SDSS J094533.99+100950.1 - the remarkable weak emission line quasar

Abstract

Weak emission line quasars are a rare and puzzling group of objects. In this paper we present one more object of this class found in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS). The quasar SDSS J094533.99+100950.1, lying at z = 1.66, has practically no C IV emission line, a red continuum very similar to the second steepest of the quasar composite spectra of Richards et al., is not strongly affected by absorption and the Mg II line, although relatively weak, is strong enough to measure the black hole mass. The Eddington ratio in this object is about 0.45, and the line properties are not consistent with the trends expected at high accretion rates. We propose that the most probable explanation of the line properties in this object, and perhaps in all weak emission line quasars, is that the quasar activity has just started. A disk wind is freshly launched so the low ionization lines which form close to the disk surface are already observed but the wind has not yet reached the regions where high ionization lines or narrow line components are formed. The relatively high occurrence of such a phenomenon may additionally indicate that the quasar active phase consists of several sub-phases, each starting with a fresh build-up of the Broad Line Region.

10 pages, 3 figures, 5 tables; accepted for publication in MNRAS

References in corpus (13)

• Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) Three Year Results: Implications for Cosmology
• Biases in Virial Black Hole Masses: An SDSS Perspective
• The Sloan Digital Sky Survey Quasar Catalog IV. Fifth Data Release
• Estimating Black Hole Masses in Active Galactic Nuclei Using the MgII 2800 Emission Line
• On the Disappearance of the Broad-Line Region in Low-Luminosity Agns
• Quasars Are Not Light-Bulbs: Testing Models of Quasar Lifetimes with the Observed Eddington Ratio Distribution
• High-Redshift SDSS Quasars with Weak Emission Lines
• Mass Functions of the Active Black Holes in Distant Quasars from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Data Release 3
• Optically Selected BL Lacertae Candidates from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Data Release Seven
• Chandra Observations of the Highest Redshift Quasars from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey
• Observational Constraints on the Dependence of Radio-Quiet Quasar X-ray Emission on Black Hole Mass and Accretion Rate
• VLT/ISAAC Spectra of the H-beta Region in Intermediate-Redshift Quasars II. Black Hole Mass and Eddington Ratio
• Downsizing of supermassive black holes from the SDSS quasar survey

Cited by in corpus (35)

• Bolometric correction factors for Active Galactic Nuclei
• X-ray Insights into the Nature of PHL 1811 Analogs and Weak Emission-Line Quasars: Unification with a Geometrically Thick Accretion Disk?
• Discovery of eight z ~ 6 quasars from Pan-STARRS1
• Line driven winds and the UV turnover in AGN accretion discs
• Cold Accretion Disks and Lineless Quasars
• X-ray and Multiwavelength Insights into the Nature of Weak Emission-Line Quasars at Low Redshift
• Weak-Line Quasars at High Redshift: Extremely High Accretion Rates or Anemic Broad-Line Regions?
• Detection of Rest-frame Optical Lines from X-shooter Spectroscopy of Weak Emission Line Quasars
• First Spectroscopic Study of a Young Quasar
• Weak Emission Line Quasars in the Context of a Modified Baldwin Effect
• Connecting the X-ray properties of weak-line and typical quasars: testing for a geometrically thick accretion disk
• Constraints on the black hole spin in the quasar SDSS J094533.99+100950.1
• Multiwavelength Observations of Radio-quiet Quasars with Weak Emission Lines
• Unusual quasars from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey selected by means of Kohonen self-organising maps
• The dust origin of the Broad Line Region and the model consequences for AGN unification scheme
• Probing the Nature of High Redshift Weak Emission Line Quasars: A Young Quasar with a Starburst Host Galaxy
• A large sample of Kohonen-selected SDSS quasars with weak emission lines: selection effects and statistical properties
• Steep Hard-X-ray Spectra Indicate Extremely High Accretion Rates in Weak Emission-Line Quasars
• The Ultraviolet-to-Mid-Infrared Spectral Energy Distribution of Weak Emission Line Quasars
• The central engines of two unusual radio-intermediate/quiet active galactic nuclei: III Zw 2 and PG 1407+265
• Intranight Optical Variability of Radio-Quiet Weak Emission Line Quasars-III
• The environment of weak emission-line quasars
• SCUBA2 High Redshift Bright Quasar Survey: Far-infrared Properties and Weak-line Features
• Intranight Optical Variability of Radio-Quiet Weak Emission Line Quasars
• Exploratory Chandra observation of the ultraluminous quasar SDSS J010013.02+280225.8 at redshift 6.30
• Connecting Low- and High-Redshift Weak Emission-Line Quasars via HST Spectroscopy of Ly$\alpha$ Emission
• Black hole masses of weak emission line quasars based on continuum fit method
• Shedding New Light on Weak Emission-Line Quasars in the C${}_{\mathrm{IV}}$-H$\beta$ Parameter Space
• Multi-epoch intra-night optical monitoring of 8 radio-quiet BL Lac candidates
• Polarimetric and spectroscopic study of radio-quiet weak emission line quasars
• Evidence of under-developed torus and broad-line region of weak emission line quasars based on their spectral energy distribution
• Rarefied Broad-Line Regions in Active Galactic Nuclei: Anomalous Responses in Reverberation Mapping and Implications for Weak Emission-Line Quasars
• Intranight optical variability of radio-quiet BL Lacertae objects
• Mass of black holes: The State of the Art
• The Unusual Weak-Line Quasar PG1407+265 and its Foreground z~0.7 X-ray Cluster