Prior-Informed AGN-Host Spectral Decomposition Using PyQSOFit

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Ren, Wenke, Guo, Hengxiao, Shen, Yue, Silverman, John D., Burke, Colin J., Wang, Shu, Wang, Junxian
Format: Preprint
Published: 2024
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author Ren, Wenke
Guo, Hengxiao
Shen, Yue
Silverman, John D.
Burke, Colin J.
Wang, Shu
Wang, Junxian
author_facet Ren, Wenke
Guo, Hengxiao
Shen, Yue
Silverman, John D.
Burke, Colin J.
Wang, Shu
Wang, Junxian
contents We introduce an improved method for decomposing the emission of active galactic nuclei (AGN) and their host galaxies using templates from principal component analysis (PCA). This approach integrates prior information from PCA with a penalized pixel fitting mechanism which improves the precision and effectiveness of the decomposition process. Specifically, we have reduced the degeneracy and over-fitting in AGN-host decomposition, particularly for those with low signal-to-noise ratios (SNR), where traditional methods tend to fail. By applying our method to 76,565 SDSS Data Release 16 quasars with $z<0.8$, we achieve a success rate of $\approx$ 94%, thus establishing the largest host-decomposed spectral catalog of quasars to date. Our fitting results consider the impact of the host galaxy on the overestimation of the AGN luminosity and black hole mass ($M_{\rm BH}$). Furthermore, we obtained stellar velocity dispersion ($σ_*$) measurements for 4,137 quasars. The slope of the $M_{\rm BH}-σ_*$ relation in this subsample is generally consistent with previous quasar studies beyond the local universe. Our method provides a robust and efficient approach to disentangle the AGN and host galaxy components across a wide range of SNRs and redshifts.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2406_17598
institution arXiv
publishDate 2024
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Prior-Informed AGN-Host Spectral Decomposition Using PyQSOFit
Ren, Wenke
Guo, Hengxiao
Shen, Yue
Silverman, John D.
Burke, Colin J.
Wang, Shu
Wang, Junxian
Astrophysics of Galaxies
We introduce an improved method for decomposing the emission of active galactic nuclei (AGN) and their host galaxies using templates from principal component analysis (PCA). This approach integrates prior information from PCA with a penalized pixel fitting mechanism which improves the precision and effectiveness of the decomposition process. Specifically, we have reduced the degeneracy and over-fitting in AGN-host decomposition, particularly for those with low signal-to-noise ratios (SNR), where traditional methods tend to fail. By applying our method to 76,565 SDSS Data Release 16 quasars with $z<0.8$, we achieve a success rate of $\approx$ 94%, thus establishing the largest host-decomposed spectral catalog of quasars to date. Our fitting results consider the impact of the host galaxy on the overestimation of the AGN luminosity and black hole mass ($M_{\rm BH}$). Furthermore, we obtained stellar velocity dispersion ($σ_*$) measurements for 4,137 quasars. The slope of the $M_{\rm BH}-σ_*$ relation in this subsample is generally consistent with previous quasar studies beyond the local universe. Our method provides a robust and efficient approach to disentangle the AGN and host galaxy components across a wide range of SNRs and redshifts.
title Prior-Informed AGN-Host Spectral Decomposition Using PyQSOFit
topic Astrophysics of Galaxies
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2406.17598