The Sloan Digital Sky Survey Reverberation Mapping Project: Hα and Hβ Reverberation Measurements from First-year Spectroscopy and Photometry
Creators
Abstract
We present reverberation mapping results from the first year of combined spectroscopic and photometric observations of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Reverberation Mapping Project. We successfully recover reverberation time delays between the g+i band emission and the broad Hβemission line for a total of 44 quasars, and for the broad Hα emission line in 18 quasars. Time delays are computed using the JAVELIN and CREAM software and the traditional interpolated cross-correlation function (ICCF): using well-defined criteria, we report measurements of 32 Hβ and 13 Hα lags with JAVELIN, 42 Hβ and 17 Hα lags with CREAM, and 16 Hβ and eight Hα lags with the ICCF. Lag values are generally consistent among the three methods, though we typically measure smaller uncertainties with JAVELIN and CREAM than with the ICCF, given the more physically motivated light curve interpolation and more robust statistical modeling of the former two methods. The median redshift of our Hβ-detected sample of quasars is 0.53, significantly higher than that of the previous reverberation mapping sample. We find that in most objects, the time delay of the Hαemission is consistent with or slightly longer than that of Hβ. We measure black hole masses using our measured time delays and line widths for these quasars. These black hole mass measurements are mostly consistent with expectations based on the local M_(BH) - σ* relationship, and are also consistent with single-epoch black hole mass measurements. This work increases the current sample size of reverberation-mapped active galaxies by about two-thirds and represents the first large sample of reverberation mapping observations beyond the local universe (z < 0.3).
Additional Information
© 2017 The American Astronomical Society. Received 2017 April 25; revised 2017 October 3; accepted 2017 October 14; published 2017 December 7. C.J.G., W.N.B., J.R.T., and D.P.S. acknowledge support from NSF grant AST-1517113. Y.S. acknowledges support from an Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellowship and NSF grant AST-1715579. C.S.K. is supported by NSF grant AST-1515427. K.H. acknowledges support from STFC grant ST/M001296/1. I.D.M. acknowledges support from NSF grant AST 15-15115. K.D.D. acknowledges support from the NSF awarded under NSF Grant AST-1302093. L.C.H. was supported by the National Key R&D Program of China (2016YFA0400702) and the National Science Foundation of China (11473002, 11721303). This work is based on observations obtained with MegaPrime/MegaCam, a joint project of CFHT and CEA/DAPNIA, at the Canada–France–Hawaii Telescope (CFHT), which is operated by the National Research Council (NRC) of Canada, the Institut National des Sciences de l'Univers of the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique of France, and the University of Hawaii. The authors wish to recognize and acknowledge the very significant cultural role and reverence that the summit of Maunakea has always had within the indigenous Hawaiian community. The astronomical community is most fortunate to have the opportunity to conduct observations from this mountain. Funding for SDSS-III has been provided by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, the Participating Institutions, the National Science Foundation, and the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science. The SDSS-III website is http://www.sdss3.org/. SDSS-III is managed by the Astrophysical Research Consortium for the Participating Institutions of the SDSS-III Collaboration including the University of Arizona, the Brazilian Participation Group, Brookhaven National Laboratory, Carnegie Mellon University, University of Florida, the French Participation Group, the German Participation Group, Harvard University, the Instituto de Astrofisica de Canarias, the Michigan State/Notre Dame/JINA Participation Group, Johns Hopkins University, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics, Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics, New Mexico State University, New York University, Ohio State University, Pennsylvania State University, University of Portsmouth, Princeton University, the Spanish Participation Group, University of Tokyo, University of Utah, Vanderbilt University, University of Virginia, University of Washington, and Yale University. We thank the Bok and CFHT Canadian, Chinese, and French TACs for their support. This research uses data obtained through the Telescope Access Program (TAP), which is funded by the National Astronomical Observatories, the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and the Special Fund for Astronomy from the Ministry of Finance in China.Attached Files
Published - Grier_2017_ApJ_851_21.pdf
Submitted - 1711.03114.pdf
Erratum - Grier_2018_ApJ_868_76.pdf
Files
1711.03114.pdf
Additional details
Identifiers
- Eprint ID
- 83790
- Resolver ID
- CaltechAUTHORS:20171211-092930293
Related works
- Describes
- 10.3847/1538-4357/aaee67 (DOI)
- https://arxiv.org/abs/1711.03114 (URL)
Funding
- NSF
- AST-1517113
- Alfred P. Sloan Foundation
- NSF
- AST-1715579
- NSF
- AST-1515427
- Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC)
- ST/M001296/1
- NSF
- AST 15-15115
- NSF
- AST-1302093
- Ministry of Science and Technology (China)
- 2016YFA0400702
- National Natural Science Foundation of China
- 11473002
- National Natural Science Foundation of China
- 11721303
- Participating Institutions
- Department of Energy (DOE)
- National Astronomical Observatories, Chinese Academy of Sciences (NAOC)
- Ministry of Finance (China)
Dates
- Created
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2017-12-12Created from EPrint's datestamp field
- Updated
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2023-06-01Created from EPrint's last_modified field