Keck/ESI long-slit spectroscopy of SBS 1421+511: A recoiling quasar nucleus in an active galaxy pair?
- Department of Astronomy, University of Science and Technology of China, 96 Jinzhai Road, Hefei, Anhui (China)
- Key Laboratory for Research in Galaxies and Cosmology, Shanghai Astronomical Observatory, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 80 Nandan Road, Shanghai 200030 (China)
- Polar Research Institute of China, 451 Jinqiao Road, Shanghai (China)
- Department of Astronomy, University of Florida, 211 Bryant Space Science Center, Gainesville, FL (United States)
- CEA Saclay, DSM/Irfu/Service dAstrophysique, Orme des Merisiers, F-91191 Gif-sur-Yvette Cedex (France)
We present Keck/Echellette Spectrograph and Imager long-slit spectroscopy of SBS 1421+511, a system consisting of a quasar at z = 0.276 and an extended source 3″ north of the quasar. The quasar shows a blue-skewed profile of Balmer broad emission lines, which can be well modeled as emissions from a circular disk with a blueshift velocity of ∼1400 km s{sup −1}. The blueshift is better interpreted as resulting from a recoiling active black hole than from a super-massive black hole binary, since the line profile almost kept steady for over one decade in the quasar rest frame. Alternative interpretations are possible as well, such as emissions from a bipolar outflow or a circular disk with spiral emissivity perturbations. The extended source shows Seyfert-like narrow-line ratios and a [O iii] luminosity of >1.4×10{sup 8}L{sub ⊙}, with almost the same redshift as the quasar and a projected distance of 12.5 kpc at the redshift. SBS 1421+511 is thus likely to be an interacting galaxy pair with a dual active galactic nucleus. Alternatively, the quasar companion only appears to be active but not necessarily so: the gas before/in/behind the companion galaxy is illuminated by the quasar as an extended emission-line region is detected at a similar distance in the opposite direction southern to the quasar, which may be generated either by tidal interactions between the galaxy pair or large-scale outflows from the quasar.
- OSTI ID:
- 22887037
- Journal Information:
- Astrophysical Journal, Journal Name: Astrophysical Journal Journal Issue: 1 Vol. 818; ISSN ASJOAB; ISSN 0004-637X
- Country of Publication:
- United Kingdom
- Language:
- English
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