Files and links (2)
Published, Version of Record (VoR)Open Access (License Unspecified), Open
Journal article
Weak-Line Quasars at High Redshift: Extremely High Accretion Rates or Anemic Broad-Line Regions?
Astrophysical journal. Letters, v 722(2), pp L152-L156
10 Sep 2010
Abstract
We present Gemini-North K-band spectra of two representative members of the
class of high-redshift quasars with exceptionally weak rest-frame ultraviolet
emission lines (WLQs), SDSS J114153.34+021924.3 at z=3.55 and SDSS
J123743.08+630144.9 at z=3.49. In both sources we detect an unusually weak
broad H_beta line and we place tight upper limits on the strengths of their [O
III] lines. Virial, H_beta-based black-hole mass determinations indicate
normalized accretion rates of L/L_Edd=0.4 for these sources, which is well
within the range observed for typical quasars with similar luminosities and
redshifts. We also present high-quality XMM-Newton imaging spectroscopy of SDSS
J114153.34+021924.3 and find a hard-X-ray photon index of
Gamma=1.91^{+0.24}_{-0.22} which supports the virial L/L_Edd determination in
this source. Our results suggest that the weakness of the broad-emission lines
in WLQs is not a consequence of an extreme continuum-emission source but
instead due to abnormal broad-emission line region properties.
Metrics
Details
- Title
- Weak-Line Quasars at High Redshift: Extremely High Accretion Rates or Anemic Broad-Line Regions?
- Creators
- Ohad Shemmer - University of North TexasBenny Trakhtenbrot - Tel Aviv UniversityScott F Anderson - University of WashingtonW. N Brandt - Pennsylvania State UniversityAleksandar M Diamond-Stanic - University of ArizonaXiaohui Fan - University of ArizonaPaulina Lira - University of ChileHagai Netzer - Tel Aviv UniversityRichard M Plotkin - University of AmsterdamGordon T Richards - Drexel UniversityDonald P Schneider - Pennsylvania State UniversityMichael A Strauss - Princeton University
- Publication Details
- Astrophysical journal. Letters, v 722(2), pp L152-L156
- Publisher
- Institute of Physics (IOP)
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Language
- English
- Academic Unit
- Physics
- Web of Science ID
- WOS:000282909200006
- Scopus ID
- 2-s2.0-78649287921
- Other Identifier
- 991019168412404721
InCites Highlights
Data related to this publication, from InCites Benchmarking & Analytics tool:
- Collaboration types
- Domestic collaboration
- International collaboration
- Web of Science research areas
- Astronomy & Astrophysics