Dwarf Active Galactic Nuclei from Variability for the Origins of Seeds (DAVOS): Properties of Variability-selected AGN in the Dark Energy Survey Deep Fields

Abstract We study the black hole mass–host galaxy stellar mass relation, M BH – M * , for a sample of 706 z ≲ 1.5 and i ≲ 24 optically variable active galactic nuclei (AGNs) in three Dark Energy Survey (DES) Deep Fields: C3, X3, E2, which partially cover Chandra Deep Field-South, XMM Large Scale Structure survey, and European Large Area ISO Survey, respectively. The parent sample was identified by optical variability from the DES supernova survey program imaging. Using publicly available spectra and photometric catalogs, we consolidate their spectroscopic redshifts, estimate their black hole masses using broad line widths and luminosities, and obtain improved stellar masses using spectral energy distribution fitting from X-ray to mid-infrared wavelengths. Our results confirm previous work from Hyper-Suprime Camera imaging that variability searches with deep, high-precision photometry can reliably identify AGNs in low-mass galaxies up to z ∼ 1. However, we find that the hosted black holes are more massive than predicted by the local AGN relation, fixing host galaxy stellar mass. Instead, z ∼ 0.1–1.5 variability-selected AGNs lie in between the M BH – M * relation for local inactive early-type galaxies and local active galaxies. This result agrees with most previous studies of the M BH – M * relation for AGNs at similar redshifts, regardless of the selection technique. We demonstrate that studies of variability-selected AGN provide critical insights into the low-mass end of the M BH – M * relation, shedding light on the occupation fraction of that provides constraints on early black hole seeding mechanisms and self-regulated feedback processes during their growth and coevolution with their hosts.