JADES and BlackTHUNDER: rest-frame Balmer-line absorption and the local environment in a Little Red Dot at z = 5

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Main Authors: D'Eugenio, Francesco, Juodžbalis, Ignas, Ji, Xihan, Scholtz, Jan, Maiolino, Roberto, Carniani, Stefano, Perna, Michele, Mazzolari, Giovanni, Übler, Hannah, Arribas, Santiago, Bhatawdekar, Rachana, Bunker, Andrew J., Cresci, Giovanni, Curtis-Lake, Emma, Hainline, Kevin, Inayoshi, Kohei, Isobe, Yuki, Johnson, Benjamin D., Jones, Gareth C., Looser, Tobias J., Nelson, Erica J., Parlanti, Eleonora, Puskás, Dávid, Rinaldi, Pierluigi, Robertson, Brant, Del Pino, Bruno Rodríguez, Shivaei, Irene, Sun, Fengwu, Tacchella, Sandro, Venturi, Giacomo, Volonteri, Marta, Williams, Christina C., Willmer, Christopher N. A., Willott, Chris, Witstok, Joris
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
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author D'Eugenio, Francesco
Juodžbalis, Ignas
Ji, Xihan
Scholtz, Jan
Maiolino, Roberto
Carniani, Stefano
Perna, Michele
Mazzolari, Giovanni
Übler, Hannah
Arribas, Santiago
Bhatawdekar, Rachana
Bunker, Andrew J.
Cresci, Giovanni
Curtis-Lake, Emma
Hainline, Kevin
Inayoshi, Kohei
Isobe, Yuki
Johnson, Benjamin D.
Jones, Gareth C.
Looser, Tobias J.
Nelson, Erica J.
Parlanti, Eleonora
Puskás, Dávid
Rinaldi, Pierluigi
Robertson, Brant
Del Pino, Bruno Rodríguez
Shivaei, Irene
Sun, Fengwu
Tacchella, Sandro
Venturi, Giacomo
Volonteri, Marta
Williams, Christina C.
Willmer, Christopher N. A.
Willott, Chris
Witstok, Joris
author_facet D'Eugenio, Francesco
Juodžbalis, Ignas
Ji, Xihan
Scholtz, Jan
Maiolino, Roberto
Carniani, Stefano
Perna, Michele
Mazzolari, Giovanni
Übler, Hannah
Arribas, Santiago
Bhatawdekar, Rachana
Bunker, Andrew J.
Cresci, Giovanni
Curtis-Lake, Emma
Hainline, Kevin
Inayoshi, Kohei
Isobe, Yuki
Johnson, Benjamin D.
Jones, Gareth C.
Looser, Tobias J.
Nelson, Erica J.
Parlanti, Eleonora
Puskás, Dávid
Rinaldi, Pierluigi
Robertson, Brant
Del Pino, Bruno Rodríguez
Shivaei, Irene
Sun, Fengwu
Tacchella, Sandro
Venturi, Giacomo
Volonteri, Marta
Williams, Christina C.
Willmer, Christopher N. A.
Willott, Chris
Witstok, Joris
contents We present a broad-line AGN at z=5.077, observed with both NIRSpec/MSA and NIRSpec/IFU by the JADES and BlackTHUNDER surveys. The target exhibits all the hallmark features of a 'Little Red Dot' (LRD) AGN. The combination of spatially resolved and high-resolution spectroscopy offers deeper insight into its nature. The H$α$ line has multiple components, including two broad Gaussians, yielding a black-hole mass of $\log(M_{\rm BH}/M_\odot)=7.65$, while the narrow [O III]$λ$5007 gives a galaxy dynamical mass of $\log(M_{\rm dyn}/M_\odot)=9.1$ suggesting a dynamically overmassive black hole relative to the host galaxy. The target is immersed in a 7-kpc wide pool of ionized gas and has three neighbours: a satellite galaxy, a possible satellite/gas cloud and a tentatively detected spatially detached outflow. H$α$ shows strong absorption, deeper than the continuum, thus ruling out a stellar origin, and with velocity and velocity dispersion of v=-13 km s$^{-1}$ and $σ$=120 km s$^{-1}$. There is tentative evidence (2.6 $σ$) of temporal variability in the EW of the H$α$ absorber over two rest-frame months. If confirmed, this would suggest a highly dynamic environment. Notably, while the H$α$ absorber is clearly visible and even dominant in the high-resolution G395H observations, it is not detected in the medium-resolution G395M data of the same epoch. This implies that the current incidence rate of absorbers in LRDs - and especially of rest-frame absorbers - may be severely underestimated, because most LRDs rely on lower-resolution spectroscopy. In this context, the high incidence rate of rest-frame absorbers in LRDs may indicate a configuration that is either intrinsically stationary, such as a rotating disc, or that exhibits time-averaged stability, such as an oscillatory 'breathing mode' accretion of cyclic expansion and contraction of the gas around the SMBH.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2506_14870
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle JADES and BlackTHUNDER: rest-frame Balmer-line absorption and the local environment in a Little Red Dot at z = 5
D'Eugenio, Francesco
Juodžbalis, Ignas
Ji, Xihan
Scholtz, Jan
Maiolino, Roberto
Carniani, Stefano
Perna, Michele
Mazzolari, Giovanni
Übler, Hannah
Arribas, Santiago
Bhatawdekar, Rachana
Bunker, Andrew J.
Cresci, Giovanni
Curtis-Lake, Emma
Hainline, Kevin
Inayoshi, Kohei
Isobe, Yuki
Johnson, Benjamin D.
Jones, Gareth C.
Looser, Tobias J.
Nelson, Erica J.
Parlanti, Eleonora
Puskás, Dávid
Rinaldi, Pierluigi
Robertson, Brant
Del Pino, Bruno Rodríguez
Shivaei, Irene
Sun, Fengwu
Tacchella, Sandro
Venturi, Giacomo
Volonteri, Marta
Williams, Christina C.
Willmer, Christopher N. A.
Willott, Chris
Witstok, Joris
Astrophysics of Galaxies
We present a broad-line AGN at z=5.077, observed with both NIRSpec/MSA and NIRSpec/IFU by the JADES and BlackTHUNDER surveys. The target exhibits all the hallmark features of a 'Little Red Dot' (LRD) AGN. The combination of spatially resolved and high-resolution spectroscopy offers deeper insight into its nature. The H$α$ line has multiple components, including two broad Gaussians, yielding a black-hole mass of $\log(M_{\rm BH}/M_\odot)=7.65$, while the narrow [O III]$λ$5007 gives a galaxy dynamical mass of $\log(M_{\rm dyn}/M_\odot)=9.1$ suggesting a dynamically overmassive black hole relative to the host galaxy. The target is immersed in a 7-kpc wide pool of ionized gas and has three neighbours: a satellite galaxy, a possible satellite/gas cloud and a tentatively detected spatially detached outflow. H$α$ shows strong absorption, deeper than the continuum, thus ruling out a stellar origin, and with velocity and velocity dispersion of v=-13 km s$^{-1}$ and $σ$=120 km s$^{-1}$. There is tentative evidence (2.6 $σ$) of temporal variability in the EW of the H$α$ absorber over two rest-frame months. If confirmed, this would suggest a highly dynamic environment. Notably, while the H$α$ absorber is clearly visible and even dominant in the high-resolution G395H observations, it is not detected in the medium-resolution G395M data of the same epoch. This implies that the current incidence rate of absorbers in LRDs - and especially of rest-frame absorbers - may be severely underestimated, because most LRDs rely on lower-resolution spectroscopy. In this context, the high incidence rate of rest-frame absorbers in LRDs may indicate a configuration that is either intrinsically stationary, such as a rotating disc, or that exhibits time-averaged stability, such as an oscillatory 'breathing mode' accretion of cyclic expansion and contraction of the gas around the SMBH.
title JADES and BlackTHUNDER: rest-frame Balmer-line absorption and the local environment in a Little Red Dot at z = 5
topic Astrophysics of Galaxies
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2506.14870