Spectral variability of a sample of extreme variability quasars and implications for the Mg  ii broad-line region

Qian Yang; Yue Shen; Yu-Ching Chen; Xin Liu; James Annis; Santiago Avila; Emmanuel Bertin; David Brooks; Elizabeth Buckley-Geer; Aurelio Carnero Rosell; Matias Carrasco Kind; Jorge Carretero; Luiz da Costa; Shantanu Desai; H Thomas Diehl; Peter Doel; Josh Frieman; Juan Garcia-Bellido; Enrique Gaztanaga; David Gerdes; Daniel Gruen; Robert Gruendl; Julia Gschwend; Gaston Gutierrez; Devon L Hollowood; Klaus Honscheid; Ben Hoyle; David James; Elisabeth Krause; Kyler Kuehn; Christopher Lidman; Marcos Lima; Marcio Maia; Jennifer Marshall; Paul Martini; Felipe Menanteau; Ramon Miquel; Andrés Plazas Malagón; Eusebio Sanchez; Vic Scarpine; Rafe Schindler; Michael Schubnell; Santiago Serrano; Ignacio Sevilla; Mathew Smith; Marcelle Soares-Santos; Flavia Sobreira; Eric Suchyta; Molly Swanson; Gregory Tarle; Vinu Vikram; Alistair Walker

doi:10.1093/mnras/staa645

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Spectral variability of a sample of extreme variability quasars and implications for the Mg ii broad-line region

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Spectral variability of a sample of extreme variability quasars and implications for the Mg ii broad-line region

Qian Yang, Yue Shen, Yu-Ching Chen, Xin Liu, James Annis, Santiago Avila, Emmanuel Bertin, David Brooks, Elizabeth Buckley-Geer, Aurelio Carnero Rosell, …

Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Vol.493(4), pp.5773-5787

04/21/2020

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/staa645

Abstract

We present new Gemini/GMOS optical spectroscopy of 16 extreme variability quasars (EVQs) that dimmed by more than 1.5 mag in the g band between the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) and the Dark Energy Survey epochs (separated by a few years in the quasar rest frame). These EVQs are selected from quasars in the SDSS Stripe 82 region, covering a redshift range of 0.5 < z < 2.1. Nearly half of these EVQs brightened significantly (by more than 0.5 mag in the g band) in a few years after reaching their previous faintest state, and some EVQs showed rapid (non-blazar) variations of greater than 1–2 mag on time-scales of only months. To increase sample statistics, we use a supplemental sample of 33 EVQs with multi-epoch spectra from SDSS that cover the broad Mg ii λ2798 line. Leveraging on the large dynamic range in continuum variability between the multi-epoch spectra, we explore the associated variations in the broad Mg ii line, whose variability properties have not been well studied before. The broad Mg ii flux varies in the same direction as the continuum flux, albeit with a smaller amplitude, which indicates at least some portion of Mg ii is reverberating to continuum changes. However, the full width at half-maximum (FWHM) of Mg ii does not vary accordingly as continuum changes for most objects in the sample, in contrast to the case of the broad Balmer lines. Using the width of broad Mg ii to estimate the black hole mass with single epoch spectra therefore introduces a luminosity-dependent bias.

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Title: Spectral variability of a sample of extreme variability quasars and implications for the Mg ii broad-line region
Creators: Qian Yang - University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
Yue Shen - National Center for Supercomputing Applications
Yu-Ching Chen - University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
Xin Liu - University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
James Annis - Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory
Santiago Avila - University of Portsmouth
Emmanuel Bertin - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique
David Brooks - University College London
Elizabeth Buckley-Geer - Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, PO Box 500, Batavia, IL 60510, USA
Aurelio Carnero Rosell - Centro de Investigaciones Energéticas, Medioambientales y Tecnológicas
Matias Carrasco Kind - University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
Jorge Carretero - Institute for High Energy Physics
Luiz da Costa - Laboratório Interinstitucional de e-Astronomia
Shantanu Desai - Indian Institute of Technology Hyderabad
H Thomas Diehl - Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory
Peter Doel - University College London
Josh Frieman - Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory
Juan Garcia-Bellido - Universidad Autónoma de Madrid
Enrique Gaztanaga - Institut d'Estudis Espacials de Catalunya
David Gerdes - University of Michigan
Daniel Gruen - Kavli Institute for Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology
Robert Gruendl - National Center for Supercomputing Applications
Julia Gschwend - Laboratório Interinstitucional de e-Astronomia
Gaston Gutierrez - Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory
Devon L Hollowood - Santa Cruz Institute for Particle Physics, Santa Cruz, CA 95064, USA
Klaus Honscheid - The Ohio State University
Ben Hoyle - Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München
David James - Center for Astrophysics Harvard & Smithsonian
Elisabeth Krause - University of Arizona
Kyler Kuehn - Australian Astronomical Observatory
Christopher Lidman - Australian National University
Marcos Lima - Laboratório Interinstitucional de e-Astronomia
Marcio Maia - Laboratório Interinstitucional de e-Astronomia
Jennifer Marshall - Mitchell Institute
Paul Martini - Center for Cosmology and Astro-Particle Physics, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH 43210, USA, Department of Astronomy, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH 43210, USA
Felipe Menanteau - National Center for Supercomputing Applications
Ramon Miquel - Institució Catalana de Recerca i Estudis Avançats
Andrés Plazas Malagón - Princeton University
Eusebio Sanchez - Centro de Investigaciones Energéticas, Medioambientales y Tecnológicas
Vic Scarpine - Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory
Rafe Schindler - SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory
Michael Schubnell - University of Michigan
Santiago Serrano - Institut d'Estudis Espacials de Catalunya
Ignacio Sevilla - Centro de Investigaciones Energéticas, Medioambientales y Tecnológicas (CIEMAT), 28040 Madrid, Spain
Mathew Smith - University of Southampton
Marcelle Soares-Santos - Brandeis University, Martin A. Fisher School of Physics
Flavia Sobreira - Laboratório Interinstitucional de e-Astronomia
Eric Suchyta - Oak Ridge National Laboratory
Molly Swanson - National Center for Supercomputing Applications
Gregory Tarle - University of Michigan
Vinu Vikram - Argonne National Laboratory
Alistair Walker - Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory
Publication Details: Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Vol.493(4), pp.5773-5787
Number of pages: 15
Identifiers: 9924552850301921
Academic Unit: Martin A. Fisher School of Physics
Language: English
Resource Type: Journal article

Spectral variability of a sample of extreme variability quasars and implications for the Mg ii broad-line region

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