Article
Astronomy & Astrophysics
XueGuang Zhang
Summary: In this paper, a potential sub-pc binary black hole (BBH) system in SDSS J1257+2023 is reported based on different properties of broad Balmer emission lines. The broad Hα line in SDSS J1257+2023 is significantly broader than the broad Hβ line, with a width ratio of 0.69, which is quite different from the normal line width ratio of 1.1 in quasars. The broader component in the broad Hα line can be confidently confirmed through the F-test technique and different model functions. The detection of optical quasi-periodic oscillations (QPOs) with a periodicity of about 1000 days in the BBH system of SDSS J1257+2023 is supported by the Zwicky Transient Facility (ZTF) light curves and the generalized Lomb-Scargle periodogram with a confidence level higher than 3σ.
MONTHLY NOTICES OF THE ROYAL ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY
(2023)
Article
Astronomy & Astrophysics
T. M. Buendia-Rios, C. A. Negrete, P. Marziani, D. Dultzin
Summary: By studying 309 quasars, we have found that Al III and C III] can be reliable virial mass estimators for Pop. A and Pop. B objects, providing consistent mass estimations.
ASTRONOMY & ASTROPHYSICS
(2023)
Article
Astronomy & Astrophysics
Onur Catmabacak, Robert Feldmann, Daniel Angles-Alcazar, Claude-Andre Faucher-Giguere, Philip F. Hopkins, Dusan Keres
Summary: The concurrent growth of supermassive black holes and their host galaxies is explored using cosmological zoom-in simulations. The results show that the growth of supermassive black holes at low redshift can be explained by a gravitational torque-driven accretion model. At high redshift, supermassive black holes are found to be undermassive but start to grow efficiently once their host galaxies reach a certain mass.
MONTHLY NOTICES OF THE ROYAL ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY
(2022)
Article
Astronomy & Astrophysics
Andrew King, Rebecca Nealon
Summary: Recent research has found that the sample size of dwarf galaxies with measured central black hole masses and velocity dispersions has doubled, showing a close fit to the extrapolation of the M-sigma relation for more massive galaxies. This challenges the idea that the scaling relations between galaxies and their central black holes are merely a statistical consequence of assembly through repeated mergers. The prediction of significantly larger black hole masses in dwarf galaxies suggests an initial distribution of uncorrelated seed black hole and stellar masses confined to much smaller masses than previously assumed.
MONTHLY NOTICES OF THE ROYAL ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY
(2021)
Article
Astronomy & Astrophysics
Samuel Lai, Christopher A. Onken, Christian Wolf, Fuyan Bian, Guido Cupani, Sebastian Lopez, Valentina D'Odorico
Summary: This study measured the properties of three prominent broad emission lines in a sample of high-luminosity quasars, and used them for virial estimates of black hole mass. The resulting mass estimates were tightly correlated within the sample, with implications for future research in quasar astrophysics.
MONTHLY NOTICES OF THE ROYAL ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY
(2023)
Article
Astronomy & Astrophysics
Amit Kumar Mandal, Malte Schramm, Suvendu Rakshit, C. S. Stalin, Bovornpratch Vijarnwannaluk, Wiphu Rujopakarn, Saran Poshyachinda, Vladimir V. Kouprianov, Joshua B. Haislip, Daniel E. Reichart, Ram Sagar, Blesson Mathew
Summary: Photometric reverberation mapping observations on Mrk 590 revealed a delayed response of Hα line emission to the optical B-band continuum emission. By measuring the BLR size and the Hα line full width at half-maximum, a black hole mass was derived.
MONTHLY NOTICES OF THE ROYAL ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY
(2021)
Article
Astronomy & Astrophysics
J. Chaves-Montero, S. Bonoli, B. Trakhtenbrot, A. Fernandez-Centeno, C. Queiroz, L. A. Diaz-Garcia, R. M. Gonzalez Delgado, A. Hernan-Caballero, C. Hernandez-Monteagudo, C. Lopen-Sanjuan, R. Overzier, D. Sobral, L. R. Abramo, J. Alcaniz, N. Benitez, S. Carneiro, A. J. Cenarro, D. Cristobal-Hornillos, R. A. Dupke, A. Ederoclite, A. Marin-Franch, C. Mendes de Oliveira, M. Moles, L. Sodre Jr, K. Taylor, J. Varela, H. Vazquez Ramio, T. Civera
Summary: This study develops a novel method for calculating black hole masses using measurements of continuum luminosities and emission line widths from narrow-band observations. The results show that this technique can achieve similar precision to single-epoch spectroscopy. The findings of this research are important for exploring the physical properties of quasar populations that do not meet the preselection criteria of previous spectroscopic surveys.
ASTRONOMY & ASTROPHYSICS
(2022)
Article
Astronomy & Astrophysics
Alessandro Trinca, Raffaella Schneider, Roberto Maiolino, Rosa Valiante, Luca Graziani, Marta Volonteri
Summary: In this paper, using the Cosmic Archaeology Tool, we model the formation and growth of black hole seeds and predict their observability with planned JWST surveys at 5 <= z <= 15. The surveys, specifically JADES-Medium/-Deep, COSMOS-Web, and CEERS/PRIMER, provide a complementary view of active black holes at different redshifts and select black holes residing in galaxies with specific characteristics such as mass and metallicity.
MONTHLY NOTICES OF THE ROYAL ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY
(2023)
Article
Astronomy & Astrophysics
Xueguang Zhang
Summary: In this manuscript, a 6.4-year optical quasi-periodic oscillations (QPOs) in the quasar SDSS J0752 at a redshift of 0.117 have been detected and confirmed through various analysis methods. The observed QPOs strongly suggest the presence of a central binary black hole (BBH) system. The determined properties of the BBH system, such as the spatial separation and the virial black hole masses, are reported. The study also rules out the possibility of the observed QPOs being explained by disc precessions or jet precessions. The existence of the optical QPOs is further supported by statistical analysis using randomly created light curves.
MONTHLY NOTICES OF THE ROYAL ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY
(2022)
Article
Astronomy & Astrophysics
Qirong Zhu, Yuexing Li, Yiting Li, Moupiya Maji, Hidenobu Yajima, Raffaella Schneider, Lars Hernquist
Summary: By conducting zoom-in simulations on black hole seeds in star systems, it is found that abundant gas supply and efficient angular momentum transport through gravitational torques are crucial for black hole accretion. The final black hole mass depends on the seed mass and radiative efficiency, and seeds with a mass of at least 10^4 solar masses can rapidly grow to become supermassive black holes in both thin and slim disc accretion models.
MONTHLY NOTICES OF THE ROYAL ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY
(2022)
Article
Astronomy & Astrophysics
Colin DeGraf, Debora Sijacki, Tiziana Di Matteo, Kelly Holley-Bockelmann, Greg Snyder, Volker Springel
Summary: By studying supermassive black hole mergers in the Illustris simulation, it is found that these mergers occur in typical galaxies along the M-BH-M-* relation. It is expected that both LISA and PTAs will probe the full range of galaxy masses. Understanding the mergers can help maximize what we can learn from gravitational wave detections in the future.
MONTHLY NOTICES OF THE ROYAL ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY
(2021)
Article
Astronomy & Astrophysics
G. A. Matzeu, M. Brusa, G. Lanzuisi, M. Dadina, S. Bianchi, G. Kriss, M. Mehdipour, E. Nardini, G. Chartas, R. Middei, E. Piconcelli, V. Gianolli, A. Comastri, A. L. Longinotti, Y. Krongold, F. Ricci, P. O. Petrucci, F. Tombesi, A. Luminari, L. Zappacosta, G. Miniutti, M. Gaspari, E. Behar, M. Bischetti, S. Mathur, M. Perna, M. Giustini, P. Grandi, E. Torresi, C. Vignali, G. Bruni, M. Cappi, E. Costantini, G. Cresci, B. De Marco, A. De Rosa, R. Gilli, M. Guainazzi, J. Kaastra, S. Kraemer, F. La Franca, A. Marconi, F. Panessa, G. Ponti, D. Proga, F. Ursini, P. Baldini, F. Fiore, A. R. King, R. Maiolino, G. Matt, A. Merloni
Summary: We present a new X-ray spectroscopic study of 22 luminous AGNs at intermediate redshifts, focusing on the search for and characterization of ultra-fast outflows (UFOs). Through Monte Carlo procedures, we confirm the detection of highly ionized iron absorption lines in 7 out of 22 sources at a high confidence level, supporting the existence of highly ionized matter propagating at mildly relativistic speeds in a considerable fraction of AGNs. The SUpermassive Black hole Winds in the x-rAYS (SUBWAYS) campaign extends previous studies on Seyferts and finds a UFO detection fraction of approximately 30% of the total sample.
ASTRONOMY & ASTROPHYSICS
(2023)
Article
Astronomy & Astrophysics
Alessandro Trinca, Raffaella Schneider, Rosa Valiante, Luca Graziani, Luca Zappacosta, Francesco Shankar
Summary: This study investigates the early evolution of supermassive black holes (SMBHs) by studying their mass and luminosity distribution at high redshift. The results suggest that the growth of black hole seeds is Eddington limited and may occur through super-Eddington accretion during galaxy mergers.
MONTHLY NOTICES OF THE ROYAL ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY
(2022)
Article
Astronomy & Astrophysics
Federica Sassano, Raffaella Schneider, Rosa Valiante, Kohei Inayoshi, Sunmyon Chon, Kazuyuki Omukai, Lucio Mayer, Pedro R. Capelo
Summary: This study investigates the relative role of three seed populations in the formation of SMBHs at high redshifts, and finds that although less massive seeds form at a higher rate, the mass growth of SMBHs at z<15 is primarily driven by their heavy progenitors. The genealogy of z~6 SMBHs is characterized by a variety of BH progenitors, representing only a small fraction of all the BHs that seed galaxies at z>15.
MONTHLY NOTICES OF THE ROYAL ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY
(2021)
Article
Astronomy & Astrophysics
Wei-Ting Liao, Yu-Ching Chen, Xin Liu, A. Miguel Holgado, Hengxiao Guo, Robert Gruendl, Eric Morganson, Yue Shen, Tamara Davis, Richard Kessler, Paul Martini, Richard G. McMahon, Sahar Allam, James Annis, Santiago Avila, Manda Banerji, Keith Bechtol, Emmanuel Bertin, David Brooks, Elizabeth Buckley-Geer, Aurelio Carnero Rosell, Matias Carrasco Kind, Jorge Carretero, Francisco Javier Castander, Carlos Cunha, Chris D'Andrea, Luiz da Costa, Christopher Davis, Juan De Vicente, Shantanu Desai, H. Thomas Diehl, Peter Doel, Tim Eifler, August Evrard, Brenna Flaugher, Pablo Fosalba, Josh Frieman, Juan Garcia-Bellido, Enrique Gaztanaga, Karl Glazebrook, Daniel Gruen, Julia Gschwend, Gaston Gutierrez, Will Hartley, Devon L. Hollowood, Klaus Honscheid, Ben Hoyle, David James, Elisabeth Krause, Kyler Kuehn, Marcos Lima, Marcio Maia, Jennifer Marshall, Felipe Menanteau, Ramon Miquel, Andres Plazas Malagon, Aaron Roodman, Eusebio Sanchez, Vic Scarpine, Michael Schubnell, Santiago Serrano, Mathew Smith, R. Chris Smith, Marcelle Soares-Santos, Flavia Sobreira, Eric Suchyta, Molly Swanson, Gregory Tarle, Vinu Vikram, Alistair Walker
Summary: The research team discovered a periodicity in the optical light curve of the quasar SDSS J025214.67-002813.7 at a redshift of 1.53, suggesting it may be caused by modulation of the accretion rate by a milli-parsec binary supermassive black hole. By combining different datasets, they found a periodicity of 1607 days, but the exact origin of this periodicity remains uncertain.
MONTHLY NOTICES OF THE ROYAL ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY
(2021)
Article
Astronomy & Astrophysics
Alice Deconto-Machado, Ascension del Olmo, Paola Marziani, Jaime Perea, Giovanna Stirpe
Summary: This study compared the spectroscopic properties of two sources, one radio-loud and one radio-quiet, showing similar optical properties but significant differences in UV data. The two sources are very close on the Main Sequence classification while presenting important variations in their UV behavior.
ASTRONOMISCHE NACHRICHTEN
(2022)
Article
Astronomy & Astrophysics
Paola Marziani, Edi Bon, Natasa Bon, Mauro D'Onofrio, Brian Punsly, Marzena Sniegowska, Bozena Czerny, Swayamtrupta Panda, Mary Loli Martnez Aldama, Ascension del Olmo, Alice Deconto-Machado, C. Alenka Negrete, Deborah Dultzin, Tania Buendia, Karla Garnica
Summary: In recent years, several trends associated with the quasar main sequence have been confirmed, revealing the relatively recent concept of a main sequence for quasars yet to be fully exploited. The main sequence drivers are discussed in terms of extreme objects, summarizing developments in constraining the viewing angle of accretion disks in specific quasar classes, inferences on the chemical composition of broad line emitting gas, and the nature of radio emission along the quasar main sequence.
ASTRONOMISCHE NACHRICHTEN
(2022)
Article
Astronomy & Astrophysics
M. Laurenti, E. Piconcelli, L. Zappacosta, F. Tombesi, C. Vignali, S. Bianchi, P. Marziani, F. Vagnetti, A. Bongiorno, M. Bischetti, A. del Olmo, G. Lanzuisi, A. Luminari, R. Middei, M. Perri, C. Ricci, G. Vietri
Summary: In this study, the X-ray spectral analysis of 14 high-Eddington-ratio AGN reveals that despite the homogeneous optical and supermassive black hole accretion properties, the X-ray properties of these AGN are quite heterogeneous. Interestingly, some sources exhibit much fainter X-ray emission compared to typical AGN.
ASTRONOMY & ASTROPHYSICS
(2022)
Article
Astronomy & Astrophysics
Brian Punsly, Christian Groeneveld, Gary J. Hill, Paola Marziani, Gregory R. Zeimann, Donald P. Schneider
Summary: The research finds that the radio lobes of 3C 298 have a large jet power, but small equivalent widths of broad emission lines, indicating extraordinary jet power and weak ionizing continuum.
ASTRONOMICAL JOURNAL
(2022)
Article
Astronomy & Astrophysics
K. Garnica, C. A. Negrete, P. Marziani, D. Dultzin, M. Sniegowska, S. Panda
Summary: In this study, we analyzed the UV spectra of quasars at intermediate redshifts to estimate the chemical abundances of the broad line emitting gas. Our results showed that these quasars have high metallicity and a deviation in the relative abundance of elements compared to solar values. This suggests a complex process in the formation and evolution of quasars.
ASTRONOMY & ASTROPHYSICS
(2022)
Article
Astronomy & Astrophysics
Paola Marziani, Ascension del Olmo, C. Alenka Negrete, Deborah Dultzin, Enrico Piconcelli, Giustina Vietri, Mary Loli Martinez-Aldama, Mauro D'Onofrio, Edi Bon, Natasa Bon, Alice Deconto Machado, Giovanna M. Stirpe, Tania Mayte Buendia Rios
Summary: The study compares quasar line widths at different redshifts and luminosities, finding that the widths of Al III and H beta are highly correlated and in most quasars could be considered equivalent. A correction factor of approximately 1.25 for C lambda 1909 brings its FWHM in agreement with H beta. The statistical concordance between low-ionization and intermediate-ionization lines suggests they may come from the same virialized region.
ASTROPHYSICAL JOURNAL SUPPLEMENT SERIES
(2022)
Article
Astronomy & Astrophysics
A. Deconto-Machado, A. del Olmo Orozco, P. Marziani, J. Perea, G. M. Stirpe
Summary: The 4D Eigenvector 1 empirical formalism (4DE1) and its main sequence (MS) are effective tools for understanding the diversity among quasar populations. In this study, the behavior of a sample of 22 high-redshift and high-luminosity quasars was evaluated in the context of the 4DE1. The analysis suggests that these quasars are strongly affected by powerful outflows.
ASTRONOMY & ASTROPHYSICS
(2023)
Article
Astronomy & Astrophysics
Luigi Foschini, Matthew L. Lister, Heinz Andernach, Stefano Ciroi, Paola Marziani, Sonia Anton, Marco Berton, Elena Dalla Bonta, Emilia Jarvela, Maria J. M. Marcha, Patrizia Romano, Merja Tornikoski, Stefano Vercellone, Amelia Vietri
Summary: This study used the fourth catalog of gamma-ray point sources from the Fermi Large Area Telescope (LAT) to identify jetted active galactic nuclei (AGN) or sources without a specific classification but with a low-frequency counterpart. The findings reveal that approximately 30% of gamma-ray sources lack a clear classification.
Article
Astronomy & Astrophysics
M. H. Naddaf, M. L. Martinez-Aldama, P. Marziani, S. Panda, M. Sniegowska, B. Czerny
Summary: This study investigates the scenario in which the BAL phenomenon in quasars is not a temporary stage and aims to understand the theoretical mechanism behind the massive outflow in BAL quasars. The findings support the interpretation of the BAL phenomenon as the result of the orientation of the source and the underlying theoretical model.
ASTRONOMY & ASTROPHYSICS
(2023)
Article
Astronomy & Astrophysics
Paola Marziani, Swayamtrupta Panda, Alice Deconto Machado, Ascension Del Olmo
Summary: The optical and UV properties of radio-quiet and radio-loud active galactic nuclei (AGN) are different, but it is unclear whether the differences are due to sample selection or intrinsic differences in their emitting regions. Recent studies have shown that strong Feii emitters require high metal content. However, the chemical composition of jetted radio-loud sources is not well understood. This study presents a pilot analysis of the chemical composition of low-z radio-loud and radio-quiet quasars.
Article
Astronomy & Astrophysics
Marzena Sniegowska, Swayamtrupta Panda, Bozena Czerny, Dorge Savic, Mary Loli Martinez-Aldama, Paola Marziani, Jian-Min Wang, Pu Du, Luka C. Popovic, Chandra Shekhar Saraf
Summary: Narrow-line Seyfert 1 (NLSy1) galaxies have high Eddington ratios and relatively small black hole masses. The measurement of these black hole masses is influenced by the viewing angles inferred from spectropolarimetric measurements. The use of spectral decomposition and fitting techniques allows for modeling of the natural and polarized spectra around the H alpha region, providing insight into the physical conditions of the line-emitting gas and the scattering medium responsible for the polarization of the H alpha emission line.
ASTRONOMY & ASTROPHYSICS
(2023)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Paola Marziani
Summary: This study explains the distinct behaviors of blue- and redshifted broad emission-line shifts in active galactic nuclei (AGN) by considering the balance between radiation and gravitational forces. Blueshifts occur in high Eddington ratios and high luminosities AGN, while redshifts are observed in low Eddington ratios Balmer emission lines.
Article
Astronomy & Astrophysics
Paola Marziani, Alice Deconto-Machado, Ascension Del Olmo
Summary: Gaseous outflows are a common feature in both type-1 and type-2 active galactic nuclei, observed through the Doppler effect causing emission features to shift to higher frequencies. However, the observational characteristics of these outflows are often unclear and it is difficult to isolate their contribution in integrated spectra.