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1. Testing the Evolution of the Correlations between Supermassive Black Holes and their Host Galaxies using Eight Strongly Lensed Quasars

   Ding, Xuheng; Treu, Tommaso; Birrer, Simon; Agnello, Adriano; Sluse, Dominique; Fassnacht, Chris; Auger, Matthew W.; Wong, Kenneth C.; Suyu, Sherry H.; Morishita, Takahiro; et al (April 2020, Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society)

   One of the main challenges in using high redshift active galactic nuclei to study the correlations between the mass of the supermassive Black Hole (MBH) and the properties of their active host galaxies is instrumental resolution. Strong lensing magnification effectively increases instrumental resolution and thus helps to address this challenge. In this work, we study eight strongly lensed active galactic nuclei (AGN) with deep Hubble Space Telescope imaging, using the lens modelling code Lenstronomy to reconstruct the image of the source. Using the reconstructed brightness of the host galaxy, we infer the host galaxy stellar mass based on stellar population models. MBH are estimated from broad emission lines using standard methods. Our results are in good agreement with recent work based on non-lensed AGN, providing additional evidence that the correlation evolves over cosmic time. At the moment, the sample size of lensed AGN is small and thus they provide mostly a consistency check on systematic errors related to resolution for the non-lensed AGN. However, the number of known lensed AGN is expected to increase dramatically in the next few years, through dedicated searches in ground and space based wide field surveys, and they may become a key diagnostic of black hole and galaxy co-evolution. 

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2. DAVOS: Dwarf Active Galactic Nuclei from Variability for the Origins of Seeds: Properties of Variability-selected Active Galactic Nuclei in the COSMOS Field and Expectations for the Rubin Observatory

   https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ad54ca  

   Burke, Colin_J; Liu, Yichen; Ward, Charlotte_A; Liu, Xin; Natarajan, Priyamvada; Greene, Jenny_E (August 2024, The Astrophysical Journal)

   Abstract We study the black hole mass–host galaxy stellar mass relation,M_BH–M_*, of a sample ofz< 4 optically variable active galactic nuclei (AGNs) in the COSMOS field. The parent sample of 491 COSMOS AGNs were identified by optical variability from the Hyper Suprime-Cam Subaru Strategic Program (HSC-SSP) program. Using publicly available catalogs and spectra, we consolidate their spectroscopic redshifts and estimate virial black hole masses using broad-line widths and luminosities. We show that variability searches with deep, high-precision photometry like the HSC-SSP can identity AGNs in low-mass galaxies up toz∼ 1. However, their black holes are more massive given their host galaxy stellar masses than predicted by the local relation for active galaxies. We report thatz∼ 0.5–4 variability-selected AGNs are meanwhile more consistent with theM_BH–M_*relation for local inactive early-type galaxies. This result is in agreement with most previous studies of theM_BH–M_*relation at similar redshifts and indicates that AGNs selected from variability are not intrinsically different from the broad-line Type 1 AGN population at similar luminosities. Our results demonstrate the need for robust black hole and stellar mass estimates for intermediate-mass black hole candidates in low-mass galaxies at similar redshifts to anchor this scaling relation. Assuming that these results do not reflect a selection bias, they appear to be consistent with self-regulated feedback models wherein the central black hole and stars in galaxies grow in tandem. 

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3. Dwarf Active Galactic Nuclei from Variability for the Origins of Seeds (DAVOS): Properties of Variability-selected AGN in the Dark Energy Survey Deep Fields

   https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ae0e64  

   Liu, Yichen; Burke, Colin J; Miura, Diego; Liu, Xin; Yang, Qian; Natarajan, Priyamvada; Ward, Charlotte A (November 2025, The Astrophysical Journal)

   Abstract We study the black hole mass–host galaxy stellar mass relation,M_BH–M_*, for a sample of 706z ≲ 1.5 andi ≲ 24 optically variable active galactic nuclei (AGNs) in three Dark Energy Survey (DES) Deep Fields: C3, X3, E2, which partially cover Chandra Deep Field-South, XMM Large Scale Structure survey, and European Large Area ISO Survey, respectively. The parent sample was identified by optical variability from the DES supernova survey program imaging. Using publicly available spectra and photometric catalogs, we consolidate their spectroscopic redshifts, estimate their black hole masses using broad line widths and luminosities, and obtain improved stellar masses using spectral energy distribution fitting from X-ray to mid-infrared wavelengths. Our results confirm previous work from Hyper-Suprime Camera imaging that variability searches with deep, high-precision photometry can reliably identify AGNs in low-mass galaxies up toz ∼ 1. However, we find that the hosted black holes are more massive than predicted by the local AGN relation, fixing host galaxy stellar mass. Instead,z ∼ 0.1–1.5 variability-selected AGNs lie in between theM_BH–M_*relation for local inactive early-type galaxies and local active galaxies. This result agrees with most previous studies of theM_BH–M_*relation for AGNs at similar redshifts, regardless of the selection technique. We demonstrate that studies of variability-selected AGN provide critical insights into the low-mass end of theM_BH–M_*relation, shedding light on the occupation fraction of that provides constraints on early black hole seeding mechanisms and self-regulated feedback processes during their growth and coevolution with their hosts. 

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4. Dark Energy Survey identification of a low-mass active galactic nucleus at redshift 0.823 from optical variability

   https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/staa1803  

   Guo, Hengxiao; Burke, Colin J; Liu, Xin; Phadke, Kedar A; Zhang, Kaiwen; Chen, Yu-Ching; Gruendl, Robert A; Lidman, Christopher; Shen, Yue; Morganson, Eric; et al (August 2020, Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society)

   null (Ed.)

   ABSTRACT We report the identification of a low-mass active galactic nucleus (AGN), DES J0218−0430, in a redshift z = 0.823 galaxy in the Dark Energy Survey (DES) Supernova field. We select DES J0218−0430 as an AGN candidate by characterizing its long-term optical variability alone based on DES optical broad-band light curves spanning over 6 yr. An archival optical spectrum from the fourth phase of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey shows both broad Mg ii and broad H β lines, confirming its nature as a broad-line AGN. Archival XMM–Newton X-ray observations suggest an intrinsic hard X-ray luminosity of $$L_{{\rm 2-12\, keV}}\approx 7.6\pm 0.4\times 10^{43}$$ erg s−1, which exceeds those of the most X-ray luminous starburst galaxies, in support of an AGN driving the optical variability. Based on the broad H β from SDSS spectrum, we estimate a virial black hole (BH) mass of M• ≈ 106.43–106.72 M⊙ (with the error denoting the systematic uncertainty from different calibrations), consistent with the estimation from OzDES, making it the lowest mass AGN with redshift > 0.4 detected in optical. We estimate the host galaxy stellar mass to be M* ≈ 1010.5 ± 0.3 M⊙ based on modelling the multiwavelength spectral energy distribution. DES J0218−0430 extends the M•–M* relation observed in luminous AGNs at z ∼ 1 to masses lower than being probed by previous work. Our work demonstrates the feasibility of using optical variability to identify low-mass AGNs at higher redshift in deeper synoptic surveys with direct implications for the upcoming Legacy Survey of Space and Time at Vera C. Rubin Observatory. 

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5. Dwarf AGNs from variability for the origins of seeds (DAVOS): Intermediate-mass black hole demographics from optical synoptic surveys

   https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stac2478  

   Burke, Colin J.; Shen, Yue; Liu, Xin; Natarajan, Priyamvada; Caplar, Neven; Bellovary, Jillian M.; Wang, Z. Franklin (September 2022, Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society)

   ABSTRACT We present a phenomenological forward Monte Carlo model for forecasting the population of active galactic nuclei (AGNs) in dwarf galaxies observable via their optical variability. Our model accounts for expected changes in the spectral energy distribution of AGNs in the intermediate-mass black hole (IMBH) mass range and uses observational constraints on optical variability as a function of black hole (BH) mass to generate mock light curves. Adopting several different models for the BH occupation function, including one for off-nuclear IMBHs, we quantify differences in the predicted local AGN mass and luminosity functions in dwarf galaxies. As a result, we are able to model the fraction of variable AGNs as a function of important galaxy host properties, such as host galaxy stellar mass, in the presence of selection effects. We find that our adopted occupation fractions for the ‘heavy’ and ‘light’ initial BH seeding scenarios can be distinguished with variability at the 2–3σ level for galaxy host stellar masses below ∼108M⊙ with data from the upcoming Vera C. Rubin Observatory. We also demonstrate the prevalence of a selection bias whereby recovered IMBH masses fall, on average, above the predicted value from the local host galaxy–BH mass scaling relation with the strength of this bias dependent on the survey sensitivity. Our methodology can be used more broadly to calibrate AGN demographic studies in synoptic surveys. Finally, we show that a targeted ∼ hourly cadence program over a few nights with the Rubin Observatory can provide strong constraints on IMBH masses given their expected rapid variability time-scales. 

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