Spatially resolving the kinematics of the ≲100 μas quasar broad-line region using spectroastrometry

Journal Article · Fri May 01 04:00:00 EDT 2015 · Astrophysical Journal

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1088/0004-637X/804/1/57· OSTI ID:22883244

Stern, Jonathan; Hennawi, Joseph F.; Pott, Jörg-Uwe ^[1]

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1. Max Planck Institut für Astronomie, Königstuhl 17, D-69117, Heidelberg (Germany)

The broad-line region (BLR) of luminous active galactic nuclei (AGNs) is a prominent observational signature of the accretion flow around supermassive black holes, which can be used to measure their masses (M{sub BH}) over cosmic history. Due to the ≲100 μas angular size of the BLR, current direct constraints on BLR kinematics are limited to those provided by reverberation mapping studies, which are most efficiently carried out on low-luminosity (L) and low-redshift (z) AGNs. We analyze the possibility of measuring the BLR size and study its kinematic structure using spectroastrometry, whereby one measures the spatial position centroid of emission-line photons as a function of velocity. We calculate the expected spectroastrometric signal of a rotation-dominated BLR for various assumptions about the ratio of random to rotational motions and the radial distribution of the BLR gas. We show that for hyper-luminous quasars at z<2.5, the size of the low-ionization BLR can already be constrained with existing telescopes and adaptive optics systems, thus providing a novel method to spatially resolve the kinematics of the accretion flow at 10{sup 3}–10{sup 4} gravitational radii and measure M{sub BH} at the high-L end of the AGN family. With a 30 m class telescope, BLR spectroastrometry should be routinely detectable for much fainter quasars out to z∼6, and for various emission lines. This will enable kinematic M{sub BH} measurements as a function of luminosity and redshift, providing a compelling science case for next-generation telescopes.

• OSTI ID: 22883244
• Journal Information: Astrophysical Journal, Journal Name: Astrophysical Journal Journal Issue: 1 Vol. 804; ISSN ASJOAB; ISSN 0004-637X
• Country of Publication: United Kingdom
• Language: English

Related Subjects

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS
BLACK HOLES
DIRECT CURRENT
EMISSION
GALAXY NUCLEI
IONIZATION
LUMINOSITY
MASS
PHOTONS
QUASARS
RED SHIFT
ROTATION
SPATIAL DISTRIBUTION
TELESCOPES