A SPectroscopic Survey of Biased Halos In the Reionization Era (ASPIRE): Broad-line AGN at z = 4−5 Revealed by JWST/NIRCam WFSS

Abstract Low-luminosity active galactic nuclei (AGNs) with low-mass black holes (BHs) in the early universe are fundamental to understanding the BH growth and their coevolution with the host galaxies. Utilizing JWST NIRCam Wide Field Slitless Spectroscopy, we perform a systematic search for broad-line H α emitters (BHAEs) at z ≈ 4–5 in 25 fields of the A SPectroscopic survey of biased halos In the Reionization Era (ASPIRE) project, covering a total area of 275 arcmin 2 . We identify 16 BHAEs with FWHM of the broad components spanning from ∼1000 to 3000 km s −1 . Assuming that the broad line widths arise as a result of Doppler broadening around BHs, the implied BH masses range from 10 7 to 10 8 M ⊙ , with broad H α -converted bolometric luminosities of 10 44.5 –10 45.5 erg s −1 and Eddington ratios of 0.07–0.47. The spatially extended structure of the F200W stacked image may trace the stellar light from the host galaxies. The H α luminosity function indicates an increasing AGN fraction toward the higher H α luminosities. We find possible evidence for clustering of BHAEs: two sources are at the same redshift with a projected separation of 519 kpc; one BHAE appears as a composite system residing in an overdense region with three close companion H α emitters. Three BHAEs exhibit blueshifted absorption troughs indicative of the presence of high column density gas. We find that the broad-line-selected and photometrically selected BHAE samples exhibit different distributions in the optical continuum slopes, which can be attributed to their different selection methods. The ASPIRE broad-line H α sample provides a good database for future studies of faint AGN populations at high redshift.

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Publication Details

Journal
The Astrophysical Journal
Published
2024-10-01
DOI
https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ad6565
Citations
39
Primary Topic
Galaxies: Formation, Evolution, Phenomena
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
12.93

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article

A SPectroscopic Survey of Biased Halos In the Reionization Era (ASPIRE): Broad-line AGN at z = 4−5 Revealed by JWST/NIRCam WFSS

Zhiwei Pan, Alessandro Lupi, Masafusa Onoue, Jan–Torge Schindler et al.
39 citations
The Astrophysical Journal
Galaxies: Formation, Evolution, Phenomena
12.93
article

A SPectroscopic Survey of Biased Halos In the Reionization Era (ASPIRE): Broad-line AGN at z = 4−5 Revealed by JWST/NIRCam WFSS

Zhiwei Pan, Alessandro Lupi, Masafusa Onoue, Jan–Torge Schindler, Maria Pudoka, Fengwu Sun, Joseph F. Hennawi, Aaron J. Barth, Hyunsung D. Jun, Xiaohui Fan, Jinyi Yang, Yunjing Wu, Jaclyn B. Champagne, R. A. Meyer, Elia Pizzati, Xiangyu Jin, Feige Wang, Benny Trakhtenbrot, Chiara Mazzucchelli, Wei Leong Tee, Anna–Christina Eilers, Eduardo Bañados, Koki Kakiichi, Weizhe Liu, Sofía Rojas-Ruiz, Zheng Cai, Yue Shen, Maxime Trebitsch, Emanuele Paolo Farina, Ryan Endsley, Ming-Yang Zhuang, Marta Volonteri, Mingyu Li, Zihao Li, Haowen Zhang, Xiaojing Lin
article en
39 citations

Abstract

Abstract Low-luminosity active galactic nuclei (AGNs) with low-mass black holes (BHs) in the early universe are fundamental to understanding the BH growth and their coevolution with the host galaxies. Utilizing JWST NIRCam Wide Field Slitless Spectroscopy, we perform a systematic search for broad-line H α emitters (BHAEs) at z ≈ 4–5 in 25 fields of the A SPectroscopic survey of biased halos In the Reionization Era (ASPIRE) project, covering a total area of 275 arcmin 2 . We identify 16 BHAEs with FWHM of the broad components spanning from ∼1000 to 3000 km s −1 . Assuming that the broad line widths arise as a result of Doppler broadening around BHs, the implied BH masses range from 10 7 to 10 8 M ⊙ , with broad H α -converted bolometric luminosities of 10 44.5 –10 45.5 erg s −1 and Eddington ratios of 0.07–0.47. The spatially extended structure of the F200W stacked image may trace the stellar light from the host galaxies. The H α luminosity function indicates an increasing AGN fraction toward the higher H α luminosities. We find possible evidence for clustering of BHAEs: two sources are at the same redshift with a projected separation of 519 kpc; one BHAE appears as a composite system residing in an overdense region with three close companion H α emitters. Three BHAEs exhibit blueshifted absorption troughs indicative of the presence of high column density gas. We find that the broad-line-selected and photometrically selected BHAE samples exhibit different distributions in the optical continuum slopes, which can be attributed to their different selection methods. The ASPIRE broad-line H α sample provides a good database for future studies of faint AGN populations at high redshift.

The Astrophysical JournalVol. 974(1)
University of Insubria (IT), Leiden University (NL), University of Copenhagen (DK), Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (FR), University of Arizona (US), University of California, Santa Barbara (US), University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (US), Universität Hamburg (DE), University of California, Los Angeles (US), Tel Aviv University (IL), Kavli Institute for the Physics and Mathematics of the Universe (JP), University of Groningen (NL), Peking University (CN), University of California, Irvine (US), Institut d'Astrophysique de Paris (FR), Sorbonne Université (FR), Gemini North Observatory (US), Kavli Institute for Theoretical Sciences (CN), Max Planck Institute for Astronomy (DE), Center for Astrophysics Harvard & Smithsonian (US), National Center for Supercomputing Applications (US), Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Sezione di Milano Bicocca (IT), Massachusetts Institute of Technology (US), University of Milano-Bicocca (IT), Northwestern College - Iowa (US), The University of Tokyo (JP), The University of Texas at Austin (US), Universidad Diego Portales (CL), Tsinghua University (CN)
National Science Foundation, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, University of Arizona, Space Telescope Science Institute, Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, National Natural Science Foundation of China, Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek, Tsinghua University
Openalex Percentile: Top 1%
Galaxies: Formation, Evolution, Phenomena
12.93
DOIOpen Access PDFOpenAlex
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