Spectral variability of FIRST bright QSOs with SDSS observations

For some samples, it has been shown that spectra of QSOs with low redshift are bluer during their brighter phases. For the FIRST bright QSO sample, we assemble their spectra from SDSS DR7 to investigate variability between the spectra from White et al. (2000) and from the SDSS for a long rest-frame time-lag, up to 10 years. There are 312 radio loud QSOs and 232 radio quiet QSOs in this sample, up to $z sim 3.5$. With two-epoch variation, it is found that spectra of half of the QSOs appear redder during their brighter phases. There is no obvious difference in slope variability between sub-samples of radio quiet and radio loud QSOs. This result implies that the presence of a radio jet does not affect the slope variability on 10-year timescales. The arithmetic composite difference spectrum for variable QSOs is steep at blueward of $sim$ 2500AA. The variability for the region blueward of 2500 AA is different to that for the region redward of 2500 AA.

The CIV Baldwin effect in QSOs from Seventh Data Release of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey

Using the properties of SDSS DR7 QSOs catalog from Shen et al., the Baldwin effect, its slope evolution, the underlying drive for a large sample of 35019 QSOs with reliable spectral analysis are investigated. We find that the Baldwin effect exists in this large QSOs sample, which is almost the same in 11 different redshift bins, up to $zsim 5$. The slope is -0.238 by the BCES (civ EW depends on the continuum), -0.787 by the BCES bisector. For 11 redshift-bins, there is an increasing of the Baldwin effect slope from $zsim1.5$ to $zsim2.0$. From $zsim2.0$ to $zsim5.0$, the slope change is not clear considering their uncertainties or larger redshift bins. There is a strong correlation between the rest-frame civ EW and civ-based mbh while the relation between the civ EW and mgii-based mbh is very weak. With the correction of civ-based mbh from the civ blueshift relative to mgii, we suggest that this strong correlation is due to the bias of the civ-based mbh, with respect to that from the mgii line. Considering the mgii-based mbh, a medium strong correlation is found between the civ EW and the Eddington ratio, which implies that the Eddington ratio seems to be a better underlying physical parameter than the central black hole mass.

A note on black hole masses estimated by the second moment in Narrow Line Seyfert 1 Galaxies

The second moment of the H$beta$ emission line is calculated for 329 narrow line Seyfert 1 galaxies (NLS1s) selected from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS), which is used to calculate the central supermassive black hole (SMBHs) mass of each. We find that the second moment depends strongly on the broader component of the H$beta$ line profile. We find that for the NLS1s requiring two Gaussians to fit the H$beta$ line the mean value of the SMBH mass from the H$beta$ second moment is larger by about 0.50 dex than that from the full width at half maximum (FWHM). Using the gas velocity dispersion of the core/narrow component of oiii $lambda$ 5007 to estimate the stellar velocity dispersion, $sigma_{*}$, the new mass makes NLS1s fall very close to the $mbh - sigma_{*}$ relation for normal AGNs. By using $sigma_{*}$ measured directly from SDSS spectra with a simple stellar population synthesis method, we find that for NLS1s with mass lower than $10^7 msun$, they fall only marginally below the $mbh - sigma_{*}$ relation considering the large scatter in the mass calculation.

Supermassive Black Hole Masses in Type II Active Galactic Nuclei with Polarimetric Broad Emission Lines

Type II AGNs with polarimetric broad emission line provided strong evidence for the orientation-based unified model for AGNs. We want to investigate whether the polarimetric broad emission line in type II AGNs can be used to calculate their central supermassive black hole (SMBH) masses, like that for type I AGNs. We collected 12 type II AGNs with polarimetric broad emission line width from the literatures, and calculated their central black hole masses from the polarimetric broad line width and the isotropic oiii luminosity. We also calculate the mass from stellar velocity dispersion, $sigma_*$, with the $mbh-sigma_*$ relation.We find that: (1) the black hole masses derived from the polarimetric broad line width is averagely larger than that from the $mbh- sigma_*$ relation by about 0.6 dex, (2) If these type II AGNs follow $mbh-sigma_*$ relation, we find that the random velocity cant not be omitted and is comparable with the BLRs Keplerian velocity. It is consistent with the scenery of large outflow from the accretion disk suggested by Yong et al.

The Origin and Evolution of civ Baldwin Effect in QSOs from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey

Using a large sample of 26623 quasars with redshifts in the range $1.5 le zle 5.1$ with civ $lambda$1549 AA emission line in Fifth Data Release of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS), we investigate the cosmological evolution of the Baldwin Effect, i.e. the relation between the equivalent width (EW) of the civ emission line and continuum luminosity. We confirm the earlier result that there exists a strong correlation between the civ EW and the continuum luminosity, and we find that, up to $zapprox 5$, the slope of the Baldwin Effect seems to have no effect of cosmological evolution. A sub-sample of 13960 quasars with broad civ $lambda$1549 AA emission line from SDSS is used to explore the origin of the Baldwin Effect. We find that civ EW have a strong correlation with the mass of supermassive black hole (SMBH), and a weak correlation with the Eddington ratio, $lb/ledd$. This suggests that the SMBH mass is probably the primary drive for the Baldwin Effect.