Eddington Accretion and QSO Emission Lines at z ~ 2

Abstract

Broad Absorption Line (BAL) QSOs have been suggested to be youthful super-accretors based on their powerful radiatively driven absorbing outflows and often reddened continua. To test this hypothesis, we observed near IR spectra of the H$\beta$ region for 11 bright BAL QSOs at redshift z ~ 2. We measured these and literature spectra for 6 BAL QSOs, 13 radio-loud and 7 radio-quiet non-BAL QSOs. Using the luminosity and H$\beta$ broad line width to derive black hole mass and accretion rate, we find that both BAL and non-BAL QSOs at z ~ 2 tend to have higher $L/L_{Edd}$ than those at low z -- probably a result of selecting the brightest QSOs. However, we find that the high z QSOs, in particular the BAL QSOs, have extremely strong Fe II and very weak [O III], extending the inverse relationship found for low z QSOs. This suggests that, even while radiating near $L_{Edd}$, the BAL QSOs have a more plentiful fuel supply than non-BAL QSOs. Comparison with low z QSOs shows for the first time that the inverse Fe II -- [O III] relationship is indeed related to $L/L_{Edd}$, rather than black hole mass.

arXiv comment18 pages including 5 figures and 1 table. Accepted by the Astrophysical Journal Letters

References in corpus (20)

• Reverberation Measurements for 17 Quasars and the Size-Mass-Luminosity Relations in Active Galactic Nuclei
• The obscured growth of massive black holes
• On the black hole - bulge mass relation in active and inactive galaxies
• Black Hole Mass Estimates from Reverberation Mapping and from Spatially Resolved Kinematics
• Determining Central Black Hole Masses in Distant Active Galaxies
• Unusual Broad Absorption Line Quasars from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey
• Keplerian Motion of Broad-Line Region Gas as Evidence for Supermassive Black Holes in Active Galactic Nuclei
• The Frequency and Radio Properties of Broad Absorption Line Quasars
• On Black Hole Masses and Radio Loudness in AGN
• Properties of Radio-Selected Broad Absorption-Line Quasars from the FIRST Survey
• High-redshift galaxies, their active nuclei and central black holes
• X-ray Spectroscopy of QSOs with Broad Ultraviolet Absorption Lines
• On Quasar Masses and Quasar Host Galaxies
• Systematic Errors in the Estimation of Black Hole Masses by Reverberation Mapping
• A Catalog of Broad Absorption Line Quasars from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Early Data Release
• A Statistical Study of Rest-frame Optical Emission Properties in Luminous Quasars at 2.0 < z < 2.5
• The Baldwin Effect and Black Hole Accretion: A Spectral Principal Component Analysis of a Complete QSO Sample
• Red and Blue Shifted Broad Lines in Luminous Quasars
• Broad Absorption Line Quasars in the Early Data Release from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey
• The Measure of Cosmological Parameters

Cited by in corpus (47)

• What controls the C IV line profile in active galactic nuclei?
• CIV 1549 as an Eigenvector 1 Parameter for Active Galactic Nuclei
• A Complete Sample of Soft X-ray Selected AGN: II. Statistical Analysis
• Near Infrared Spectroscopy of High Redshift Active Galactic Nuclei. II. Disappearing Narrow Line Regions and the Role of Accretion
• Outflows and the Physical Properties of Quasars
• Broad Absorption Line Variability in Repeat Quasar Observations from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey
• Narrow associated QSO absorbers: clustering, outflows and the line-of-sight proximity effect
• On the origin of the C IV Baldwin effect in AGN
• A Cross-Correlation Analysis of Mg II Absorption Line Systems and Luminous Red Galaxies from the SDSS DR5
• Rest-frame Optical Properties of Luminous 1.5<z<3.5 Quasars: the Hbeta-[OIII] Region
• VLT/ISAAC Spectra of the H-beta Region in Intermediate Redshift Quasars
• Dramatic X-ray Spectral Variability of the Broad Absorption Line Quasar PG2112+059
• Polarization properties of broad absorption line QSOs : new statistical clues
• Black Hole Masses of Intermediate-Redshift Quasars: Near Infrared Spectroscopy
• Rehabilitating CIV-based black hole mass estimates in quasars
• The z=0.54 LoBAL Quasar SDSS J085053.12+445122.5: I. Spectral Synthesis Analysis Reveals a Massive Outflow
• Optical microvariability properties of BALQSOs
• Mkn 1239: A highly polarized NLS1 with a steep X-ray spectrum and strong NeIX emission
• X-ray Insights Into Interpreting CIV Blueshifts and Optical/UV Continua
• Spectropolarimetry of PKS 0040-005 and the Orientation of Broad Absorption Line Quasars
• The Compact Structure of Radio-Loud Broad Absorption Line Quasars
• A polar+equatorial wind model for broad absorption line quasars: I. Fitting the C IV BAL profiles
• Exploring the Diversity of Type 1 Active Galactic Nuclei Identified in SDSS-IV/SPIDERS
• Broad Absorption Line Variability in Radio-Loud Quasars
• MM-Newton Observations of two high redshift quasars: RX J1028-0844 and BR 0351-1034
• An FMOS Survey of moderate-luminosity broad-line AGN in COSMOS, SXDS and E-CDF-S
• NuSTAR Observations of Intrinsically X-ray Weak Quasar Candidates: An Obscuration-Only Scenario
• Discovery of H alpha absorption in the unusual broad absorption line quasar SDSS J083942.11+380526.3
• Detection of a gamma-ray flare from the high-redshift blazar DA 193
• Stellar Disruption and the Quasar Radio Dichotomy
• The Frequency of Intrinsic X-ray Weakness Among Broad Absorption Line Quasars
• Systematically smaller single-epoch quasar black hole masses using a radius-luminosity relationship corrected for spectral bias
• High-redshift quasars along the Main Sequence
• Rest-frame optical properties of luminous, radio-selected, broad absorption line quasars
• Discovery of strong Balmer line absorption in two luminous LoBAL quasars at z~1.5
• The Physical Properties of Low-Redshift FeLoBAL Quasars: II. The Rest-Frame Optical Emission Line Properties
• The Properties of Low-Redshift FeLoBAL Quasars: III. The Location and Geometry of the Outflows
• A supercritical accretion disk with radiation-driven outflows
• Properties of X-ray selected Broad Absorption Line Quasars
• The redshift and broad band spectral energy distribution of NRAO 150
• No evidence for an Eddington-ratio dependence of X-ray weakness in BALQSOs
• An extreme EXO: a type 2 QSO at z=1.87
• Nature and Origins of Rich Complexes of C IV Associated Absorption Lines
• Exploring the links between quasar winds and radio emission along the Main Sequence at high redshift
• Swift Observations of the highly X-ray variable Narrow Line Seyfert 1 galaxy RX J0148.3-2758
• The nearby QSO host I Zw 1: The stellar disk and adjacent objects
• The First Chandra Field