Reverberation mapping of optical emission lines in five active galaxies

We present the first results from an optical reverberation mapping campaign executed in 2014 targeting the active galactic nuclei (AGNs) MCG+08-11-011, NGC 2617, NGC 4051, 3C 382, and Mrk 374. Our targets have diverse and interesting observational properties, including a "changing look" AGN and a broad-line radio galaxy. Based on continuum-Hβ lags, we measure black hole masses for all five targets. We also obtain Hγ and He ii λ4686 lags for all objects except 3C 382. The He ii λ4686 lags indicate radial stratification of the BLR, and the masses derived from different emission lines are in general agreement. The relative responsivities of these lines are also in qualitative agreement with photoionization models. These spectra have extremely high signal-to-noise ratios (100–300 per pixel) and there are excellent prospects for obtaining velocity-resolved reverberation signatures.

Citation

Fausnaugh , M M , Grier , C J , Bentz , M C , Denney , K D , Rosa , G D , Peterson , B M , Kochanek , C S , Pogge , R W , Adams , S M , Barth , A J , Beatty , T G , Bhattacharjee , A , Borman , G A , Boroson , T A , Bottorff , M C , Brown , J E , Brown , J S , Brotherton , M S , Coker , C T , Crawford , S M , Croxall , K V , Eftekharzadeh , S , Eracleous , M , Joner , M D , Henderson , C B , Holoien , T W -S , Horne , K , Hutchison , T , Kaspi , S , Kim , S , King , A L , Li , M , Lochhaas , C , Ma , Z , MacInnis , F , Manne-Nicholas , E R , Mason , M , Montuori , C , Mosquera , A , Mudd , D , Musso , R , Nazarov , S V , Nguyen , M L , Okhmat , D N , Onken , C A , Ou-Yang , B , Pancoast , A , Pei , L , Penny , M T , Poleski , R , Rafter , S , Romero-Colmenero , E , Runnoe , J , Sand , D J , Schimoia , J S , Sergeev , S G , Shappee , B J , Simonian , G V , Somers , G , Spencer , M , Starkey , D , Stevens , D J , Tayar , J , Treu , T , Valenti , S , Saders , J V , Villanueva, Jr , S , Villforth , C , Weiss , Y , Winkler , H & Zhu , W 2017 , ' Reverberation mapping of optical emission lines in five active galaxies ' , Astrophysical Journal , vol. 840 , no. 2 , 97 . https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/aa6d52

Publication

Astrophysical Journal

Status

Peer reviewed

DOI

https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/aa6d52

ISSN

0004-637X

Type

Journal article

Rights

© 2017. The American Astronomical Society. Original content from this work may be used under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 licence. Any further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the title of the work, journal citation and DOI

Description

For a video summarizing the main results, see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KaC-jPsIY0Q