Abstract The sizes of the Broad Line Region (BLR) of some Seyfert 1 galaxies and nearby quasars can be determined by the reverberation mapping method. Combining with the observed FWHM of Hβ emission line and assuming that the motion of BLR clouds is virialized, the black hole masses of these objects have been estimated. However, this method strongly depends on the poorly-understood geometry and inclination of the BLR. On the other hand, a tight correlation between the black hole mass and the bulge velocity dispersion was recently found for both active and nearby inactive galaxies. This may provide another method, independent of the BLR geometry, for estimating the black hole mass. Using this method for estimating the black hole mass and combining with the measured BLR size and FWHM of Hβ emission line, we derived the BLR inclination angles for 20 Seyfert 1 galaxies under the assumption that the BLR is disk-like. The derived inclination angles agree well with those derived previously by fitting the UV continuum and Hβ emission line profiles. Adopting a relation between the FWHMs of [O III]λ5007 forbidden line and the stellar velocity dispersion, we also estimated the BLR inclinations for 50 narrow line Seyfert 1 galaxies (NLS1s). We found that the inclinations of broad Line Seyfert 1 galaxies (BLS1s) are systematically greater than those of NLS1s, which seldom exceed 30°. This may be an important factor that leads to the differences between NLS1s and BLS1s if the BLR of NLS1s is really disk-like.

Keywords galaxies: active --- galaxies: nuclei --- galaxies: Seyfert

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