Double-peaked emission lines are believed to be originated from accretion disks around supermassive black holes (SMBHs), and about 3% of z<0.33 AGNs are found to be double-peaked emitters. The quasar SDSS J153636.22+044127.0 has recently been identified with peculiar broad-line emission systems exhibiting multiple redshifts. We decompose the H$α$ and H$β$ profiles into a circular Keplerian disk line component and other Gaussian components. We propose that the system is both a double-peaked emitter and a binary SMBH system, where the extra-flux in the blue peaks of the broad lines comes from the region around the secondary black hole. We suggest that such black hole binary systems might also exist in many known double-peaked emitters, where the tidal torques from the secondary black hole clear the outer region of the disk around the primary black hole, similar to the gap in a protostellar disk due to the process of planetary migration, and might also stimulate the formation of a vertical extended source in the inner region around the primary which illuminates the disk. However, most secondary SMBHs in such systems might be too small to maintain a detectable broad line region (BLR), so that the disk line from the primary dominates.
We examine spectral properties of the SDSS quasar J093201.60+031858.7, in particular the presence of strong blue peaks in the Balmer emission lines offset from the narrow lines by approximately 4200 km/s. Asymmetry in the broad central component of the Hbeta line indicates the presence of a double-peaked emitter. However, the strength and sharpness of the blue Hbeta and blue Hgamma peaks make this quasar spectrum unique amongst double-peaked emitters identified from SDSS spectra. We fit a disk model to the Hbeta line and compare this object with other unusual double-peaked quasar spectra, part…
The quasar SDSS J105041.35+345631.3 (z = 0.272) has broad emission lines blueshifted by 3500 km/s relative to the narrow lines and the host galaxy. Such an object may be a candidate for a recoiling supermassive black hole, binary black hole, a superposition of two objects, or an unusual geometry for the broad emission-line region. The absence of narrow lines at the broad line redshift argues against superposition. New Keck spectra of J1050+3546 place tight constraints on the binary model. The combination of large velocity shift and symmetrical H-beta profile, as well as aspects of the narrow l…
It is well known that there are only two low-frequency-peaked BL Lac objects (LBLs: BL Lacertae and S5 0716+714) and one flat spectrum radio quasar (FSRQ: 3C 279) among more than 30 active galactic nuclei (AGNs) with detected TeV emissions. We study the spectral energy distribution (SED) of a famous LBL OJ 287, whose light curve has a 12-y period. Using a homogeneous one-zone synchrotron + synchrotron-self Compton model, we model the quasi-simultaneous broad-band SED of OJ 287. With some reasonable assumptions, we extrapolate the model to the high state of OJ 287 and predict its γ-ray emission…
We report on the study of an intriguing active galaxy that was selected as a potential multiple supermassive black hole merger in the early-type host SDSS J151709.20+335324.7 (z=0.135). Ground-based SDSS imaging reveals two blue structures on either side of the photometric center of the host galaxy, separated from each other by about 5.7 kpc. The analysis of spatially resolved emission line profiles from a Keck/HIRES spectrum reveal three distinct kinematic subcomponents, one at rest and the other two moving at -350 km/s and 500 km/s with respect to the systemic velocity of the host galaxy. A …
We present AGN from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) having double-peaked profiles of [OIII] 5007,4959 and other narrow emission-lines, motivated by the prospect of finding candidate binary AGN. These objects were identified by means of a visual examination of 21,592 quasars at z < 0.7 in SDSS Data Release 7 (DR7). Of the spectra with adequate signal-to-noise, 148 spectra exhibit a double-peaked [OIII] profile. Of these, 86 are Type 1 AGN and 62 are Type 2 AGN. Only two give the appearance of possibly being optically resolved double AGN in the SDSS images, but many show close companions or …
We discuss the possible origin of the double-peaked profiles recently observed in Lyman-Alpha Emitters (LAEs) at the epoch of reionization ($z \gtrsim 6.5$) from obscured active galactic nuclei (AGN). Combining the extent of the Lyman-$α$ near-zones estimated from the blue peak velocity offset in these galaxies, with the ionizing emissivity of quasars at $z \gtrsim 6$, we forecast the intrinsic UV and X-ray luminosities of the AGN needed to give rise to their double-peaked profiles. We also estimate the extent of the obscuration of the AGN by comparing their luminosities to those of similar qu…
In this manuscript, we carefully check the correlation between the line width and the line flux of the double-peaked broad H$α$ of the well-known mapped AGN 3C390.3, in order to show some further distinctions between double-peaked emitters and normal broad line AGN. Based on the Virialization assumption and the empirical relation about $R_{BLR}$, one strong negative correlation of line parameters of the double-peaked broad lines should be expected for 3C390.3, such as the negative correlation confirmed for the mapped broad line object NGC5548. But, based on the public spectra around 1995 from …
We report the discovery of the most-distant double-peaked emitter, CXOECDFS J033115.0-275518, at z=1.369. A Keck/DEIMOS spectrum shows a clearly double-peaked broad Mg II $\lambda2799$ emission line, with FWHM 11000 km/s for the line complex. The line profile can be well fit by an elliptical relativistic Keplerian disk model. This is one of a handful of double-peaked emitters known to be a luminous quasar, with excellent multiwavelength coverage and a high-quality X-ray spectrum. CXOECDFS J033115.0-275518 is a radio-loud quasar with two radio lobes (FR II morphology) and a radio loudness of f_…
We present the detection of extremely broad, double-peaked, highly polarized Halpha emission lines in the nuclei of the well-known Seyfert 2 galaxies NGC 2110 and NGC 5252. These hidden broad Halpha emission lines, visible only in scattered light, are shown to display significant variability in strength and profile on timescales of <~ 1 yr. That the broad emission line exhibits variability in polarized flux also suggests that the scattering region must be very compact, possibly confined in a small number of electron clouds <~ 1 lt-yr in size. Our observational constraints place these clouds wi…
The quasar SDSS J153636.22+044127.0, exhibiting peculiar broad emission-line profiles with multiple components, was proposed as a candidate sub-parsec binary supermassive black hole system. More recently, imaging revealed two spatially distinct sources, leading some to suggest the system to be a quasar pair separated by ~5 kpc. We present Palomar and Keck optical spectra of this system from which we identify a third velocity component to the emission lines. We argue that the system is more likely an unusual member of the class of active galactic nuclei (AGNs) known as "double-peaked emitters" …
With the aim of investigating galaxies with two strong simultaneous starbursts, we have extracted a sample of galaxies with double-peaked emission lines in their global spectra from the SDSS spectral database. We then fitted the emission lines Halpha, Hbeta, [OIII]5007, [NII]6584, [SII]6717 and [SII]6731 of 129 spectra by two Gaussians to separate the radiation of the two (blue and red) components. A more or less reliable decomposition of the all those emission lines have been found for 55 spectra. Using a standard BPT classification diagram, we have been able to divide the galaxies from our s…
We have examined a subset of 11 active galactic nuclei (AGN) drawn from a sample of 87 objects that possess double-peaked optical emission line spectra, as put forward by Wang et al. (2009a) and are detectable in the FIRST survey at radio wavelengths. The double-peaked nature of the optical emission line spectra has been suggested as evidence for the existence of binary black holes in these AGN, although this interpretation is controversial. We make a simple suggestion, that direct evidence of binary black holes in these objects could be searched for in the form of dual sources of compact radi…
The cross-correlation of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Data Release 7 with the Faint Images of the Radio Sky at Twenty-Centimeters survey allows for a multiwavelength statistical study of radio-optical galaxy properties on a very large number of sources. The correlation we find between $L_{[20 cm]}/L_{[Hα]}$ and optical emission line ratios suggests that the origin of the emission in powerful radio-galaxies is of nuclear rather than of stellar origin. In particular, the spectroscopic classification in Seyferts, Low Ionization Narrow Emission Regions (LINERs) and star-forming galaxies provided b…
Recently, much attention has been given to double-peaked narrow emission-line galaxies, some of which are suggested to be related with merging galaxies. We make a systematic search to build the largest sample of these sources from Data Release 7 of Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS DR7). With reasonable criteria of fluxes, full-width-half-maximum of emission lines and separations of the peaks, we select 3,030 double-peaked narrow emission-lines galaxies. In light of the existence of broad Balmer lines and the locations of the two components of double-peaked narrow emission lines distinguished by …
An increasing number of Active Galactic Nuclei (AGNs) exhibit broad, double-peaked Balmer emission lines,which represent some of the best evidence for the existence of relatively large-scale accretion disks in AGNs. A set of 20 double-peaked emitters have been monitored for nearly a decade in order to observe long-term variations in the profiles of the double-peaked Balmer lines. Variations generally occur on timescales of years, and are attributed to physical changes in the accretion disk. Here we characterize the variability of a subset of seven double-peaked emitters in a model independent …
We analyze the optical spectrum of type 1 QSO SDSS J1425+3231. This ob- ject is interesting since its narrow emission lines such as [O III]λλ4959, 5007 are double- peaked, and the line structure can be modeled well by three Gaussian components: two components for the two peaks (we refer the peaks at low/high redshift as "the blue/red component") and another one for the line wing which has the same line center as that of the blue component, but ~ 3 times broader. The separation between the blue and red components is ~ 500 km/s with blue component ~ 2 times broader than the red one. The Hβ emiss…
In the letter, under the widely accepted theoretical accretion disk model for the double-peaked emitter 3C390.3, the extended disk-like BLR can be well split into ten rings, and then the time lags between the lines from the rings and the continuum emission are estimated, based on the observed spectra around 1995. We can find one much strong correlation between the determined time lags (in unit of light-day) and the flux weighted radii (in unit of ${\rm R_G}$) of the rings, which is well consistent with the expected results through the theoretical accretion disk model. Moreover, through the str…
(Abridged) Approximately 1% of low redshift (z<0.3) optically-selected type 2 AGNs show a double-peaked [OIII] narrow emission line profile in their spatially-integrated spectra. Such features are usually interpreted as due either to kinematics, such as biconical outflows and/or disk rotation of the narrow line region (NLR) around single black holes, or to the relative motion of two distinct NLRs in a merging pair of AGNs. Here we report follow-up near infrared (NIR) imaging and optical slit spectroscopy of 31 double-peaked [OIII] type 2 AGNs drawn from the SDSS parent sample presented in Liu …
We present and discuss polarimetric observations of 182 targets drawn from an optically selected sample of 240 probable BL Lac candidates out of the SDSS compiled by Collinge et al. (2005). In contrast to most other BL Lac candidate samples extracted from the SDSS, its radio- and/or X-ray properties have not been taken into account for its derivation. Thus, because its selection is based on optical properties alone, it may be less prone to selection effects inherent in other samples derived at different frequencies, so it offers a unique opportunity to extract the first unbiased BL Lac luminos…
Active galaxies hosting two accreting and merging super-massive black holes (SMBHs) -- dual Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN) -- are predicted by many current and popular models of black hole-galaxy co-evolution. We present here the results of a program that has identified a set of probable dual AGN candidates based on near Infra-red (NIR) Laser Guide-Star Adaptive Optics (LGS AO) imaging with the Keck II telescope. These candidates are selected from a complete sample of radio-quiet Quasi-stellar Objects (QSOs) drawn from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS), which show double-peaked narrow AGN emis…
Double-peaked broad emission lines in Active Galactic Nuclei (AGNs) may indicate the existence of a bound supermassive black hole (SMBH) binary where two distinct broad line regions (BLRs) contribute together to the line profile. An alternative interpretation is a disk emitter origin for the double-peaked line profile. Using simple BLR models, we calculate the expected broad line profile for a SMBH binary at different separations. Under reasonable assumptions that both BLRs are illuminated by the two active SMBHs and that the ionizing flux at the BLR location is roughly constant, we confirm th…
The presence of double-peaked/multicomponent emission line profiles in spectra of galaxies is commonly done by visual inspection. However, the identification of complex emission line profiles by eye is unapproachable for large databases such as the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) or the integral field spectroscopy surveys of galaxies (e.g. CALIFA or MaNGA). We describe a quick method involving the cross-correlation technique for detecting the presence of complex (double-peaked or multiple components) profiles in the spectra of galaxies, deriving simultaneously a first estimation of the velocit…
We present the results of a systematic search for massive black hole binaries in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey spectroscopic database. We focus on bound binaries, under the assumption that one of the black holes is active. In this framework, the broad lines associated to the accreting black hole are expected to show systematic velocity shifts with respect to the narrow lines, which trace the rest-frame of the galaxy. For a sample of 54586 quasars and 3929 galaxies at redshifts 0.1<z<1.5 we brute-force model each spectrum as a mixture of two quasars at two different redshifts. The spectral model…
We present a sample of 131 quasars from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey at redshifts 0.8<z<1.6 with double peaks in either of the high-ionization narrow emission lines [NeV]3426 or [NeIII]3869. These sources were selected with the intention of identifying high-redshift analogs of the z<0.8 active galactic nuclei (AGN) with double-peaked [OIII]5007 lines, which might represent AGN outflows or dual AGN. Lines of high-ionization potential are believed to originate in the inner, highly photoionized portion of the narrow line region (NLR), and we exploit this assumption to investigate the possible kin…
We present a compilation of properties of the 105,783 quasars in the SDSS Data Release 7 (DR7) quasar catalog. In this value-added product, we compile continuum and emission line measurements around the Halpha, Hbeta, MgII and CIV regions, as well as other quantities such as radio properties, broad absorption line quasar (BALQSO) flags, and disk emitters. We also compile virial black hole mass estimates based on various calibrations. For the fiducial virial mass estimates we use the Vestergaard & Peterson (VP06) calibrations for Hbeta and CIV, and our own calibration for MgII which matches the…
Active Galactic Nuclei are objects associated with the presence of an accretion disc around supermassive black holes found in the very central region of galaxies with a well-defined bulge. In the optical range of the spectrum, a possible signature of the accretion disc is the presence of a broad double-peaked component that is mostly seen in H$α$. In this paper, we report the detection of a double-peaked feature in the H$α$ line in the nucleus of the galaxy NGC 4958. The narrow line region of this object has an emission that is typical of a LINER galaxy, which is the usual classification for d…
Merger-remnant galaxies with kpc-scale separation dual active galactic nuclei (AGNs) should be widespread as a consequence of galaxy mergers and triggered gas accretion onto supermassive black holes, yet very few dual AGNs have been observed. Galaxies with double-peaked narrow AGN emission lines in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey are plausible dual AGN candidates, but their double-peaked profiles could also be the result of gas kinematics or AGN-driven outflows and jets on small or large scales. To help distinguish between these scenarios, we have obtained spatial profiles of the AGN emission via…
We present a radio and optical study of the double-double radio galaxy J1328+2752 based on new low-frequency GMRT observations and SDSS data. The radio data were used to investigate the morphology and to perform a spectral index analysis. In this source we find that the inner double is misaligned by $\sim$30$^\circ$ from the axis of the outer diffuse structure. The SDSS spectrum shows that the central component has double-peaked line profiles with different emission strengths. The average velocity off-set of the two components is 235$\pm$10.5 km s$^{-1}$. The misaligned radio morphology along …
Measurements of QSO clustering in the SDSS show that $\mathrm{z}>4$ QSOs are some of the most highly biased objects in the universe. Their large correlation lengths of $r_0 \sim 20h^{-1}$Mpc are comparable to the most massive clusters of galaxies in the universe today and suggest that these QSOs may mark the locations of massive cluster progenitors at high redshift. We report the discovery of an overdensity of LBGs around QSO SDSSJ114514.18+394715.9 as part of our survey to identify Lyman-Break galaxies (LBGs) around luminous $\mathrm{z}\sim4$ QSOs. In this field three of the eight LBGs with s…
In this manuscript, the structure of broad emission line regions (BLRs) of well-mapping double-peaked emitter (AGN with broad double-peaked low-ionization emission lines) 3C390.3 is studied. Besides the best fitted results for double-peaked broad optical balmer lines of 3C390.3 by theoretical disk model, we try to find another way to further confirm the origination of double-peaked line from accretion disk. Based on the long-period observed spectra in optical band around 1995 collected from AGN WATCH project, the theoretical disk parameters of disk-like BLRs supposed by elliptical accretion di…
Double-peaked [O III]5007, profiles in active galactic nuclei (AGNs) may provide evidence for the existence of dual AGNs, but a good diagnostic for selecting them is currently lacking. Starting from $\sim$ 7000 active galaxies in SDSS DR7, we assemble a sample of 87 type 2 AGNs with double-peaked [O III]5007, profiles. The nuclear obscuration in the type 2 AGNs allows us to determine redshifts of host galaxies through stellar absorption lines. We typically find that one peak is redshifted and another is blueshifted relative to the host galaxy. We find a strong correlation between the ratios of…
We report on the discovery of a Type 1 quasar, SDSS 0956+5128, with a surprising combination of extreme velocity offsets. SDSS 0956+5128 is a broad-lined quasar exhibiting emission lines at three substantially different redshifts: a systemic redshift of z ~ 0.714 based on narrow emission lines, a broad MgII emission line centered 1200 km/s bluer than the systemic velocity, at z ~ 0.707, and broad Hαand Hβemission lines centered at z ~ 0.690. The Balmer line peaks are 4100 km/s bluer than the systemic redshift. There are no previously known objects with such an extreme difference between broad …
Most massive galaxies contain supermassive black holes (SMBHs) in their cores. When galaxies merge, gas is driven to nuclear regions and can accrete onto the central black hole. Thus one expects to see dual AGN in a fraction of galaxy mergers. Candidates for galaxies containing dual AGN have been identified by the presence of double-peaked narrow [O III] emission lines and by high spatial resolution images of close galaxy pairs. Spatially-resolved spectroscopy is needed to confirm these galaxy pairs as systems with spatially-separated double SMBHs. With the Keck 2 Laser Guide Star Adaptive Opt…
According to hierarchical structure formation models, merging galaxies are expected to be seen in different stages of their coalescence. However, currently there are no straightforward observational methods neither to select nor to confirm a large number of dual active galactic nuclei (AGN) candidates. Most attempts involve the better understanding of double-peaked narrow emission line sources, to distinguish the objects where the emission lines originate from narrow-line kinematics or jet-driven outflows from those which might harbour dual AGN. We observed four such candidate sources with the…
The radio-emitting quasar SDSS J1425+3231 (z=0.478) was recently found to have double-peaked narrow [O III] optical emission lines. Based on the analysis of the optical spectrum, Peng et al. (2011) suggested that this object harbours a dual active galactic nucleus (AGN) system, with two supermassive black holes (SMBHs) separated on the kpc scale. SMBH pairs should be ubiquitous according to hierarchical galaxy formation scenarios in which the host galaxies and their central black holes grow together via interactions and eventual mergers. Yet the number of presently-confirmed dual SMBHs on kpc …
(Abridged) We detect the large-scale structure of Lya emission in the Universe at redshifts z=2-3.5 by measuring the cross-correlation of Lya surface brightness with quasars in SDSS/BOSS. We use a million spectra targeting Luminous Red Galaxies at z<0.8, after subtracting a best fit model galaxy spectrum from each one, as an estimate of the high-redshift Lya surface brightness. The quasar-Lya emission cross-correlation we detect has a shape consistent with a LambdaCDM model with Omega_M =0.30^+0.10-0.07. The predicted amplitude of this cross-correlation is proportional to the product of the me…
A cross-correlation of the SDSS DR7 with the FIRST radio survey makes it possible to conduct a joined multiwavelength statistical study of radio-optical galaxy properties on a very large number of sources. Our goal is to improve the study of the combined radio-optical data by investigating if there is a correlation between the radio luminosity at 20 cm over the luminosity of the optical Hαline (L[20 cm]/L[Hα]) and line excitation ratios, where the latter provide the spectroscopic classification in Seyferts, low-ionization nuclear emission-line regions (LINERs) and star-forming galaxies. We fou…
This paper presents the results from the first wide and deep dual narrow-band survey to select H-alpha (Ha) and [OII] line emitters at z=1.47+-0.02 (using matched narrow-band filters in the H and z' bands), exploiting synergies between the UKIRT and Subaru telescopes. The Ha survey at z=1.47 reaches a flux limit of ~7x10^-17 erg/s/cm^2 and detects ~200 Ha emitters over 0.7deg^2, while the much deeper [OII] survey reaches an effective flux of ~7x10^-18 erg/s/cm^2, detecting ~1400 z=1.47 [OII] emitters in a matched co-moving volume of ~2.5x10^5 Mpc^3. The combined survey results in the identific…
Double-Peaked Ly$α$ Emission during Reionization Requires Nearby Voids and a Favorable Local Ionizing Background
Institute for Basic Science（韩国基础科学研究院）；Center for Computational Sciences（计算科学中心）；The University of Texas at Dallas（德克萨斯大学达拉斯分校）；Chungbuk National University（忠北国立大学）；Observatoire Astronomique de Strasbourg, Université de Strasbourg, CNRS UMR 7550（斯特拉斯堡天文台，斯特拉斯堡大学，法国国家科学研究中心）；Institut d’Astrophysique de Paris, UMR 7095, CNRS, UPMC Univ. Paris VI（巴黎天体物理学研究所，法国国家科学研究中心，巴黎第六大学）；The University of Nottingham（诺丁汉大学）；University of Texas, Austin（德克萨斯大学奥斯汀分校）；University of Sussex（萨塞克斯大学）
\textbf{Context.} Deep optical surveys open the avenue for find large numbers of BL Lac objects that are hard to identify because they lack the unique properties classifying them as such. While radio or X-ray surveys typically reveal dozens of sources, recent compilations based on optical criteria alone have increased the number of BL Lac candidates considerably. However, these compilations are subject to biases and may contain a substantial number of contaminating sources. \textbf{Aims.} In this paper we extend our analysis of 182 optically selected BL Lac object candidates from the SDSS with…
Cross-correlating the XMM-Newton 2XMMi-DR3 catalog with the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) Data Release 8, we obtain one of the largest X-ray/optical catalogs and explore the distribution of various classes of X-ray emitters in the multidimensional photometric parameter space. Quasars and galaxies occupy different zones while stars scatter in them. However, X-ray active stars have a certain distributing rule according to spectral types. The earlier the type of stars, the stronger X-ray emitting. X-ray active stars have a similar distribution to most of stars in the g-r versus r-i diagram. Bas…
Based on the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Data Release 16, we have detected the large-scale structure of Ly$α$ emission in the Universe at redshifts $z = 2$--3.5 by cross-correlating quasar positions and Ly$α$ emission imprinted in the residual spectra of luminous red galaxies. We apply an analytical model to fit the corresponding Ly$α$ surface brightness profile and multipoles of the redshift-space quasar-Ly$α$ emission cross-correlation function. The model suggests an average cosmic Ly$α$ luminosity density of ${6.6_{-3.1}^{+3.3}}\times 10^{40} {\rm erg\, s^{-1} cMpc^{-3}}$, a $\sim 2σ$ detectio…
