Browsing by Author "Ni, Q."

Now showing 1 - 5 of 5
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    An Extreme X-Ray Variability Event of a Weak-line Quasar
    (2020) Ni, Q.; Brandt, W. N.; Yi, W.; Luo, B.; Timlin, J. D., III; Hall, P. B.; Liu, Hezhen; Plotkin, R. M.; Shemmer, O.; Vito, F.; Wu, Jianfeng
    We report the discovery of an extreme X-ray flux rise (by a factor of greater than or similar to 20) of the weak-line quasar Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) J153913.47+395423.4 (hereafter SDSS J1539+3954) at z = 1.935. SDSS J1539+3954 is the most-luminous object among radio-quiet type 1 active galactic nuclei (AGNs) where such dramatic X-ray variability has been observed. Before the X-ray flux rise, SDSS J1539+3954 appeared X-ray weak compared with the expectation from its ultraviolet (UV) flux; after the rise, the ratio of its X-ray flux and UV flux is consistent with the majority of the AGN population. We also present a contemporaneous HET spectrum of SDSS J1539+3954, which demonstrates that its UV continuum level remains generally unchanged despite the dramatic increase in the X-ray flux, and its C IV emission line remains weak. The dramatic change only observed in the X-ray flux is consistent with a shielding model, where a thick inner accretion disk can block our line of sight to the central X-ray source. This thick inner accretion disk can also block the nuclear ionizing photons from reaching the high-ionization broad emission-line region, so that weak high-ionization emission lines are observed. Under this scenario, the extreme X-ray variability event may be caused by slight variations in the thickness of the disk. This event might also be explained by gravitational light-bending effects in a reflection model.
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    Broad Absorption Line Disappearance/Emergence in Multiple Ions in a Weak Emission-line Quasar
    (2019) Yi, W.; Vivek, M.; Brandt, W. N.; Wang, T.; Timlin, J.; Ak, N. Filiz; Schneider, D. P.; Fynbo, J. P. U.; Ni, Q.; Vito, F.; Indahl, B. L.; Sameer
    We report the discovery of the disappearance of Mg II, Al III, C IV, and Si IV broad absorption lines (BALs) at the same velocity (0.07c), accompanied by a new C IV BAL emerging at a higher velocity (up to 0.11c), in the quasar J0827+4252 at z = 2.038. This is the first report of BAL disappearance (i) over Mg II, Al III, C IV, and Si IV ions and (ii) in a weak emission-line quasar (WLQ). The discovery is based on four spectra from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey and one follow-up spectrum from Hobby-Eberly Telescope/Low-Resolution Spectrograph-2. The simultaneous C IV BAL disappearance and emergence at different velocities, together with no variations in the Catalina Real-Time Transient Survey light curve, indicate that ionization changes in the absorbing material are unlikely to cause the observed BAL variability. Our analyses reveal that transverse motion is the most likely dominant driver of the BAL disappearance/emergence. Given the presence of mildly relativistic BAL outflows and an apparently large C IV emission-line blueshift that is likely associated with strong bulk outflows in this WLQ, J0827+4252 provides a notable opportunity to study extreme quasar winds and their potential in expelling material from inner to large-scale regions.
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    Does black hole growth depend fundamentally on host-galaxy compactness?
    (2019) Ni, Q.; Yang, G.; Brandt, W. N.; Alexander, D. M.; Chen, C-T J.; Luo, B.; Vito, F.; Xue, Y. Q.
    Possible connections between central black hole (BH) growth and host-galaxy compactness have been found observationally, which may provide insight into BH-galaxy coevolution: compact galaxies might have large amounts of gas in their centres due to their high mass-to-size ratios, and simulations predict that high central gas density can boost BH accretion. However, it is not yet clear if BH growth is fundamentally related to the compactness of the host galaxy, due to observational degeneracies between compactness, stellar mass (M-star) and star formation rate (SFR). To break these degeneracies, we carry out systematic partial-correlation studies to investigate the dependence of sample-averaged BH accretion rate ((BHAR) over bar) on the compactness of host galaxies, represented by the surface-mass density, Sigma(e), or the projected central surface-mass density within 1 kpc, Sigma(1). We utilize 8842 galaxies with H < 24.5 in the five CANDELS fields at z = 0.5-3. We find that <(BHAR)over bar> does not significantly depend on compactness when controlling for SFR or M-star among bulge-dominated galaxies and galaxies that are not dominated by bulges, respectively. However, when testing is confined to star-forming galaxies at z = 0.5-1.5, we find that the (BHAR) over bar-Sigma(1) relation is not simply a secondary manifestation of a primary (BHAR) over bar -M-star relation, which may indicate a link between BH growth and the gas density within the central 1 kpc of galaxies.
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    Evident black hole-bulge coevolution in the distant universe
    (2019) Yang, G.; Brandt, W. N.; Alexander, D. M.; Chen, C. -T. J.; Ni, Q.; Vito, F.; Zhu, F. -F.
    Observations in the local universe show a tight correlation between the masses of supermassive black holes (SMBHs; M-BH) and host-galaxy bulges (M-bulge), suggesting a strong connection between SMBH and bulge growth. However, direct evidence for such a connection in the distant universe remains elusive. We have studied sample-averaged SMBH accretion rate ((BHAR) over bar) for bulge-dominated galaxies at z = 0.5-3. While previous observations found (BHAR) over bar is strongly related to host-galaxy stellar mass (M-star) for the overall galaxy population, our analyses show that, for the bulge-dominated population, (BHAR) over bar is mainly related to SFR rather than M-star. This (BHAR) over bar -SFR relation is highly significant, e.g. 9.0 sigma (Pearson statistic) at z = 0.5-1.5. Such a (BHAR) over bar -SFR connection does not exist among our comparison sample of galaxies that are not bulge dominated, for which M-star appears to be the main determinant of SMBH accretion. This difference between the bulge-dominated and comparison samples indicates that SMBHs only coevolve with bulges rather than the entire galaxies, explaining the tightness of the local M-BH - M-bulge correlation. Our best-fitting (BHAR) over bar -SFR relation for the bulge-dominated sample is log (BHAR) over bar = log SFR - (2.48 +/- 0.05) (solar units). The best-fitting (BHAR) over bar /SFR ratio (10(-2.48)) for bulge-dominated galaxies is similar to the observed M-BH/M-bulge values in the local universe. Our results reveal that SMBH and bulge growth are in lockstep, and thus non-causal scenarios of merger averaging are unlikely the origin of the M-BH-M-bulge correlation. This lockstep growth also predicts that the M-BH-M-bulge relation should not have strong redshift dependence.
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    Revealing the relation between black hole growth and host-galaxy compactness among star-forming galaxies
    (2021) Ni, Q.; Brandt, W. N.; Yang, G.; Leja, J.; Chen, C-T J.; Luo, B.; Matharu, J.; Sun, M.; Vito, F.; Xue, Y. Q.; Zhang, K.
    Recent studies show that a universal relation between black hole (BH) growth and stellar mass (M-*) or star formation rate (SFR) is an oversimplification of BH-galaxy coevolution, and that morphological and structural properties of host galaxies must also be considered. Particularly, a possible connection between BH growth and host-galaxy compactness was identified among star-forming (SF) galaxies. Utilizing approximate to 6300 massive galaxies with I-814W < 24 at z < 1.2 in the Cosmic Evolution Survey (COSMOS) field, we perform systematic partial correlation analyses to investigate how sample-averaged BH accretion rate (BHAR) depends on host-galaxy compactness among SF galaxies, when controlling for morphology and M-* (or SFR). The projected central surface mass density within 1 kpc, Sigma(1), is utilized to represent host-galaxy compactness in our study. We find that the BHAR-Sigma(1) relation is stronger than either the BHAR-M-* or BHAR-SFR relation among SF galaxies, and this BHAR-Sigma(1) relation applies to both bulge-dominated galaxies and galaxies that are not dominated by bulges. This BHAR-Sigma(1) relation among SF galaxies suggests a link between BH growth and the central gas density of host galaxies on the kpc scale, which may further imply a common origin of the gas in the vicinity of the BH and in the central similar to kpc of the galaxy. This BHAR-Sigma(1) relation can also be interpreted as the relation between BH growth and the central velocity dispersion of host galaxies at a given gas content (i.e. gas mass fraction), indicating the role of the host-galaxy potential well in regulating accretion on to the BH.