and therefore luminosities.