THE SLOAN DIGITAL SKY SURVEY REVERBERATION MAPPING PROJECT: RAPID C

C. J. Grier; P. B. Hall; W. N. Brandt; J. R. Trump; Yue Shen; M. Vivek; N. Filiz Ak; Yuguang Chen; K. S. Dawson; K. D. Denney; Paul J. Green; Linhua Jiang; C. S. Kochanek; Ian D. McGreer; I. Pris; B. M. Peterson; D. P. Schneider; Charling Tao; W. M. Wood-Vasey; Dmitry Bizyaev; Jian Ge; Karen Kinemuchi; Daniel Oravetz; Kaike Pan; Audrey Simmons

doi:10.1088/0004-637X/806/1/111

THE SLOAN DIGITAL SKY SURVEY REVERBERATION MAPPING PROJECT: RAPID C

C. J. Grier, P. B. Hall, W. N. Brandt, J. R. Trump, Yue Shen, M. Vivek, N. Filiz Ak, Yuguang Chen, K. S. Dawson, K. D. Denney, Paul J. Green, Linhua Jiang, C. S. Kochanek, Ian D. McGreer, I. Pris, B. M. Peterson, D. P. Schneider, Charling Tao, W. M. Wood-Vasey, Dmitry BizyaevJian Ge, Karen Kinemuchi, Daniel Oravetz, Kaike Pan, Audrey Simmons

Research output: Contribution to journal › Review article › peer-review

62 Scopus citations

Abstract

We report the discovery of rapid variations of a high-velocity C iv broad absorption line trough in the quasar SDSS J141007.74+541203.3. This object was intensively observed in 2014 as a part of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Reverberation Mapping Project, during which 32 epochs of spectroscopy were obtained with the Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey spectrograph. We observe significant (>4σ) variability in the equivalent width (EW) of the broad (∼4000 km s^-1 wide) C iv trough on rest-frame timescales as short as 1.20 days (∼29 hr), the shortest broad absorption line variability timescale yet reported. The EW varied by ∼10% on these short timescales, and by about a factor of two over the duration of the campaign. We evaluate several potential causes of the variability, concluding that the most likely cause is a rapid response to changes in the incident ionizing continuum. If the outflow is at a radius where the recombination rate is higher than the ionization rate, the timescale of variability places a lower limit on the density of the absorbing gas of n_e 3.9 ×10⁵ cm^-3. The broad absorption line variability characteristics of this quasar are consistent with those observed in previous studies of quasars, indicating that such short-term variability may in fact be common and thus can be used to learn about outflow characteristics and contributions to quasar/host-galaxy feedback scenarios.

Original language	English (US)
Article number	111
Journal	Astrophysical Journal
Volume	806
Issue number	1
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1088/0004-637X/806/1/111
State	Published - Jun 10 2015
Externally published	Yes

Keywords

galaxies: active
galaxies: kinematics and dynamics
galaxies: nuclei
quasars: absorption lines

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Astronomy and Astrophysics
Space and Planetary Science

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10.1088/0004-637X/806/1/111

Cite this

Grier, C. J., Hall, P. B., Brandt, W. N., Trump, J. R., Shen, Y., Vivek, M., Ak, N. F., Chen, Y., Dawson, K. S., Denney, K. D., Green, P. J., Jiang, L., Kochanek, C. S., McGreer, I. D., Pris, I., Peterson, B. M., Schneider, D. P., Tao, C., Wood-Vasey, W. M., ... Simmons, A. (2015). THE SLOAN DIGITAL SKY SURVEY REVERBERATION MAPPING PROJECT: RAPID C. Astrophysical Journal, 806(1), Article 111. https://doi.org/10.1088/0004-637X/806/1/111

Grier, CJ, Hall, PB, Brandt, WN, Trump, JR, Shen, Y, Vivek, M, Ak, NF, Chen, Y, Dawson, KS, Denney, KD, Green, PJ, Jiang, L, Kochanek, CS, McGreer, ID, Pris, I, Peterson, BM, Schneider, DP, Tao, C, Wood-Vasey, WM, Bizyaev, D, Ge, J, Kinemuchi, K, Oravetz, D, Pan, K & Simmons, A 2015, 'THE SLOAN DIGITAL SKY SURVEY REVERBERATION MAPPING PROJECT: RAPID C', Astrophysical Journal, vol. 806, no. 1, 111. https://doi.org/10.1088/0004-637X/806/1/111

@article{d327afa9d2624520a0ab7e688207ee0f,

title = "THE SLOAN DIGITAL SKY SURVEY REVERBERATION MAPPING PROJECT: RAPID C",

abstract = "We report the discovery of rapid variations of a high-velocity C iv broad absorption line trough in the quasar SDSS J141007.74+541203.3. This object was intensively observed in 2014 as a part of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Reverberation Mapping Project, during which 32 epochs of spectroscopy were obtained with the Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey spectrograph. We observe significant (>4σ) variability in the equivalent width (EW) of the broad (∼4000 km s-1 wide) C iv trough on rest-frame timescales as short as 1.20 days (∼29 hr), the shortest broad absorption line variability timescale yet reported. The EW varied by ∼10% on these short timescales, and by about a factor of two over the duration of the campaign. We evaluate several potential causes of the variability, concluding that the most likely cause is a rapid response to changes in the incident ionizing continuum. If the outflow is at a radius where the recombination rate is higher than the ionization rate, the timescale of variability places a lower limit on the density of the absorbing gas of ne 3.9 ×105 cm-3. The broad absorption line variability characteristics of this quasar are consistent with those observed in previous studies of quasars, indicating that such short-term variability may in fact be common and thus can be used to learn about outflow characteristics and contributions to quasar/host-galaxy feedback scenarios.",

keywords = "galaxies: active, galaxies: kinematics and dynamics, galaxies: nuclei, quasars: absorption lines",

author = "Grier, {C. J.} and Hall, {P. B.} and Brandt, {W. N.} and Trump, {J. R.} and Yue Shen and M. Vivek and Ak, {N. Filiz} and Yuguang Chen and Dawson, {K. S.} and Denney, {K. D.} and Green, {Paul J.} and Linhua Jiang and Kochanek, {C. S.} and McGreer, {Ian D.} and I. Pris and Peterson, {B. M.} and Schneider, {D. P.} and Charling Tao and Wood-Vasey, {W. M.} and Dmitry Bizyaev and Jian Ge and Karen Kinemuchi and Daniel Oravetz and Kaike Pan and Audrey Simmons",

year = "2015",

month = jun,

day = "10",

doi = "10.1088/0004-637X/806/1/111",

language = "English (US)",

volume = "806",

journal = "Astrophysical Journal",

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number = "1",

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TY - JOUR

T1 - THE SLOAN DIGITAL SKY SURVEY REVERBERATION MAPPING PROJECT

T2 - RAPID C

AU - Grier, C. J.

AU - Hall, P. B.

AU - Brandt, W. N.

AU - Trump, J. R.

AU - Shen, Yue

AU - Vivek, M.

AU - Ak, N. Filiz

AU - Chen, Yuguang

AU - Dawson, K. S.

AU - Denney, K. D.

AU - Green, Paul J.

AU - Jiang, Linhua

AU - Kochanek, C. S.

AU - McGreer, Ian D.

AU - Pris, I.

AU - Peterson, B. M.

AU - Schneider, D. P.

AU - Tao, Charling

AU - Wood-Vasey, W. M.

AU - Bizyaev, Dmitry

AU - Ge, Jian

AU - Kinemuchi, Karen

AU - Oravetz, Daniel

AU - Pan, Kaike

AU - Simmons, Audrey

PY - 2015/6/10

Y1 - 2015/6/10

N2 - We report the discovery of rapid variations of a high-velocity C iv broad absorption line trough in the quasar SDSS J141007.74+541203.3. This object was intensively observed in 2014 as a part of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Reverberation Mapping Project, during which 32 epochs of spectroscopy were obtained with the Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey spectrograph. We observe significant (>4σ) variability in the equivalent width (EW) of the broad (∼4000 km s-1 wide) C iv trough on rest-frame timescales as short as 1.20 days (∼29 hr), the shortest broad absorption line variability timescale yet reported. The EW varied by ∼10% on these short timescales, and by about a factor of two over the duration of the campaign. We evaluate several potential causes of the variability, concluding that the most likely cause is a rapid response to changes in the incident ionizing continuum. If the outflow is at a radius where the recombination rate is higher than the ionization rate, the timescale of variability places a lower limit on the density of the absorbing gas of ne 3.9 ×105 cm-3. The broad absorption line variability characteristics of this quasar are consistent with those observed in previous studies of quasars, indicating that such short-term variability may in fact be common and thus can be used to learn about outflow characteristics and contributions to quasar/host-galaxy feedback scenarios.

AB - We report the discovery of rapid variations of a high-velocity C iv broad absorption line trough in the quasar SDSS J141007.74+541203.3. This object was intensively observed in 2014 as a part of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Reverberation Mapping Project, during which 32 epochs of spectroscopy were obtained with the Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey spectrograph. We observe significant (>4σ) variability in the equivalent width (EW) of the broad (∼4000 km s-1 wide) C iv trough on rest-frame timescales as short as 1.20 days (∼29 hr), the shortest broad absorption line variability timescale yet reported. The EW varied by ∼10% on these short timescales, and by about a factor of two over the duration of the campaign. We evaluate several potential causes of the variability, concluding that the most likely cause is a rapid response to changes in the incident ionizing continuum. If the outflow is at a radius where the recombination rate is higher than the ionization rate, the timescale of variability places a lower limit on the density of the absorbing gas of ne 3.9 ×105 cm-3. The broad absorption line variability characteristics of this quasar are consistent with those observed in previous studies of quasars, indicating that such short-term variability may in fact be common and thus can be used to learn about outflow characteristics and contributions to quasar/host-galaxy feedback scenarios.

KW - galaxies: active

KW - galaxies: kinematics and dynamics

KW - galaxies: nuclei

KW - quasars: absorption lines

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UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=84935008726&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1088/0004-637X/806/1/111

DO - 10.1088/0004-637X/806/1/111

M3 - Review article

AN - SCOPUS:84935008726

SN - 0004-637X

VL - 806

JO - Astrophysical Journal

JF - Astrophysical Journal

IS - 1

M1 - 111

ER -

THE SLOAN DIGITAL SKY SURVEY REVERBERATION MAPPING PROJECT: RAPID C

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