TY - JOUR
T1 - JADES and BlackTHUNDER
T2 - rest-frame Balmer-line absorption and the local environment in a Little Red Dot at z = 5
AU - D’Eugenio, Francesco
AU - Juodžbalis, Ignas
AU - Ji, Xihan
AU - Scholtz, Jan
AU - Maiolino, Roberto
AU - Carniani, Stefano
AU - Perna, Michele
AU - Mazzolari, Giovanni
AU - Übler, Hannah
AU - Arribas, Santiago
AU - Bhatawdekar, Rachana
AU - Bunker, Andrew J.
AU - Cresci, Giovanni
AU - Curtis-Lake, Emma
AU - Hainline, Kevin
AU - Inayoshi, Kohei
AU - Isobe, Yuki
AU - Ji, Zhiyuan
AU - Johnson, Benjamin D.
AU - Jones, Gareth C.
AU - Looser, Tobias J.
AU - Nelson, Erica J.
AU - Parlanti, Eleonora
AU - Puskás, Dávid
AU - Rinaldi, Pierluigi
AU - Robertson, Brant
AU - Del Pino, Bruno Rodríguez
AU - Shivaei, Irene
AU - Sun, Fengwu
AU - Tacchella, Sandro
AU - Venturi, Giacomo
AU - Volonteri, Marta
AU - Williams, Christina C.
AU - Willmer, Christopher N.A.
AU - Willott, Chris
AU - Witstok, Joris
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© The Author(s) 2025. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Royal Astronomical Society.
PY - 2026/1/1
Y1 - 2026/1/1
N2 - We present a ‘Little Red Dot’ (LRD) broad-line active galactic nucleus (AGN) at z = 5.077, observed with NIRSpec/MSA (micro-shutter assembly) and NIRSpec/IFU (integral-field unit) by the JADES (JWST Advanced Deep Extragalactic Survey) and BlackTHUNDER (Black holes in THe early Universe aNd their DensE surRoundings) surveys. Combining spatially resolved and high-resolution spectroscopy, we characterize its central engine, host, and environment. Hα has multiple components, including two broad Gaussians, yielding a black-hole mass log (M∙/M⊙) = 7.65, while [O iii]λ5007 gives a galaxy dynamical mass log (Mdyn/M⊙) = 9.1, suggesting an overmassive black hole relative to the host galaxy. The target is immersed in a 7-kpc wide pool of ionized gas and has three neighbours: a satellite galaxy, a possible satellite/gas cloud, and a tentatively detected spatially detached outflow. Hα shows strong, rest-frame absorption, deeper than the continuum, ruling out a stellar origin. The velocity and velocity dispersion are vabs = -13 km s-1 and σabs = 120 km s-1. There is tentative evidence (2.6σ) of temporal variability in the equivalent width of the Hα absorber over two rest-frame months, suggesting a highly dynamic nucleus. Notably, while the Hα absorber is clearly visible and even dominant in the high-resolution G395H observations, it is not detected in the medium-resolution G395M data of the same epoch. This implies that the current incidence rate of absorbers in LRDs-and especially of rest-frame absorbers-may be severely underestimated, because most LRDs rely on lower resolution spectroscopy. The high incidence rate of rest-frame absorbers in LRDs may indicate a configuration that is either intrinsically stationary, such as a rotating disc, or that exhibits time-averaged stability, such as an oscillatory ‘breathing mode’ accretion with cyclic expansion and contraction of the gas around the supermassive black hole.
AB - We present a ‘Little Red Dot’ (LRD) broad-line active galactic nucleus (AGN) at z = 5.077, observed with NIRSpec/MSA (micro-shutter assembly) and NIRSpec/IFU (integral-field unit) by the JADES (JWST Advanced Deep Extragalactic Survey) and BlackTHUNDER (Black holes in THe early Universe aNd their DensE surRoundings) surveys. Combining spatially resolved and high-resolution spectroscopy, we characterize its central engine, host, and environment. Hα has multiple components, including two broad Gaussians, yielding a black-hole mass log (M∙/M⊙) = 7.65, while [O iii]λ5007 gives a galaxy dynamical mass log (Mdyn/M⊙) = 9.1, suggesting an overmassive black hole relative to the host galaxy. The target is immersed in a 7-kpc wide pool of ionized gas and has three neighbours: a satellite galaxy, a possible satellite/gas cloud, and a tentatively detected spatially detached outflow. Hα shows strong, rest-frame absorption, deeper than the continuum, ruling out a stellar origin. The velocity and velocity dispersion are vabs = -13 km s-1 and σabs = 120 km s-1. There is tentative evidence (2.6σ) of temporal variability in the equivalent width of the Hα absorber over two rest-frame months, suggesting a highly dynamic nucleus. Notably, while the Hα absorber is clearly visible and even dominant in the high-resolution G395H observations, it is not detected in the medium-resolution G395M data of the same epoch. This implies that the current incidence rate of absorbers in LRDs-and especially of rest-frame absorbers-may be severely underestimated, because most LRDs rely on lower resolution spectroscopy. The high incidence rate of rest-frame absorbers in LRDs may indicate a configuration that is either intrinsically stationary, such as a rotating disc, or that exhibits time-averaged stability, such as an oscillatory ‘breathing mode’ accretion with cyclic expansion and contraction of the gas around the supermassive black hole.
KW - galaxies: Seyfert
KW - galaxies: active
KW - quasars: supermassive black holes
UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/105025893828
UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/105025893828#tab=citedBy
U2 - 10.1093/mnras/staf2117
DO - 10.1093/mnras/staf2117
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:105025893828
SN - 0035-8711
VL - 545
JO - Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
JF - Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
IS - 3
M1 - staf2117
ER -