- ID:
- ivo://CDS.VizieR/J/ApJ/882/4
- Title:
- SDSS-RM project: H{alpha}, H{beta} & MgII lines
- Short Name:
- J/ApJ/882/4
- Date:
- 21 Oct 2021
- Publisher:
- CDS
- Description:
- The width of the broad emission lines in quasars is commonly characterized by either the FWHM or the square root of the second moment of the line profile ({sigma}line) and used as an indicator of the virial velocity of the broad-line region (BLR) in the estimation of black hole (BH) mass. We measure FWHM and {sigma}line for H{alpha}, H{beta}, and MgII broad lines in both the mean and rms spectra of a large sample of quasars from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Reverberation Mapping project. We introduce a new quantitative recipe to measure {sigma}line that is reproducible, is less susceptible to noise and blending in the wings, and scales with the intrinsic width of the line. We compare the four definitions of line width (FWHM and {sigma}line in mean and rms spectra, respectively) for each of the three broad lines and among different lines. There are strong correlations among different width definitions for each line, providing justification for using the line width measured in single-epoch spectroscopy as a virial velocity indicator. There are also strong correlations among different lines, suggesting that alternative lines to H{beta} can be used to estimate virial BH masses. We further investigate the correlations between virial BH masses using different line width definitions and the stellar velocity dispersion of the host galaxies and the dependence of line shape (characterized by the ratio FWHM/{sigma}line) on physical properties of the quasar. Our results provide further evidence that FWHM is more sensitive to the orientation of a flattened BLR geometry than {sigma}line, but the overall comparison between the virial BH mass and host stellar velocity dispersion does not provide conclusive evidence that one particular width definition is significantly better than the others.
Number of results to display per page
Search Results
- ID:
- ivo://CDS.VizieR/J/ApJ/831/7
- Title:
- SDSS-RM project: peak velocities of QSOs
- Short Name:
- J/ApJ/831/7
- Date:
- 21 Oct 2021
- Publisher:
- CDS
- Description:
- Quasar emission lines are often shifted from the systemic velocity due to various dynamical and radiative processes in the line-emitting region. The level of these velocity shifts depends both on the line species and on quasar properties. We study velocity shifts for the line peaks (not the centroids) of various narrow and broad quasar emission lines relative to systemic using a sample of 849 quasars from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Reverberation Mapping (SDSS-RM) project. The coadded (from 32 epochs) spectra of individual quasars have sufficient signal-to-noise ratio (S/N) to measure stellar absorption lines to provide reliable systemic velocity estimates, as well as weak narrow emission lines. The large dynamic range in quasar luminosity (~2dex) of the sample allowed us to explore potential luminosity dependence of the velocity shifts. We derive average line peak velocity shifts as a function of quasar luminosity for different lines, and quantify their intrinsic scatter. We further quantify how well the peak velocity can be measured as a function of continuum S/N, and demonstrate that there is no systematic bias in the velocity measurements when S/N is degraded to as low as ~3 per SDSS pixel (~69kms/s). Based on the observed line shifts, we provide empirical guidelines on redshift estimation from [OII]{lambda}3727, [OIII]{lambda}5007, [NeV]{lambda}3426, MgII, CIII], HeII{lambda}1640, broad H{beta}, CIV, and SiIV, which are calibrated to provide unbiased systemic redshifts in the mean, but with increasing intrinsic uncertainties of 46, 56, 119, 205, 233, 242, 400, 415, and 477kms/s, in addition to the measurement uncertainties. These results demonstrate the infeasibility of measuring quasar redshifts to better than ~200kms/s with only broad lines.
- ID:
- ivo://CDS.VizieR/J/ApJS/216/4
- Title:
- SDSS-RM project: technical overview
- Short Name:
- J/ApJS/216/4
- Date:
- 21 Oct 2021
- Publisher:
- CDS
- Description:
- The Sloan Digital Sky Survey Reverberation Mapping (SDSS-RM) project is a dedicated multi-object RM experiment that has spectroscopically monitored a sample of 849 broad-line quasars in a single 7deg^2^ field with the SDSS-III Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey spectrograph. The RM quasar sample is flux-limited to i_psf_=21.7mag, and covers a redshift range of 0.1<z<4.5 without any other cuts on quasar properties. Optical spectroscopy was performed during 2014 January-July dark/gray time, with an average cadence of ~4 days, totaling more than 30 epochs. Supporting photometric monitoring in the g and i bands was conducted at multiple facilities including the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope (CFHT) and the Steward Observatory Bok telescope in 2014, with a cadence of ~2 days and covering all lunar phases. The RM field (RAJ2000=14:14:49.00, DEJ2000=+53:05:00.0) lies within the CFHT-LS W3 field, and coincides with the Pan-STARRS 1 (PS1) Medium Deep Field MD07, with three prior years of multi-band PS1 light curves. The SDSS-RM six month baseline program aims to detect time lags between the quasar continuum and broad line region (BLR) variability on timescales of up to several months (in the observed frame) for ~10% of the sample, and to anchor the time baseline for continued monitoring in the future to detect lags on longer timescales and at higher redshift. SDSS-RM is the first major program to systematically explore the potential of RM for broad-line quasars at z>0.3, and will investigate the prospects of RM with all major broad lines covered in optical spectroscopy.
- ID:
- ivo://CDS.VizieR/J/ApJ/811/91
- Title:
- SDSS-RM project: z<1 QSO host galaxies
- Short Name:
- J/ApJ/811/91
- Date:
- 21 Oct 2021
- Publisher:
- CDS
- Description:
- Quasar host galaxies are key for understanding the relation between galaxies and the supermassive black holes (SMBHs) at their centers. We present a study of 191 broad-line quasars and their host galaxies at z<1 using high signal-to-noise ratio (S/N) spectra produced by the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Reverberation Mapping project. Clear detection of stellar absorption lines allows a reliable decomposition of the observed spectra into nuclear and host components, using spectral models of quasar and stellar radiations as well as emission lines from the interstellar medium. We estimate age, mass M*, and velocity dispersion {sigma}* of the host stars, the star formation rate (SFR), quasar luminosity, and SMBH mass M_{dot}_ for each object. The quasars are preferentially hosted by massive galaxies with M*~10^11^M_{sun}_ characterized by stellar ages around 1 billion yr, which coincides with the transition phase of normal galaxies from the blue cloud to the red sequence. The host galaxies have relatively low SFRs and fall below the main sequence of star-forming galaxies at similar redshifts. These facts suggest that the hosts have experienced an episode of major star formation sometime in the past 1 billion yr, which was subsequently quenched or suppressed. The derived M_{dot}_-{sigma}* and M_{dot}_-M* relations agree with our past measurements and are consistent with no evolution from the local universe. The present analysis demonstrates that reliable measurements of stellar properties of quasar host galaxies are possible with high-S/N fiber spectra, which will be acquired in large numbers with future powerful instruments such as the Subaru Prime Focus Spectrograph.
- ID:
- ivo://CDS.VizieR/J/ApJ/758/1
- Title:
- SDSS-Spitzer AGN properties
- Short Name:
- J/ApJ/758/1
- Date:
- 21 Oct 2021
- Publisher:
- CDS
- Description:
- We study a combined sample of 264 star-forming, 51 composite, and 73 active galaxies using optical spectra from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) and mid-infrared (mid-IR) spectra from the Spitzer Infrared Spectrograph. We examine optical and mid-IR spectroscopic diagnostics that probe the amount of star formation and relative energetic contributions from star formation and an active galactic nucleus (AGN). Overall we find good agreement between optical and mid-IR diagnostics. Misclassifications of galaxies based on the SDSS spectra are rare despite the presence of dust obscuration. The luminosity of the [Ne II] 12.8{mu}m emission line is well correlated with the star formation rate measured from the SDSS spectra, and this holds for the star-forming, composite, and AGN-dominated systems. AGNs show a clear excess of [Ne III] 15.6{mu}m emission relative to star-forming and composite systems. We find good qualitative agreement between various parameters that probe the relative contributions of the AGN and star formation, including the mid-IR spectral slope, the ratio of the [Ne V] 14.3{mu}m to [Ne II] 12.8{mu}m fluxes, the equivalent widths of the 7.7{mu}m, 11.3{mu}m, and 17{mu}m polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) features, and the optical "D" parameter which measures the distance at which a source lies from the locus of star-forming galaxies in the optical BPT emission-line diagnostic diagram. We also consider the behavior of the three individual PAH features by examining how their flux ratios depend upon the degree of AGN dominance. We find that the PAH 11.3{mu}m feature is significantly suppressed in the most AGN-dominated systems.
- ID:
- ivo://CDS.VizieR/J/AJ/141/90
- Title:
- SEGUE stellar parameter pipeline. V.
- Short Name:
- J/AJ/141/90
- Date:
- 21 Oct 2021
- Publisher:
- CDS
- Description:
- We present a method for the determination of [{alpha}/Fe] ratios from low-resolution (R=2000) SDSS/SEGUE stellar spectra. By means of a star-by-star comparison with degraded spectra from the ELODIE spectral library and with a set of moderately high-resolution (R=15000) and medium-resolution (R=6000) spectra of SDSS/SEGUE stars, we demonstrate that we are able to measure [{alpha}/Fe] from SDSS/SEGUE spectra (with S/N>20/1) to a precision of better than 0.1dex, for stars with atmospheric parameters in the range Teff=[4500,7000]K, logg=[1.5,5.0], and [Fe/H]=[-1.4,+0.3], over the range [{alpha}/Fe]=[-0.1,+0.6]. For stars with [Fe/H]<-1.4, our method requires spectra with slightly higher signal-to-noise to achieve this precision (S/N>25/1).
- ID:
- ivo://CDS.VizieR/J/ApJ/882/9
- Title:
- SFR & gas-phase metallicity in MaNGA gal.
- Short Name:
- J/ApJ/882/9
- Date:
- 21 Oct 2021
- Publisher:
- CDS
- Description:
- The role of gas accretion in galaxy evolution is still a matter of debate. The presence of inflows of metal-poor gas that trigger star formation bursts of low metallicity has been proposed as an explanation for the local anticorrelation between star formation rate (SFR) and gas-phase metallicity (Z_g_) found in the literature. In the present study, we show how the anticorrelation is also present as part of a diversified range of behaviors for a sample of more than 700 nearby spiral galaxies from the SDSS-IV MaNGA survey. We have characterized the local relation between SFR and Z_g_ after subtracting the azimuthally averaged radial profiles of both quantities. Of the analyzed galaxies, 60% display an SFR-Z_g_ anticorrelation, with the remaining 40% showing no correlation (19%) or positive correlation (21%). Applying a random forest machine-learning algorithm, we find that the slope of the correlation is mainly determined by the average gas-phase metallicity of the galaxy. Galaxy mass, g-r colors, stellar age, and mass density seem to play a less significant role. This result is supported by the performed second-order polynomial regression analysis. Thus, the local SFR-Z_g_ slope varies with the average metallicity, with the more metal-poor galaxies presenting the lowest slopes (i.e., the strongest SFR-Z_g_ anticorrelations), and reversing the relation for more metal-rich systems. Our results suggest that external gas accretion fuels star formation in metal-poor galaxies, whereas in metal-rich systems, the gas comes from previous star formation episodes.
- ID:
- ivo://CDS.VizieR/J/ApJS/213/35
- Title:
- SHELS: complete galaxy redshift survey for R<=20.6
- Short Name:
- J/ApJS/213/35
- Date:
- 21 Oct 2021
- Publisher:
- CDS
- Description:
- The SHELS (Smithsonian Hectospec Lensing Survey) is a complete redshift survey covering two well-separated fields (F1 and F2) of the Deep Lens Survey to a limiting R=20.6. Here we describe the redshift survey of the F2 field (RA_J2000_=09h19m32.4s and DE_J2000_=+30{deg}00'00"). The survey includes 16294 new redshifts measured with the Hectospec on the MMT. The resulting survey of the 4deg^2^ F2 field is 95% complete to R=20.6, currently the densest survey to this magnitude limit. The median survey redshift is z=0.3; the survey provides a view of structure in the range 0.1<~z<~0.6. An animation displays the large-scale structure in the survey region. We provide a redshift, spectral index D_n_4000, and stellar mass for each galaxy in the survey. We also provide a metallicity for each galaxy in the range 0.2<z<0.38. To demonstrate potential applications of the survey, we examine the behavior of the index D_n_4000 as a function of galaxy luminosity, stellar mass, and redshift. The known evolutionary and stellar mass dependent properties of the galaxy population are cleanly evident in the data. We also show that the mass-metallicity relation previously determined from these data is robust to the analysis approach.
- ID:
- ivo://CDS.VizieR/J/ApJS/224/11
- Title:
- SHELS: redshift survey of the F1 DLS field
- Short Name:
- J/ApJS/224/11
- Date:
- 21 Oct 2021
- Publisher:
- CDS
- Description:
- The Smithsonian Hectospec Lensing Survey (SHELS) is a complete redshift survey covering two well-separated fields (F1 and F2) of the Deep Lens Survey (DLS). Both fields are more than 94% complete to a Galactic extinction corrected R_0_=20.2. Here, we describe the redshift survey of the F1 field centered at RA=00:53:25.3 and DEC=12:33:55 (J2000); like F2, the F1 field covers ~4deg^2^. The redshift survey of the F1 field includes 9426 new galaxy redshifts measured with Hectospec on the MMT (published here). As a guide to future uses of the combined survey, we compare the mass metallicity relation and the distributions of D_n_4000 as a function of stellar mass and redshift for the two fields. The mass-metallicity relations differ by an insignificant 1.6{sigma}. For galaxies in the stellar mass range 10^10^-10^11^M_{sun}_, the increase in the star-forming fraction with redshift is remarkably similar in the two fields. The seemingly surprising 31%-38% difference in the overall galaxy counts in F1 and F2 is probably consistent with the expected cosmic variance given the subtleties of the relative systematics in the two surveys. We also review the DLS cluster detections in the two fields: poorer photometric data for F1 precluded secure detection of the single massive cluster at z=0.35 that we find in SHELS. Taken together, the two fields include 16055 redshifts for galaxies with R_0_<=20.2 and 20754 redshifts for galaxies with R<=20.6. These dense surveys in two well-separated fields provide a basis for future investigations of galaxy properties and large-scale structure.
- ID:
- ivo://CDS.VizieR/J/ApJ/861/94
- Title:
- SHINING I. Survey observational trends
- Short Name:
- J/ApJ/861/94
- Date:
- 21 Oct 2021
- Publisher:
- CDS
- Description:
- We use the Herschel/PACS spectrometer to study the global and spatially resolved far-infrared (FIR) fine-structure line emission in a sample of 52 galaxies that constitute the SHINING survey. These galaxies include star-forming, active-galactic nuclei (AGNs), and luminous infrared galaxies (LIRGs). We find an increasing number of galaxies (and kiloparsec-size regions within galaxies) with low line-to-FIR continuum ratios as a function of increasing FIR luminosity (LFIR), dust infrared color, LFIR to molecular gas mass ratio (LFIR/Mmol), and FIR surface brightness ({Sigma}FIR). The correlations between the [CII]/FIR or [OI]/FIR ratios with {Sigma}FIR are remarkably tight (~0.3dex scatter over almost four orders of magnitude in {Sigma}FIR). We observe that galaxies with L_FIR_/M_mol_>~80L_{sun}_/M_{sun}_ and {Sigma}FIR>~10^11^L_{sun}_/kpc^2^ tend to have weak fine-structure line-to-FIR continuum ratios, and that LIRGs with infrared sizes >~1kpc have line-to-FIR ratios comparable to those observed in typical star-forming galaxies. We analyze the physical mechanisms driving these trends in Paper II. The combined analysis of the [CII], [NII]122{mu}m, and [OIII]88{mu}m lines reveals that the fraction of the [CII] line emission that arises from neutral gas increases from 60% to 90% in the most active star-forming regions and that the emission originating in the ionized gas is associated with low-ionization, diffuse gas rather than with dense gas in HII regions. Finally, we report the global and spatially resolved line fluxes of the SHINING galaxies to enable the comparison and planning of future local and high-z studies.