Detection of unexpected leading delays in broad H{\beta} line reverberations in the quasar PHL 1092

TL;DR

This study reports unexpected leading delays in Hβ reverberations in quasar PHL 1092, challenging established AGN models and suggesting the presence of accreting stellar-mass black holes affecting the continuum emission regions.

Contribution

The paper uncovers unprecedented leading delays in broad-line reverberations, disrupting the standard BLR size-luminosity relation and proposing a new model involving stellar-mass black holes in the accretion disk.

Findings

Discovery of leading delays in Hβ reverberations preceding continuum variations.

Evidence that the 5100 Å continuum regions are larger than the BLRs.

Implication that standard SMBH mass estimation methods are invalid in this case.

Abstract

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 H{\beta} line reverberations (LDRs) in the quasar PHL 1092 preceding variations of the 5100 {\AA} 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 {\AA} 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 {\AA} 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.