Rediscussion of balmer decrement of broad-line radio-galaxies

On the basis of the erenkov line emission theory in the optically thick case, a new interpretation of intensity ratios H/H and H/H in broad-line radio-galaxies (BLRGs) is reported. Calculation shows that if the theoretical ratio H/H is just taken to be the mean observed value 0.21, equivalently, the parameterX(H)=3.0, then the expected ratio H/H=6.70 is almost the same as the observations. By comparing these values with the previous investigations of QSOs (X(H)=20.9), we conclude that the number density of neutral hydrogen gas in BLRGs is almost one order-of-magnitude smaller than that in the QSOs.Preliminary verification of the erenkov line emission has been obtained by Xuet al. (1981) in the laboratory.