Detection of unexpected leading delays in broad Hβ line reverberations in the quasar PHL 1092
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2025
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| author | Wang, Jian-Min Hu, Chen Chen, Yong-Jie Songsheng, Yu-Yang Wang, Yi-Lin Zhang, Hao Du, Pu Li, Yan-Rong Luo, Bin Brotherton, Michael S. Bai, Jin-Ming Guo, Wei-Jian Yang, Seng Yao, Zhu-Heng Aceituno, Jesus |
| author_facet | Wang, Jian-Min Hu, Chen Chen, Yong-Jie Songsheng, Yu-Yang Wang, Yi-Lin Zhang, Hao Du, Pu Li, Yan-Rong Luo, Bin Brotherton, Michael S. Bai, Jin-Ming Guo, Wei-Jian Yang, Seng Yao, Zhu-Heng Aceituno, Jesus |
| contents | Delayed reverberations of broad emission lines in response to optical continuum variations have been widely observed in active galactic nuclei (AGNs). They serve as a powerful tool for probing inner structures of AGNs and estimating the masses of supermassive black holes (SMBHs). The delays exhibit a strong correlation with approximately the square root of the optical luminosity - a relationship known as the "standard structure" of AGN broad-line regions (BLRs). Here, we report the discovery of leading delays in Hβ line reverberations (LDRs) in the quasar PHL 1092 preceding variations of the 5100 Å continuum by 17-57 days, based on our eight-year continuous campaign of reverberation mapping of super Eddington AGNs. The LDRs suggest that the 5100 Å continuum regions are so extensive that they are larger than the BLRs. This phenomenon not only fundamentally disrupts the well-established BLR size-luminosity relation but also violates the principle of causality. This unprecedented LDRs challenge the conventional methods for estimating SMBH mass as well as the standard model of AGNs. A preferred scenario to explain the LDRs is that the SMBH-disk contains a population of accreting stellar-mass black holes (sMBHs) as extra heating sources of the disk. Consequently, continuum regions of the disk are efficiently stretched so that the 5100 Å regions exceed the BLRs, yielding the observed LDRs. Generally, sMBH activities there could provide new physics of AGN phenomena, which can be tested by LIGO, LISA/Tianqin and ET detections of gravitational waves from sMBH mergers. |
| format | Preprint |
| id |
arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2511_07716 |
| institution | arXiv |
| publishDate | 2025 |
| record_format | arxiv |
| spellingShingle | Detection of unexpected leading delays in broad Hβ line reverberations in the quasar PHL 1092 Wang, Jian-Min Hu, Chen Chen, Yong-Jie Songsheng, Yu-Yang Wang, Yi-Lin Zhang, Hao Du, Pu Li, Yan-Rong Luo, Bin Brotherton, Michael S. Bai, Jin-Ming Guo, Wei-Jian Yang, Seng Yao, Zhu-Heng Aceituno, Jesus Astrophysics of Galaxies Delayed reverberations of broad emission lines in response to optical continuum variations have been widely observed in active galactic nuclei (AGNs). They serve as a powerful tool for probing inner structures of AGNs and estimating the masses of supermassive black holes (SMBHs). The delays exhibit a strong correlation with approximately the square root of the optical luminosity - a relationship known as the "standard structure" of AGN broad-line regions (BLRs). Here, we report the discovery of leading delays in Hβ line reverberations (LDRs) in the quasar PHL 1092 preceding variations of the 5100 Å continuum by 17-57 days, based on our eight-year continuous campaign of reverberation mapping of super Eddington AGNs. The LDRs suggest that the 5100 Å continuum regions are so extensive that they are larger than the BLRs. This phenomenon not only fundamentally disrupts the well-established BLR size-luminosity relation but also violates the principle of causality. This unprecedented LDRs challenge the conventional methods for estimating SMBH mass as well as the standard model of AGNs. A preferred scenario to explain the LDRs is that the SMBH-disk contains a population of accreting stellar-mass black holes (sMBHs) as extra heating sources of the disk. Consequently, continuum regions of the disk are efficiently stretched so that the 5100 Å regions exceed the BLRs, yielding the observed LDRs. Generally, sMBH activities there could provide new physics of AGN phenomena, which can be tested by LIGO, LISA/Tianqin and ET detections of gravitational waves from sMBH mergers. |
| title | Detection of unexpected leading delays in broad Hβ line reverberations in the quasar PHL 1092 |
| topic | Astrophysics of Galaxies |
| url | https://arxiv.org/abs/2511.07716 |