Dark Energy Survey identification of a low-mass active galactic nucleus at redshift 0.823 from optical variability

DES Collaboration

doi:10.1093/MNRAS/STAA1803

Dark Energy Survey identification of a low-mass active galactic nucleus at redshift 0.823 from optical variability

DES Collaboration

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Abstract

We report the identification of a low-mass active galactic nucleus (AGN), DES J0218-0430, in a redshift z = 0.823 galaxy in the Dark Energy Survey (DES) Supernova field. We select DES J0218-0430 as an AGN candidate by characterizing its long-term optical variability alone based on DES optical broad-band light curves spanning over 6 yr. An archival optical spectrum from the fourth phase of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey shows both broad MgII and broad Hβ lines, confirming its nature as a broad-line AGN. Archival XMM-Newton X-ray observations suggest an intrinsic hard X-ray luminosity of L2-12 keV ≈ 7.6 ± 0.4 × 1043 erg s-1, which exceeds those of the most X-ray luminous starburst galaxies, in support of an AGN driving the optical variability. Based on the broad Hβ from SDSS spectrum, we estimate a virial black hole (BH) mass of M• ≈ 106.43-106.72M_(with the error denoting the systematic uncertainty from different calibrations), consistent with the estimation from OzDES, making it the lowest mass AGN with redshift > 0.4 detected in optical. We estimate the host galaxy stellarmass to beM* ≈1010.5 ± 0.3M_based on modelling the multiwavelength spectral energy distribution. DES J0218-0430 extends theM•-M* relation observed in luminous AGNs at z ∼ 1 to masses lower than being probed by previous work. Our work demonstrates the feasibility of using optical variability to identify low-mass AGNs at higher redshift in deeper synoptic surveys with direct implications for the upcoming Legacy Survey of Space and Time at Vera C. Rubin Observatory.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	3636-3647
Number of pages	12
Journal	Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Volume	496
Issue number	3
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1093/MNRAS/STAA1803
State	Published - 2020

Funding

acknowledges support from the Illinois Graduate Survey Science Fellowship. YS acknowledges support from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation and NSF grant AST-1715579. Funding for DES Projects has been provided by the U.S. Department of Energy, the U.S. National Science Foundation, the Ministry of Science and Education of Spain, the Science and Technology Facilities Council of the United Kingdom, the Higher Education Funding Council for England, the National Center for Supercomputing Applications at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, the Kavli Institute of Cosmological Physics at the University of Chicago, the Center for Cosmology and Astro-Particle Physics at the Ohio State University, the Mitchell Institute for Fundamental Physics and Astronomy at Texas A&M University, Financiadora de Estudos e Projetos, Fundac¸ão Carlos Chagas Filho de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado do Rio de Janeiro, Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico and the Ministério da Ciência, Tecnologia e Inovac¸ão, the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft and the Collaborating Institutions in the Dark Energy Survey. The DES data management system is supported by the National Science Foundation under grant numbers AST-1138766 and AST-1536171. The DES participants from Spanish institutions are partially supported by MINECO under grants AYA2015-71825, ESP2015-66861, FPA2015-68048, SEV-2016-0588, SEV-2016-0597, and MDM-2015-0509, some of which include ERDF funds from the European Union. IFAE is partially funded by the CERCA program of the Generalitat de Catalunya. Research leading to these results has received funding from the European Research Council under the European Union’s Seventh Frame-work Program (FP7/2007-2013) including ERC grant agreements 240672, 291329, and 306478. We acknowledge support from the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for All-sky Astrophysics (CAASTRO), through project number CE110001020, and the Brazilian Instituto Nacional de Ciênciae Tecnologia (INCT) e-Universe (CNPq grant 465376/2014-2). This manuscript has been authored by Fermi Research Alliance, LLC under Contract No. DE-AC02-07CH11359 with the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Science, Office of High Energy Physics. The United States Government retains and the publisher, by accepting the article for publication, acknowledges that the United States Government retains a non-exclusive, paid-up, irrevocable, world-wide license to publish or reproduce the published form of this manuscript, or allow others to do so, for United States Government purposes.

Funders	Funder number
Brazilian Instituto Nacional de Ciênciae Tecnologia
Collaborating Institutions in the Dark Energy Survey
European Union’s Seventh Frame-work Program
Fermi Research Alliance, LLC	DE-AC02-07CH11359
INCT
Illinois Graduate Survey Science Fellowship
Ministério da Ciência
Mitchell Institute for Fundamental Physics and Astronomy at Texas A&M University
National Center for Supercomputing Applications at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Science and Technology Facilities Council of the United Kingdom
National Science Foundation	AST-1715579, AST-1138766, AST-1536171
U.S. Department of Energy
Alfred P. Sloan Foundation
Office of Science
High Energy Physics
Ohio State University
University of Chicago
Seventh Framework Programme	1138766, 240672, 306478, 1715579, 291329
Higher Education Funding Council for England
Engineering Research Centers
European Commission
European Research Council
Australian Research Council	CE110001020
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft
Generalitat de Catalunya
Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad	SEV-2016-0588, SEV-2016-0597, ESP2015-66861, MDM-2015-0509, FPA2015-68048, AYA2015-71825
Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico	465376/2014-2
Fundação Carlos Chagas Filho de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado do Rio de Janeiro
Financiadora de Estudos e Projetos
Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine
European Regional Development Fund

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10.1093/MNRAS/STAA1803

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@article{83fe4bedf195499b8ed91259286062fe,

title = "Dark Energy Survey identification of a low-mass active galactic nucleus at redshift 0.823 from optical variability",

abstract = "We report the identification of a low-mass active galactic nucleus (AGN), DES J0218-0430, in a redshift z = 0.823 galaxy in the Dark Energy Survey (DES) Supernova field. We select DES J0218-0430 as an AGN candidate by characterizing its long-term optical variability alone based on DES optical broad-band light curves spanning over 6 yr. An archival optical spectrum from the fourth phase of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey shows both broad MgII and broad Hβ lines, confirming its nature as a broad-line AGN. Archival XMM-Newton X-ray observations suggest an intrinsic hard X-ray luminosity of L2-12 keV ≈ 7.6 ± 0.4 × 1043 erg s-1, which exceeds those of the most X-ray luminous starburst galaxies, in support of an AGN driving the optical variability. Based on the broad Hβ from SDSS spectrum, we estimate a virial black hole (BH) mass of M• ≈ 106.43-106.72M_(with the error denoting the systematic uncertainty from different calibrations), consistent with the estimation from OzDES, making it the lowest mass AGN with redshift > 0.4 detected in optical. We estimate the host galaxy stellarmass to beM* ≈1010.5 ± 0.3M_based on modelling the multiwavelength spectral energy distribution. DES J0218-0430 extends theM•-M* relation observed in luminous AGNs at z ∼ 1 to masses lower than being probed by previous work. Our work demonstrates the feasibility of using optical variability to identify low-mass AGNs at higher redshift in deeper synoptic surveys with direct implications for the upcoming Legacy Survey of Space and Time at Vera C. Rubin Observatory.",

author = "{DES Collaboration} and Hengxiao Guo and Burke, {Colin J.} and Xin Liu and Phadke, {Kedar A.} and Kaiwen Zhang and Chen, {Yu Ching} and Gruendl, {Robert A.} and Christopher Lidman and Yue Shen and Eric Morganson and Michel Aguena and Sahar Allam and Santiago Avila and Emmanuel Bertin and David Brooks and Rosell, {Aurelio Carnero} and Daniela Carollo and Kind, {Matias Carrasco} and Matteo Costanzi and Costa, {Luiz N.Da} and Vicente, {Juan De} and Shantanu Desai and Peter Doel and Eifler, {Tim F.} and Spencer Everett and Juan Garc{\'i}a-Bellido and Enrique Gaztanaga and Gerdes, {David W.} and Daniel Gruen and Julia Gschwend and Gaston Gutierrez and Hinton, {Samuel R.} and Hollowood, {Devon L.} and Klaus Honscheid and James, {David J.} and Kyler Kuehn and Marcos Lima and Maia, {Marcio A.G.} and Felipe Menanteau and Ramon Miquel and Anais M{\"o}ller and Ogando, {Ricardo L.C.} and Antonella Palmese and Francisco Paz-Chinch{\'o}n and Plazas, {Andr{\'e}s A.} and Romer, {Anita K.} and Aaron Roodman and Eusebio Sanchez and Vic Scarpine and Eric Suchyta",

year = "2020",

doi = "10.1093/MNRAS/STAA1803",

language = "English",

volume = "496",

pages = "3636--3647",

journal = "Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society",

issn = "0035-8711",

publisher = "Oxford University Press",

number = "3",

}

TY - JOUR

T1 - Dark Energy Survey identification of a low-mass active galactic nucleus at redshift 0.823 from optical variability

AU - DES Collaboration

AU - Guo, Hengxiao

AU - Burke, Colin J.

AU - Liu, Xin

AU - Phadke, Kedar A.

AU - Zhang, Kaiwen

AU - Chen, Yu Ching

AU - Gruendl, Robert A.

AU - Lidman, Christopher

AU - Shen, Yue

AU - Morganson, Eric

AU - Aguena, Michel

AU - Allam, Sahar

AU - Avila, Santiago

AU - Bertin, Emmanuel

AU - Brooks, David

AU - Rosell, Aurelio Carnero

AU - Carollo, Daniela

AU - Kind, Matias Carrasco

AU - Costanzi, Matteo

AU - Costa, Luiz N.Da

AU - Vicente, Juan De

AU - Desai, Shantanu

AU - Doel, Peter

AU - Eifler, Tim F.

AU - Everett, Spencer

AU - García-Bellido, Juan

AU - Gaztanaga, Enrique

AU - Gerdes, David W.

AU - Gruen, Daniel

AU - Gschwend, Julia

AU - Gutierrez, Gaston

AU - Hinton, Samuel R.

AU - Hollowood, Devon L.

AU - Honscheid, Klaus

AU - James, David J.

AU - Kuehn, Kyler

AU - Lima, Marcos

AU - Maia, Marcio A.G.

AU - Menanteau, Felipe

AU - Miquel, Ramon

AU - Möller, Anais

AU - Ogando, Ricardo L.C.

AU - Palmese, Antonella

AU - Paz-Chinchón, Francisco

AU - Plazas, Andrés A.

AU - Romer, Anita K.

AU - Roodman, Aaron

AU - Sanchez, Eusebio

AU - Scarpine, Vic

AU - Suchyta, Eric

PY - 2020

Y1 - 2020

N2 - We report the identification of a low-mass active galactic nucleus (AGN), DES J0218-0430, in a redshift z = 0.823 galaxy in the Dark Energy Survey (DES) Supernova field. We select DES J0218-0430 as an AGN candidate by characterizing its long-term optical variability alone based on DES optical broad-band light curves spanning over 6 yr. An archival optical spectrum from the fourth phase of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey shows both broad MgII and broad Hβ lines, confirming its nature as a broad-line AGN. Archival XMM-Newton X-ray observations suggest an intrinsic hard X-ray luminosity of L2-12 keV ≈ 7.6 ± 0.4 × 1043 erg s-1, which exceeds those of the most X-ray luminous starburst galaxies, in support of an AGN driving the optical variability. Based on the broad Hβ from SDSS spectrum, we estimate a virial black hole (BH) mass of M• ≈ 106.43-106.72M_(with the error denoting the systematic uncertainty from different calibrations), consistent with the estimation from OzDES, making it the lowest mass AGN with redshift > 0.4 detected in optical. We estimate the host galaxy stellarmass to beM* ≈1010.5 ± 0.3M_based on modelling the multiwavelength spectral energy distribution. DES J0218-0430 extends theM•-M* relation observed in luminous AGNs at z ∼ 1 to masses lower than being probed by previous work. Our work demonstrates the feasibility of using optical variability to identify low-mass AGNs at higher redshift in deeper synoptic surveys with direct implications for the upcoming Legacy Survey of Space and Time at Vera C. Rubin Observatory.

AB - We report the identification of a low-mass active galactic nucleus (AGN), DES J0218-0430, in a redshift z = 0.823 galaxy in the Dark Energy Survey (DES) Supernova field. We select DES J0218-0430 as an AGN candidate by characterizing its long-term optical variability alone based on DES optical broad-band light curves spanning over 6 yr. An archival optical spectrum from the fourth phase of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey shows both broad MgII and broad Hβ lines, confirming its nature as a broad-line AGN. Archival XMM-Newton X-ray observations suggest an intrinsic hard X-ray luminosity of L2-12 keV ≈ 7.6 ± 0.4 × 1043 erg s-1, which exceeds those of the most X-ray luminous starburst galaxies, in support of an AGN driving the optical variability. Based on the broad Hβ from SDSS spectrum, we estimate a virial black hole (BH) mass of M• ≈ 106.43-106.72M_(with the error denoting the systematic uncertainty from different calibrations), consistent with the estimation from OzDES, making it the lowest mass AGN with redshift > 0.4 detected in optical. We estimate the host galaxy stellarmass to beM* ≈1010.5 ± 0.3M_based on modelling the multiwavelength spectral energy distribution. DES J0218-0430 extends theM•-M* relation observed in luminous AGNs at z ∼ 1 to masses lower than being probed by previous work. Our work demonstrates the feasibility of using optical variability to identify low-mass AGNs at higher redshift in deeper synoptic surveys with direct implications for the upcoming Legacy Survey of Space and Time at Vera C. Rubin Observatory.

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85098816813&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1093/MNRAS/STAA1803

DO - 10.1093/MNRAS/STAA1803

M3 - Review article

AN - SCOPUS:85098816813

SN - 0035-8711

VL - 496

SP - 3636

EP - 3647

JO - Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

JF - Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

IS - 3

ER -

Dark Energy Survey identification of a low-mass active galactic nucleus at redshift 0.823 from optical variability

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