SALT long-slit spectroscopy of HE 0435-4312: fast displacement in the Mg II emission line

TL;DR

This study uses long-term SALT spectroscopic observations of quasar HE 0435-4312 to detect a significant, systematic shift in the Mg II emission line, revealing insights into the structure and dynamics of the Broad Line Region.

Contribution

First long-term spectroscopic monitoring of HE 0435-4312 revealing a systematic Mg II line shift and variability, suggesting complex BLR dynamics and possible disk precession.

Findings

Detected a Mg II line shift of 104 pm 14 km/s/year.

Mg II and Fe II regions are spatially separated.

Line shape remains non-Gaussian over time.

Abstract

The Mg II emission line is visible in the optical band for intermediate redshift quasars (0.4 < z < 1.6) and it is thus an extremely important tool to measure the black hole mass and to understand the structure of the Broad Line Region. We aim to determine the substructure and the variability of the Mg II line with the aim to identify which part of the line comes from a medium in Keplerian motion. Using the Southern African Large Telescope (SALT) with the Robert Stobie Spectrograph (RSS) we performed ten spectroscopic observations of quasar HE 0435-4312 (z = 1.2231) over a period of three years (Dec 23/24, 2012 to Dec 7/8, 2015). Both the Mg II line and the Fe II pseudo-continuum increase with time. We clearly detect the systematic shift of the Mg II line with respect to the Fe II over the years, corresponding to the acceleration of 104 pm 14 km/s/year in the quasar rest frame. The Mg II line shape is clearly non-Gaussian but single-component, and the increase in line equivalent width and line shift is not accompanied with significant evolution of the line shape. We analyse the conditions in the Mg II and Fe II formation region and we note that the very large difference in the covering factor and the turbulent velocity also support the conclusion that the two regions are spatially separated. The measured acceleration of the line systematic shift is too large to connect it with the orbital motion at a distance of the Broad Line Region (BLR) in this source. It may imply a precessing inner disk illuminating the BLR. Further monitoring is still needed to better constrain the variability mechanism.