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OzDES Reverberation Mapping of Active Galactic Nuclei: Final Data Release, Black-Hole Mass Results, & Scaling Relations

Published 1 week agoVersion 1arXiv:2512.01261

Authors

H. McDougall, T. M. Davis, Z. Yu, P. Martini, C. Lidman, U. Malik, A. Penton, G. F. Lewis, B. E. Tucker, B. J. S. Pope, S. Allam, F. Andrade-Oliveira, J. Asorey, D. Bacon, S. Bocquet, D. Brooks, A. Carnero Rosell, D. Carollo, A. Carr, J. Carretero, T. Y. Cheng, L. N. da Costa, M. E. da Silva Pereira, J. De Vicente, H. T. Diehl, P. Doel, S. Everett, J. García-Bellido, K. Glazebrook, D. Gruen, G. Gutierrez, K. Herner, S. R. Hinton, D. L. Hollowood, D. J. James, A. G. Kim, K. Kuehn, S. Lee, M. March, J. L. Marshall, J. Mena-Fernández, F. Menanteau, R. Miquel, J. Myles, R. L. C. Ogando, A. Porredon, E. Sanchez, D. Sanchez Cid, R. Sharp, M. Smith, E. Suchyta, M. E. C. Swanson, C. To, D. L. Tucker, A. R. Walker, N. Weaverdyck

Categories

astro-ph.GAastro-ph.CO

Abstract

Over the last decade, the Australian Dark Energy (OzDES) collaboration has used Reverberation Mapping to measure the masses of high redshift supermassive black holes. Here we present the final review and analysis of this OzDES reverberation mapping campaign. These observations use 6-7 years of photometric and spectroscopic observations of 735 Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN) in the redshift range $z\in [0.13, 3.85]$ and bolometric luminosity range $\log_{10}(L_{\mathrm{bol}})\in [44.3, 47.5] \mathrm{erg/s}$. Both photometry and spectra are observed in visible wavelengths, allowing for the physical scale of the AGN broad line region to be estimated from reverberations of the Hbeta, MgII and CIV emission lines. We successfully use reverberation mapping to constrain the masses of 62 super-massive black holes, and combine with existing data to fit a power law to the lag-luminosity relation for the Hbeta and MgII lines with a scatter of $\sim0.25$ dex, the tightest and most robust fit yet identified. We fit a similarly constrained relation for CIV, resolving a tension with the low luminosity literature AGN by accounting for selection effects. We also examine the impact of emission line width and luminosity (related to accretion rate) in reducing the scatter of these scaling relationships and find no significant improvement over the lag-only approach for any of the three lines. Using these relations, we further estimate the masses and accretion rates of 246 AGN. We also use these relations to estimate the relative sizes of the Hbeta, MgII and CIV emitting regions, and find evidence that the MgII emission may occur further out than Hbeta. In short, we provide a comprehensive benchmark of high redshift AGN reverberation mapping at the close of this most recent generation of surveys, including light curves, time-delays, and the most reliable radius-luminosity relations to date.

OzDES Reverberation Mapping of Active Galactic Nuclei: Final Data Release, Black-Hole Mass Results, & Scaling Relations

1 week ago
v1
56 authors

Categories

astro-ph.GAastro-ph.CO

Abstract

Over the last decade, the Australian Dark Energy (OzDES) collaboration has used Reverberation Mapping to measure the masses of high redshift supermassive black holes. Here we present the final review and analysis of this OzDES reverberation mapping campaign. These observations use 6-7 years of photometric and spectroscopic observations of 735 Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN) in the redshift range $z\in [0.13, 3.85]$ and bolometric luminosity range $\log_{10}(L_{\mathrm{bol}})\in [44.3, 47.5] \mathrm{erg/s}$. Both photometry and spectra are observed in visible wavelengths, allowing for the physical scale of the AGN broad line region to be estimated from reverberations of the Hbeta, MgII and CIV emission lines. We successfully use reverberation mapping to constrain the masses of 62 super-massive black holes, and combine with existing data to fit a power law to the lag-luminosity relation for the Hbeta and MgII lines with a scatter of $\sim0.25$ dex, the tightest and most robust fit yet identified. We fit a similarly constrained relation for CIV, resolving a tension with the low luminosity literature AGN by accounting for selection effects. We also examine the impact of emission line width and luminosity (related to accretion rate) in reducing the scatter of these scaling relationships and find no significant improvement over the lag-only approach for any of the three lines. Using these relations, we further estimate the masses and accretion rates of 246 AGN. We also use these relations to estimate the relative sizes of the Hbeta, MgII and CIV emitting regions, and find evidence that the MgII emission may occur further out than Hbeta. In short, we provide a comprehensive benchmark of high redshift AGN reverberation mapping at the close of this most recent generation of surveys, including light curves, time-delays, and the most reliable radius-luminosity relations to date.

Authors

H. McDougall, T. M. Davis, Z. Yu et al. (+53 more)

arXiv ID: 2512.01261
Published Dec 1, 2025

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