Individual Estimates Of The Virial Factor In 10 Quasars: Implications On The Kinematics Of The Broad-Line Region

Abstract Assuming a gravitational origin for the Fe iii λλ 2039-2113 redshift and using microlensing based estimates of the size of the region emitting this feature, we obtain individual measurements of the virial factor, f , in 10 quasars. The average values for the Balmer lines, <?CDATA $\langle {f}_{{\rm{H}}\beta }\rangle =0.43\pm 0.20$?> and <?CDATA $\langle {f}_{{\rm{H}}\alpha }\rangle =0.50\pm 0.24$?> , are in good agreement with the results of previous studies for objects with lines of comparable widths. In the case of Mg ii , consistent results, <?CDATA ${f}_{\mathrm{Mg}{\rm{II}}}\sim 0.44$?> , can be also obtained accepting a reasonable scaling for the size of the emitting region. The modeling of the cumulative histograms of individual measurements, CDF( f ), indicates a relatively high value for the ratio between isotropic and cylindrical motions, <?CDATA $a\sim 0.4\mbox{--}0.7$?> . On the contrary, we find very large values of the virial factor associated to the Fe iii λλ 2039-2113 blend, <?CDATA ${f}_{\mathrm{Fe}{\rm{III}}}=14.3\pm 2.4$?> , which can be explained if this feature arises from a flattened nearly face-on structure, similar to the accretion disk.