Restframe UV-to-optical spectroscopy of APM 08279+5255

Abstract

We present the analysis of the restframe optical-to-UV spectrum of APM 08279+5255, a well-known lensed broad absorption line (BAL) quasar at z = 3.911. The spectroscopic data were taken with the optical DOLoRes and near-IR NICS instruments at TNG, and include the previously unexplored range between C III] λ1910 and [O III] λλ4959,5007. We have investigated the possible presence of multiple BALs by computing “balnicity” and absorption indexes (i.e., BI, BI0, and AI) for the transitions Si IV λ1400, C IV λ1549, Al III λ1860, and Mg II λ2800. No clear evidence for the presence of absorption features is found in addition to the already known, prominent BAL associated to C IV, which supports a high-ionization BAL classification for APM 08279+5255. We also studied the properties of the [O III], Hβ, and Mg II emission lines. We find that [O III] is intrinsically weak (F[OIII]∕FHβ ≲ 0.04), as it is typically found in luminous quasars with a strongly blueshifted C IV emission line (~2500 km s−1 for APM 08279+5255). We computed the single-epoch black hole mass based on Mg II and Hβ broad emission lines, finding MBH = (2 ÷ 3) × 1010μ−1 M⊙, with the magnification factor μ that can vary between 4 and 100 according to CO and restframe UV-to-mid-IR imaging respectively. Using a Mg II equivalent width (EW)-to-Eddington ratio relation, the EWMgII ~ 27 Å measured for APM 08279+5255 translates into an Eddington ratio of ~0.4, which is more consistent with μ = 4. This magnification factor also provides a value of MBH that is consistent with recent reverberation-mapping measurements derived from C IV and Si IV.

The gentle monster PDS 456

“…Furthermore, both models and observations of kiloparsec-scale outflows seem to indicate a UFO-ISM interaction in an energy-conserving regime, whereby the swept-up gas expands adiabatically. So far, the co-existence of a massive molecular outflow with a nuclear UFO has been confirmed in a handful of AGNs with L Bol ∼ 10 44 −10 46 erg s −1 (Tombesi et al 2015;Feruglio et al 2015;Longinotti et al 2015) and in APM 08279+5255 (Feruglio et al 2017), which is a gravitationally lensed QSO at z ∼ 4 with an estimated intrinsic L Bol of a few times 10 47 erg s −1 (Saturni et al 2018). In all these sources the momentum boost (i.e.…”

A global view of the inner accretion and ejection flow around super massive black holes

“…In the moderateṁ regime (or in the highṁ regime with small M BH 10 8 M ), the UV absorption features would be weaker, such as mini-BALs and NALs, and hosted in relatively X-ray louder AGN, as observed (Giustini et al 2008;Gibson et al 2009a;Chartas et al 2009a). 3 The strength of the blueshifted UV absorption can be quantified by means of the Balnicity Index (BI, Weymann et al 1991), the Absorption Index (AI, Hall et al 2002), or modifications of a generic index of absorption (Saturni et al (2018)). All these indices are integrals of the area subtended by the absorption troughs and are a measure of their equivalent width, blueshift, and width; these physically correspond to the column density and covering fraction, terminal velocity, and velocity dispersion/range of velocities of the winds producing the absorption troughs.…”

“…References for the individual measurements of log(M BH /M ) andṁ (or L BOL , assuming η = 0.1 for luminous AGN) are taken from the literature and reported in parentheses, respectively from: Botte et al (2004) and Kara et al (2017) for Ark 564 (6.4, 1.1); Vestergaard & Peterson (2006) and Martínez-Paredes et al (2017) for I Zw 1 (7.4, 1.4); Bentz et al (2009) and Vasudevan et al (2010) for Mrk 766 (6.2, 0.4 * );Greenhill et al (1996) for NGC 1068 (7.2, 0.5);Risaliti et al (2013) andVasudevan et al (2010) for NGC 1365 (6.3, 0.025);Pancoast et al (2014) andVasudevan et al (2010) for NGC 5548 (7.6, 0.025);Grupe et al (2010) and ? for HE 0436-4717 (7.8, 0.09);Dasyra et al (2007) andGiustini et al (2011) for PG 1126-041 (8.1, 0.25);Peng et al (2006) andChartas et al (2007) for PG 1115+080 (9.1, 0.2);Saturni et al (2018) for APM 08279+5255 (10.4, 0.4);Nardini et al (2015) for PDS 456 (9, 0.8);Jin et al (2017b) for RX J0439.6-5311 (7.2, 1.8), for RE J1034+396 (6, 1);Vasudevan et al (2010) for NGC 985 (8.4, 0.05);Vasudevan et al (2010) for NGC 3783 (7.5, 0.05);Devereux et al (2003) andHo et al (1996) for M81 (7.8, 6 × 10 −4 );Gebhardt & Thomas (2009)Prieto et al (2016) for M87 (9.8, 10 −6 ); andGhez et al (2008) andMościbrodzka et al (2009) for Sgr A* (6.6, < 10 −6 ). (*)Vasudevan et al (2010) estimate a lowerṁ for Mrk 766 as they use a larger BH mass than the one used here.…”

Galaxy-scale ionised winds driven by ultra-fast outflows in two nearby quasars

“…With APM 08279+5255, unlike the other systems considered, this is a lensed QSO at z 3.9. While lens models cannot very accurately constrain the value of the magnification µ, on which most quantities relevant to this analysis depend, indirect methods indicate µ = 4 as the best possible choice (Saturni et al 2018). We considered this value for the magnification and took M BH and L BOL from Saturni et al (2018).…”

“…While lens models cannot very accurately constrain the value of the magnification µ, on which most quantities relevant to this analysis depend, indirect methods indicate µ = 4 as the best possible choice (Saturni et al 2018). We considered this value for the magnification and took M BH and L BOL from Saturni et al (2018). The X-ray wind properties come from Chartas et al (2009), using only the slowest component (see their Table 3, model 8, absorber 1), which was also identified separately by Hagino et al (2017).…”