The UV peak in Active Galactic Nuclei : a false continuum from blurred
  reflection ?
  I summarise and analyse key problems with observations of the UV bump in
Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN), and especially the accretion disc interpretation
- the temperature problem, the ionisation problem, the timescale problem, and
the co-ordination problem - and suggest that all these problems can be solved
if, in addition to the accretion disc, there is a population of cold, thick
clouds at approximately 30R_S which reprocess the intrinsic continuum.
Exploring cloud parameter space, I find that clouds with density n~10^12 cm^-3
and column N_H >4 X 10^24 cm^-2 reflect most of the intrinsic continuum, but
convert a substantial fraction of the EUV luminosity into lines, dominated by
Ly-beta and HeII Ly-alpha. When velocity-blurred, this makes a false continuum
peak at ~1100A which fits the observed SED well, but turns back up in the FUV
to make a hard EUV SED, as required by ionisation models. I argue that the
observed UV variability is dominated by this component of fixed shape, possibly
due to changes of covering factor. The amount of mass required is small, so it
is not necessary to disrupt the disc, but only to make an unstable and
inhomogeneous atmosphere. The proposed clouds may be related to those suggested
by several X-ray phenomena (X-ray reflection components, high-velocity
outflows, Compton thick partial covering) but are not the same, leading to a
picture with a wide range of inhomogeneous structures at different radii.
