Changing-look Active Galactic Nuclei from the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument. V. Dramatic Variability in High-Ionization Broad Emission Lines

Fuente: arXiv
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Autores principales: Chen, Zhi-Qiang, Jin, Jun-Jie, Guo, Wei-Jian, Sun, Sheng-Xiu, Pan, Zhi-Wei, Liu, Chen-Xu, Cheng, Hua-Qing, Hu, Jing-Wei, Sheng, Zhen-Feng, Zou, Hu, Chen, Zhao-Bin, Zheng, Qi, Yuan, Qi-Rong
Formato: Preprint
Publicado: 2025
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author Chen, Zhi-Qiang
Jin, Jun-Jie
Guo, Wei-Jian
Sun, Sheng-Xiu
Pan, Zhi-Wei
Liu, Chen-Xu
Cheng, Hua-Qing
Hu, Jing-Wei
Sheng, Zhen-Feng
Zou, Hu
Chen, Zhao-Bin
Zheng, Qi
Yuan, Qi-Rong
author_facet Chen, Zhi-Qiang
Jin, Jun-Jie
Guo, Wei-Jian
Sun, Sheng-Xiu
Pan, Zhi-Wei
Liu, Chen-Xu
Cheng, Hua-Qing
Hu, Jing-Wei
Sheng, Zhen-Feng
Zou, Hu
Chen, Zhao-Bin
Zheng, Qi
Yuan, Qi-Rong
contents We present a systematic search for changing-look (CL) quasars at high redshift z > 0.9 by cross-matching the spectroscopic datasets from the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument Data Release 1 and Sloan Digital Sky Survey Data Release 18. We identify 97 CL quasars showing significant variability in high-ionization broad emission lines, including 45 turn-on and 52 turn-off events, corresponding to a detection rate of approximately 0.042%. This rate is lower than that found for low-ionization CL quasars, likely due to both selection effects and physical differences in high-ionization lines. Based on the CL quasar sample, we find that CL quasars generally exhibit lower accretion rates compared to typical quasars, with average Eddington ratios of log lambda_Edd approximately -1.14 in the bright state and approximately -1.39 in the dim state, compared to approximately -0.65 for typical quasars. While high-ionization lines in CL quasars follow the Baldwin effect on a population level, some individual sources show inverse Baldwin trends. We also find a positive correlation between the variability of high-ionization lines such as Mg II and C III] and the change in bolometric luminosity. In addition, we estimate a characteristic rest-frame timescale of approximately 3 years for CL transitions, with no significant difference between turn-on and turn-off cases. Taken together, these results support an accretion-driven origin for the CL phenomenon and provide new insights into the variability of high-ionization emission lines.
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institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Changing-look Active Galactic Nuclei from the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument. V. Dramatic Variability in High-Ionization Broad Emission Lines
Chen, Zhi-Qiang
Jin, Jun-Jie
Guo, Wei-Jian
Sun, Sheng-Xiu
Pan, Zhi-Wei
Liu, Chen-Xu
Cheng, Hua-Qing
Hu, Jing-Wei
Sheng, Zhen-Feng
Zou, Hu
Chen, Zhao-Bin
Zheng, Qi
Yuan, Qi-Rong
Astrophysics of Galaxies
We present a systematic search for changing-look (CL) quasars at high redshift z > 0.9 by cross-matching the spectroscopic datasets from the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument Data Release 1 and Sloan Digital Sky Survey Data Release 18. We identify 97 CL quasars showing significant variability in high-ionization broad emission lines, including 45 turn-on and 52 turn-off events, corresponding to a detection rate of approximately 0.042%. This rate is lower than that found for low-ionization CL quasars, likely due to both selection effects and physical differences in high-ionization lines. Based on the CL quasar sample, we find that CL quasars generally exhibit lower accretion rates compared to typical quasars, with average Eddington ratios of log lambda_Edd approximately -1.14 in the bright state and approximately -1.39 in the dim state, compared to approximately -0.65 for typical quasars. While high-ionization lines in CL quasars follow the Baldwin effect on a population level, some individual sources show inverse Baldwin trends. We also find a positive correlation between the variability of high-ionization lines such as Mg II and C III] and the change in bolometric luminosity. In addition, we estimate a characteristic rest-frame timescale of approximately 3 years for CL transitions, with no significant difference between turn-on and turn-off cases. Taken together, these results support an accretion-driven origin for the CL phenomenon and provide new insights into the variability of high-ionization emission lines.
title Changing-look Active Galactic Nuclei from the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument. V. Dramatic Variability in High-Ionization Broad Emission Lines
topic Astrophysics of Galaxies
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2511.15359