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701. Quasars narrow absorption lines from SDSS
ID:
ivo://CDS.VizieR/J/MNRAS/450/3904
Title:
Quasars narrow absorption lines from SDSS
Short Name:
J/MNRAS/450/3904
Date:
21 Oct 2021
Publisher:
CDS
Description:
We assemble 3524 quasars from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) with repeated observations to search for variations of the narrow C IV {lambda}{lambda}1548, 1551 and Mg II {lambda}{lambda}2796, 2803 absorption doublets in spectral regions shortward of 7000{AA} in the observed frame, which corresponds to time-scales of about 150-2643d in the quasar rest frame. In these quasar spectra, we detect 3580 CIV absorption systems with z_abs_=1.5188-3.5212 and 1809 MgII absorption systems with z_abs_=0.3948-1.7167. In term of the absorber velocity ({beta}) distribution in the quasar rest frame, we find a substantial number of CIV absorbers with {beta}<0.06, which might be connected to absorption of quasar outflows. The outflow absorption peaks at {upsilon}~2000km/s and drops rapidly below this peak value. Among 3580 CIV absorption systems, 52 systems (~1.5 percent) show obvious variations in equivalent widths in the absorber rest frame (W_r_): 16 enhanced, 16 emerged, 12 weakened and 8 disappeared systems, respectively. We find that changes in W_r_{lambda}1548 are related neither to the time-scales of the two SDSS observations nor to absorber velocities in the quasar rest frame. Variable absorption in low-ionization species is important to constrain the physical conditions of the absorbing gas. There are two variable MgII absorption systems measured from SDSS spectra detected by Hacker et al. (2013, J/MNRAS/434/163). However, in our MgII absorption sample, we find that neither shows variable absorption with confident levels of >4{sigma} for {lambda}2796 lines and >3{sigma} for {lambda}2803 lines.
702. Quasars narrow absorption lines from SDSS
ID:
ivo://CDS.VizieR/J/MNRAS/468/L6
Title:
Quasars narrow absorption lines from SDSS
Short Name:
J/MNRAS/468/L6
Date:
21 Oct 2021
Publisher:
CDS
Description:
In this Letter, we report the discovery of a strong correlation between the variability of narrow absorption lines (NALs) and the ionizing continuum from a two-epoch spectral sample of 40 quasars containing 52 variable CIV {lambda}{lambda}1548, 1551 absorption doublets. According to the concordance index, this sample is classified into two subsamples. Subsample I shows an anti-correlation between the variations of absorption lines and the continuum, while Subsample II exhibits a positive correlation. These results imply that these variable CIV {lambda}{lambda}1548, 1551 absorption doublets are intrinsic to the corresponding quasars and that their variations are caused primarily by the fluctuations of the ionizing continuum. Based on our analysis, we propose that there might be two kinds of absorption gas: one that is very sensitive to the continuum variations, and another that is not. In addition, we suggest that in many cases the emergence or disappearance of NALs is caused by fluctuations of the ionizing continuum.
703. Quasars properties and reverberation mapping
ID:
ivo://CDS.VizieR/J/ApJ/801/45
Title:
Quasars properties and reverberation mapping
Short Name:
J/ApJ/801/45
Date:
21 Oct 2021
Publisher:
CDS
Description:
We explore the practical feasibility of active galactic nucleus (AGN) broadband reverberation mapping and present first results. We lay out and apply a rigorous approach for the stochastic reverberation mapping of unevenly sampled multi-broadband flux measurements, assuming that the broad-line region (BLR) line flux is contributing up to 15% in some bands, and is directly constrained by one spectroscopical epoch. The approach describes variations of the observed flux as the continuum, modeled as a stochastic Gaussian process, and emission line contribution, modeled as a scaled, smoothed, and delayed version of the continuum. This approach can be used not only to interpolate in time between measurements, but also to determine confidence limits on continuum-line emission delays. This approach is applied to Sloan Digital Sky Survey observations in Stripe 82 (S82), providing flux measurements that are precise to 2% at ~60 epochs over ~10 yr. The strong annual variations in the epoch sampling prove a serious limitation in practice. In addition, suitable redshift ranges must be identified where strong, broad emission lines contribute to one filter, but not to another. By generating and evaluating problem-specific mock data, we verify that S82-like data can constrain {tau}_delay_ for a simple transfer function model. In application to real data, we estimate {tau}_delay_ for 323 AGNs with 0.225<z<0.846, combining information for different objects through the ensemble-scaling relationships for BLR size and black hole mass. Our analysis tentatively indicates a 1.7 times larger BLR size of H{alpha} and Mg II compared to Kaspi et al. (2000ApJ...533..631K; 2007ApJ...659..997K) and Vestergaard (2002ApJ...571..733V; 2006ApJ...641..689V), but the seasonal data sampling casts doubt on the robustness of the inference.
704. Quasars with strong nitrogen emission lines
ID:
ivo://CDS.VizieR/J/ApJ/679/962
Title:
Quasars with strong nitrogen emission lines
Short Name:
J/ApJ/679/962
Date:
21 Oct 2021
Publisher:
CDS
Description:
We report on 293 quasars with strong NIV] {lambda}1486 or NIII] {lambda}1750 emission lines (rest-frame equivalent width >3{AA}) at 1.7<z<4.0 selected from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) Fifth Data Release (Cat. VII/252). These nitrogen-rich (N-rich) objects comprise ~1.1% of the SDSS quasars. The comparison between the N-rich quasars and other quasars shows that the two quasar subsets share many common properties. We also confirm previous results that N-rich quasars have much stronger Ly{alpha} and NV {lambda}1240 emission lines. Strong nitrogen emission in all ionization states indicates high overall nitrogen abundances in these objects. We find evidence that the nitrogen abundance is closely related to quasar radio properties.
705. Quasar variability
ID:
ivo://CDS.VizieR/J/A+AS/143/465
Title:
Quasar variability
Short Name:
J/A+AS/143/465
Date:
21 Oct 2021
Publisher:
CDS
Description:
The relation between quasar variability and parameters such as luminosity and redshift has been a matter of hot debate over the last few years with many papers on the subject. Any correlations which can be established will have a profound effect on models of quasar structure and evolution. The sample of quasars with redshifts in ESO/SERC field 287 contains over 600 quasars in the range 0<z<3.5 and is now large enough to bin in luminosity and redshift, and give definitive measures of the correlations. We find no significant correlation between amplitude and redshift, except perhaps at very low redshift, but an inverse correlation between amplitude and luminosity. This is examined in the context of various models for quasar variability.
706. Quasar variability
ID:
ivo://CDS.VizieR/J/MNRAS/375/989
Title:
Quasar variability
Short Name:
J/MNRAS/375/989
Date:
21 Oct 2021
Publisher:
CDS
Description:
In order to investigate the dependence of quasar variability on fundamental physical parameters like black hole mass, we have matched quasars from the Quasar Equatorial Survey Team, Phase 1 (QUEST1) variability survey with broad-lined objects from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. The matched sample contains 104 quasars, and the Sloan spectra are used to estimate black hole masses and bolometric luminosities. Variability amplitudes are measured from the QUEST1 light curves. We find that black hole mass correlates with several measures of the variability amplitude at the 99 per cent significance level or better. The correlation does not appear to be caused by obvious selection effects inherent to flux-limited quasar samples, host galaxy contamination or other well-known correlations between quasar variability and luminosity/redshift. We evaluate variability as a function of rest-frame time lag using structure functions and find further support for the variability-black hole mass correlation.
707. Quasar variability with SDSS and POSS imaging
ID:
ivo://CDS.VizieR/J/ApJ/753/106
Title:
Quasar variability with SDSS and POSS imaging
Short Name:
J/ApJ/753/106
Date:
11 Mar 2022 15:31:25
Publisher:
CDS
Description:
We provide a quantitative description and statistical interpretation of the optical continuum variability of quasars. The Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) has obtained repeated imaging in five UV-to-IR photometric bands for 33,881 spectroscopically confirmed quasars. About 10,000 quasars have an average of 60 observations in each band obtained over a decade along Stripe 82 (S82), whereas the remaining ~25,000 have 2-3 observations due to scan overlaps. The observed time lags span the range from a day to almost 10 years, and constrain quasar variability at rest-frame time lags of up to 4 years, and at rest-frame wavelengths from 1000{AA} to 6000{AA}. We publicly release a user-friendly catalog of quasars from the SDSS Data Release 7 that have been observed at least twice in SDSS or once in both SDSS and the Palomar Observatory Sky Survey, and we use it to analyze the ensemble properties of quasar variability. Based on a damped random walk (DRW) model defined by a characteristic timescale and an asymptotic variability amplitude that scale with the luminosity, black hole mass, and rest wavelength for individual quasars calibrated in S82, we can fully explain the ensemble variability statistics of the non-S82 quasars such as the exponential distribution of large magnitude changes. All available data are consistent with the DRW model as a viable description of the optical continuum variability of quasars on timescales of ~5-2000 days in the rest frame. We use these models to predict the incidence of quasar contamination in transient surveys such as those from the Palomar Transient Factory and Large Synoptic Survey Telescope.
708. Radio and optical properties of QSOs
ID:
ivo://CDS.VizieR/J/AJ/141/182
Title:
Radio and optical properties of QSOs
Short Name:
J/AJ/141/182
Date:
21 Oct 2021
Publisher:
CDS
Description:
Using the largest homogeneous quasar sample with high-quality optical spectra and robust radio morphology classifications assembled to date, we investigate relationships between radio and optical properties with unprecedented statistical power. The sample consists of 4714 radio quasars from FIRST with S_20_>=2mJy and with spectra from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS). Radio morphology classes include core-only (core), core-lobe (lobe), core-jet (jet), lobe-core-lobe (triple), and double-lobe.
709. Radio continuum spectra of GPS galaxies
ID:
ivo://CDS.VizieR/J/A+A/469/451
Title:
Radio continuum spectra of GPS galaxies
Short Name:
J/A+A/469/451
Date:
21 Oct 2021
Publisher:
CDS
Description:
Recent studies have shown that a remarkable share of quasars classified in the literature as gigahertz-peaked spectrum (GPS) sources and high frequency peakers (HFPs) are actually flaring flat-spectrum sources or blazars. Thus, at least among the quasar-type samples, genuine GPS sources and HFPs seem to be rare. We have studied variability and the shape of the radio continuum spectra of a sample of 96 galaxy-type GPS sources and HFPs in order to find out whether there is a similar contamination in the galaxy-type samples.
710. Radio core dominance of Fermi/LAT-detected AGNs
ID:
ivo://CDS.VizieR/VIII/108
Title:
Radio core dominance of Fermi/LAT-detected AGNs
Short Name:
VIII/108
Date:
21 Oct 2021
Publisher:
CDS
Description:
We present a sample of 4388 AGNs with available radio core-dominance parameters-defined as the ratio of the core flux densities to the extended ones, R=S_core_/S_ext._ - which includes 630 Fermi-detected AGNs from the fourth source catalog (4FGL) of the Fermi Large Area Telescope (Fermi/LAT); the rest are non-Fermi-detected AGNs. In our sample, 584 blazars are Fermi-detected and 1310 are not. The sample also contains other subclasses, such as Seyferts, Fanaroff-Riley I/II galaxies, and normal galaxies. We investigate various properties of the Fermi-detected and non-Fermi-detected AGNs by using core-dominance parameters, capitalizing on a previous study which showed that R is a good indicator of beaming. We then calculate radio spectral indices for the whole sample, and adopt {gamma}-ray-photon indices for the Fermi AGNs from the 4FGL catalog to discuss the properties of different subclasses. We obtain a relation between the core-dominance parameters and the radio spectral indices for both Fermi and non-Fermi sources, assuming a two-component model in the radio band. Our previous study ruled out the assumption that the core-dominance parameters and radio spectral indices are quite different for different AGN subclasses. This holds not only for Fermi sources but also for non-Fermi sources. In particular, R is, on average, greater for the former AGNs than for the latter. In this study, we enlarge our sample with available values of R to 4388 AGNs, and the obtained conclusions are consistent with our previous study. We assume that the same two-component model holds for the {gamma}-ray band as for the radio band, and therefore, adopt the same relation between the core-dominance parameters and the {gamma}-ray-photon indices for Fermi AGNs. Our fitting results indicate that the {gamma}-ray emissions of Fermi blazars originate mainly from the jet, and therefore, we conclude that the Fermi blazars are beamed.