Weimin Yuan

A population of radio-loud narrow-line Seyfert 1 galaxies with blazar-like properties?

Blazars having strong emission lines were found to be associated mostly with broad-line type 1 active galactic nuclei (AGNs). Hitherto, evidence for blazars identified with narrow-line Seyfert 1 (NLS1) AGNs was limited to only a very few individual cases. Here we present a comprehensive study of a sample of 23 genuine radio-loud NLS1 AGNs with radio loudness larger than 100. The radio sources of the sample are ubiquitously compact, unresolved on scales of several arcseconds. Some of these objects show interesting radio to X-ray properties that are unusual to most of the previously known radio-loud NLS1 AGNs, but are reminiscent of blazars. These include flat radio spectra, large-amplitude flux and spectral variability, compact VLBI cores, very high variability brightness temperatures, enhanced optical continuum emission, flat X-ray spectra, and blazar-like spectral energy distributions (SEDs). We interpret them as signatures of the postulated blazar nature of some of the objects, which likely possess at least moderately relativistic jets. Intrinsically, some of them have relatively low radio power and would have been classified as radio-intermediate AGNs. The black hole masses are estimated to be within 10(6)-10(8) M-circle dot, and the Eddington ratios close to unity, as in normal NLS1 AGNs. The results imply that radio-loud AGNs may be powered by black holes of moderate masses (similar to 10(6)-10(7) M-circle dot) accreting at high rates. Some of the objects, despite having strong emission lines, resemble high-energy-peaked BL Lac objects (HBLs) in their SEDs. Given the peculiarities of blazar-like NLS1 AGNs, questions arise as to whether they are plain downsizing extensions of normal radio-loud AGNs, or form a previously unrecognized population.

ESTIMATING BLACK HOLE MASSES IN ACTIVE GALACTIC NUCLEI USING THE Mg II λ2800 EMISSION LINE

We investigate the relationship between the linewidths of broad Mg II lambda 2800 and H beta in active galactic nuclei (AGNs) to refine them as tools to estimate black hole (BH) masses. We perform a detailed spectral analysis of a large sample of AGNs at intermediate redshifts selected from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, along with a smaller sample of archival ultraviolet spectra for nearby sources monitored with reverberation mapping (RM). Careful attention is devoted to accurate spectral decomposition, especially in the treatment of narrow-line blending and Fe II contamination. We show that, contrary to popular belief, the velocity width of Mg II tends to be smaller than that of H beta, suggesting that the two species are not cospatial in the broad-line region. Using these findings and recently updated BH mass measurements from RM, we present a new calibration of the empirical prescriptions for estimating virial BH masses for AGNs using the broad Mg II and H beta lines. We show that the BH masses derived from our new formalisms show subtle but important differences compared to some of the mass estimators currently used in the literature.

Polar outflows in six broad absorption line quasars

Using radio observations by FIRST and NVSS, we build a sample of 151 radio-variable quasars selected from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Data Release 3 (SDSS DR3). Six (and probably another two) of these objects are classified as broad absorption line (BAL) quasars and show radio flux variations of a few tens of percent within 1.5-5 yr. Such large amplitudes of variations imply brightness temperatures much higher than the inverse Compton limits (10(12) K) in all these BAL quasars, suggesting the presence of relativistic jets beaming toward the observer. The angles between the outflow and the jet are constrained to be less than similar to 20 degrees. Such BAL quasars with polar outflows are beyond the simple unification models of BAL and non-BAL quasars, which hypothesize BAL quasars as otherwise normal quasars seen nearly edge-on.

Broad‐line Balmer decrements in blue active galactic nuclei

We have investigated the broad-line Balmer decrements (H alpha/H beta) for a large, homogeneous sample of Seyfert 1 galaxies and quasi-stellar objects (QSOs) using spectroscopic data obtained in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. The sample, drawn from the Fourth Data Release, comprises 446 low-redshift (z less than or similar to 0.35) active galactic nuclei (AGN) that have blue optical continua as indicated by the spectral slopes in order to minimize the effect of dust extinction. We find that (i) the distribution of the intrinsic broad-line H alpha/H beta ratio can be well described by log-Gaussian, with a peak at H alpha/H beta = 3.06 and a standard deviation of about 0.03 dex only; (ii) the Balmer decrement does not correlate with AGN properties such as luminosity, accretion rate and continuum slope, etc.; (iii) on average, the Balmer decrements are found to be only slightly larger in radio-loud sources (3.37) and sources having double-peaked emission-line profiles (3.27) compared to the rest of the sample. We therefore suggest that the broad-line H alpha/H beta ratio can be used as a good indicator for dust extinction in the AGN broad-line region; this is especially true for radio-quiet AGN with regular emission-line profiles, which constitute the vast majority of the AGN population.

A Narrow-Line Seyfert 1-Blazar Composite Nucleus in 2MASX J0324+3410

We report the identification of 2MASX J032441.19 + 341045.9 (hereafter 2MASX J0324 + 3410) with an appealing object that shows the dual properties of both a narrow-line Seyfert 1 galaxy (NLS1) and a blazar. Its optical spectrum, which has a H beta line width of about 1600 km s(-1) (FWHM), an [O III]-to-H beta line ratio of similar or equal to 0.12, and strong Fe II emission, clearly fulfills the conventional definition of NLS1s. On the other hand, 2MASX J0324 + 3410 also exhibits some behavior that is characteristic of blazars, including a flat radio spectrum above 1 GHz, a compact core plus a one-sided jet structure on milliarcsecond scale at 8.4 GHz, highly variable fluxes in the radio, optical, and X-ray bands, and a possible detection of TeV gamma-ray emission. On its optical image, obtained with the HST WFPC2, the active nucleus is displaced from the center of the host galaxy, which exhibits an apparent one-armed spiral structure extended to 16 kpc. The remarkable hybrid behavior of this object presents a challenge to current models of NLS1s and gamma-ray blazars.

A UNIFORMLY SELECTED SAMPLE OF LOW-MASS BLACK HOLES IN SEYFERT 1 GALAXIES

We have conducted a systematic search of low-mass black holes (BHs) in active galactic nuclei (AGNs) with broad Halpha emission lines, aiming at building a homogeneous sample that is more complete than previous ones for fainter, less highly accreting sources. For this purpose, we developed a set of elaborate, automated selection procedures and applied it uniformly to the Fourth Data Release of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. Special attention is given to AGN--galaxy spectral decomposition and emission-line deblending. We define a sample of 309 type 1 AGNs with BH masses in the range

X-RAY PROPERTIES OF NARROW-LINE SEYFERT 1 GALAXIES WITH VERY SMALL BROADLINE WIDTHS

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WHAT CONTROLS THE Fe II STRENGTH IN ACTIVE GALACTIC NUCLEI

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CORRELATION ANALYSIS OF A LARGE SAMPLE OF NARROW-LINE SEYFERT 1 GALAXIES: LINKING CENTRAL ENGINE AND HOST PROPERTIES

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COEXISTENCE OF GRAVITATIONALLY-BOUND AND RADIATION-DRIVEN C IV EMISSION LINE REGIONS IN ACTIVE GALACTIC NUCLEI

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