Title:

Solving Quasars, I: Atmospheres and Winds



Martin Elvis
Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics


Abstract:

In the 40 years since quasars were discovered, the paradigm of
a supermassive black hole surrounded by an accretion disk and 
emitting a relativistic jet has become well supported and accepted.
However, this paradigm deals with a naked quasar. Instead the bulk of 
the >10(4) papers written about quasars make no connection with this 
paradigm, and deal with the gas surrounding the quasar: the broad and 
narrow emission lines, and various UV and X-ray absorbing material.

Recently it has become clear that several components of this surrounding
veil of gas are part of a fast wind (1000-10,000 km/s) leaving the 
inner regions of the quasar. In 2000 proposed a model in which ALL the 
atomic features are linked in a single wind structure, so that they 
constitute the `quasar atmosphere'. I will review how this model has
fared since then (well!), and what the implications of this structure
for quasar winds and atmospheres affects the study of quasars.