A Sample of Active Galactic Nuclei with Intermediate-mass Black Holes Extended to $z \approx$ 0.6

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Main Authors: Liu, Wen-Juan, Ho, Luis C., Dong, Xiao-Bo, Yao, Su, Lira, Paulina, Guo, Yicheng
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
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author Liu, Wen-Juan
Ho, Luis C.
Dong, Xiao-Bo
Yao, Su
Lira, Paulina
Guo, Yicheng
author_facet Liu, Wen-Juan
Ho, Luis C.
Dong, Xiao-Bo
Yao, Su
Lira, Paulina
Guo, Yicheng
contents We present a sample of 930 intermediate-mass black hole (IMBH) active galactic nuclei (AGNs) with black hole masses of $M_\mathrm{BH} \leqslant 2 \times 10^{6}$ M$_{\odot}$, uniformly selected from the Seventeenth Data Release of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, based on the detection of broad H$α$ or H$β$ emission lines. Taking advantage of the wide wavelength coverage of BOSS/eBOSS spectroscopy, our sample extends the redshift coverage of low-$z$ IMBH AGNs to $z\leqslant0.57$, significantly improving upon previous studies that where generally limited to $z\leqslant0.35$. This sample encompasses black hole masses from $10^{4.0}$ to $10^{6.3}$ M$_{\odot}$, with Eddington ratios ranging from 0.01 to 1.9. Among the $z>0.3$ subset, 24 sources exhibit detectable broad Mg II $λ\lambda2796,2803$ emission lines, including eight confirmed by independent DESI spectra. A preliminary analysis reveals a marked decline in both the maximum accretion rate ($L/L_\mathrm{Edd}$) and broad H$α$ luminosity with decreasing redshift, possibly reflecting a cosmic evolution of accretion activity at the low-mass end, akin to the ``downsizing'' evolutionary trend seen in high-mass AGNs.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2503_12898
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle A Sample of Active Galactic Nuclei with Intermediate-mass Black Holes Extended to $z \approx$ 0.6
Liu, Wen-Juan
Ho, Luis C.
Dong, Xiao-Bo
Yao, Su
Lira, Paulina
Guo, Yicheng
Astrophysics of Galaxies
We present a sample of 930 intermediate-mass black hole (IMBH) active galactic nuclei (AGNs) with black hole masses of $M_\mathrm{BH} \leqslant 2 \times 10^{6}$ M$_{\odot}$, uniformly selected from the Seventeenth Data Release of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, based on the detection of broad H$α$ or H$β$ emission lines. Taking advantage of the wide wavelength coverage of BOSS/eBOSS spectroscopy, our sample extends the redshift coverage of low-$z$ IMBH AGNs to $z\leqslant0.57$, significantly improving upon previous studies that where generally limited to $z\leqslant0.35$. This sample encompasses black hole masses from $10^{4.0}$ to $10^{6.3}$ M$_{\odot}$, with Eddington ratios ranging from 0.01 to 1.9. Among the $z>0.3$ subset, 24 sources exhibit detectable broad Mg II $λ\lambda2796,2803$ emission lines, including eight confirmed by independent DESI spectra. A preliminary analysis reveals a marked decline in both the maximum accretion rate ($L/L_\mathrm{Edd}$) and broad H$α$ luminosity with decreasing redshift, possibly reflecting a cosmic evolution of accretion activity at the low-mass end, akin to the ``downsizing'' evolutionary trend seen in high-mass AGNs.
title A Sample of Active Galactic Nuclei with Intermediate-mass Black Holes Extended to $z \approx$ 0.6
topic Astrophysics of Galaxies
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2503.12898