FAST RADIATIVE SHOCKS IN DENSE MEDIA .3. PROPERTIES OF THE EMISSION

The evolution of fast, radiative shocks in a high-density medium is presented. Ionizing spectra and approximate broad-band light curves of the shocked gas are calculated. Emergent shock spectra, as seen by a distant observer, are obtained from photoionization models. The emergent spectra have a power-law shape F-nu proportional to nu(-alpha) with mean spectral index alpha similar to 0.6 - 1.0 in the energy range 0.01 - 10 keV, and have a high-energy cutoff corresponding to the original shock velocity. It is shown that the models exhibit promising features that may account for some photometric and spectral properties of active galactic nuclei.