{"paper":{"title":"A new sample of Little Red Dots at $z<0.45$ in DESI DR1: Broad Balmer lines, low ionization spectrum and no variability","license":"http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/","headline":"Eight Little Red Dots at z=0.2-0.45 show broad Balmer lines and low-ionization spectra but at a number density 10,000 times lower than at high redshift.","cross_cats":[],"primary_cat":"astro-ph.GA","authors_text":"Alberto Torralba, Anna de Graaff, Jorryt Matthee, Kevin Park, Rohan P. Naidu, Sara Mascia, Zolt\\'an Haiman","submitted_at":"2026-05-14T00:59:21Z","abstract_excerpt":"JWST has unveiled an abundant population of compact broad-line emitters largely at $z\\gtrsim4$, the Little Red Dots (LRDs), which might represent a previously unprobed supermassive black hole evolution channel predominant at high redshift. However, the LRDs have remained mostly elusive at lower redshift ($z\\lesssim2$) where detailed studies are possible from ground-based observatories. We searched for low-redshift LRDs in the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) survey. Our search is primarily based on emission line properties, as opposed to earlier approaches that searched for compact "},"claims":{"count":4,"items":[{"kind":"strongest_claim","text":"We report the discovery of eight LRDs at z=0.2-0.45... number density of 1.6×10^{-9} Mpc^{-3}, indicating a number density ~10,000 times lower than in the first billion years of cosmic time.","source":"verdict.strongest_claim","status":"machine_extracted","claim_id":"C1","attestation":"unclaimed"},{"kind":"weakest_assumption","text":"That the emission-line selection criteria (broad Balmer lines, steep decrements, absent high-ionization lines) cleanly isolate true LRD analogs without significant contamination from other AGN or star-forming galaxies at these redshifts.","source":"verdict.weakest_assumption","status":"machine_extracted","claim_id":"C2","attestation":"unclaimed"},{"kind":"one_line_summary","text":"Eight low-redshift Little Red Dots identified in DESI DR1 exhibit broad Balmer lines, steep decrements, compact shapes, and negligible variability, with a number density roughly 10,000 times lower than at z>4.","source":"verdict.one_line_summary","status":"machine_extracted","claim_id":"C3","attestation":"unclaimed"},{"kind":"headline","text":"Eight Little Red Dots at z=0.2-0.45 show broad Balmer lines and low-ionization spectra but at a number density 10,000 times lower than at high redshift.","source":"verdict.pith_extraction.headline","status":"machine_extracted","claim_id":"C4","attestation":"unclaimed"}],"snapshot_sha256":"6f696b336ed276c12c2a98b048bc1d24014c89af1d1dd70e50697b5c63daf14d"},"source":{"id":"2605.14233","kind":"arxiv","version":1},"verdict":{"id":"947355b8-a72c-4b5b-8ca3-3e0ab1a2ea36","model_set":{"reader":"grok-4.3"},"created_at":"2026-05-15T02:43:51.400258Z","strongest_claim":"We report the discovery of eight LRDs at z=0.2-0.45... number density of 1.6×10^{-9} Mpc^{-3}, indicating a number density ~10,000 times lower than in the first billion years of cosmic time.","one_line_summary":"Eight low-redshift Little Red Dots identified in DESI DR1 exhibit broad Balmer lines, steep decrements, compact shapes, and negligible variability, with a number density roughly 10,000 times lower than at z>4.","pipeline_version":"pith-pipeline@v0.9.0","weakest_assumption":"That the emission-line selection criteria (broad Balmer lines, steep decrements, absent high-ionization lines) cleanly isolate true LRD analogs without significant contamination from other AGN or star-forming galaxies at these redshifts.","pith_extraction_headline":"Eight Little Red Dots at z=0.2-0.45 show broad Balmer lines and low-ionization spectra but at a number density 10,000 times lower than at high redshift."},"references":{"count":95,"sample":[{"doi":"","year":2022,"title":"2022, ApJS, 259, 35","work_id":"bb8949f8-9c40-45b1-aa03-1ea7ed6cad3e","ref_index":1,"cited_arxiv_id":"","is_internal_anchor":false},{"doi":"","year":2024,"title":"T., Bogdán, Á., Kovács, O","work_id":"dd6c8288-169d-4bd6-80ec-7d3695f8b50d","ref_index":2,"cited_arxiv_id":"","is_internal_anchor":false},{"doi":"","year":2025,"title":"arXiv e-prints , keywords =","work_id":"4e2effdc-0d2f-46c5-8e37-bbfea900b465","ref_index":3,"cited_arxiv_id":"","is_internal_anchor":false},{"doi":"","year":2024,"title":"Barro, G., Perez-Gonzalez, P. G., Kocevski, D. D., et al. 2024, arXiv e-prints, arXiv:2412.01887","work_id":"0dd10422-2055-4521-bab4-ea9568fa7c7e","ref_index":4,"cited_arxiv_id":"","is_internal_anchor":false},{"doi":"","year":2002,"title":"Benjamin, R. A., Skillman, E. D., & Smits, D. P. 2002, ApJ, 569, 288","work_id":"2a54035f-c68c-4c09-9dee-a102b5144ac2","ref_index":5,"cited_arxiv_id":"","is_internal_anchor":false}],"resolved_work":95,"snapshot_sha256":"150cdb94af3d459997f440f36e8cb3a89771dfe210004bc1dd843513d2035bf5","internal_anchors":7},"formal_canon":{"evidence_count":2,"snapshot_sha256":"33a203afb1b4aa82218a0857b86b7501bd05c02ebfcebc1257dacfc8cea3005f"},"author_claims":{"count":0,"strong_count":0,"snapshot_sha256":"258153158e38e3291e3d48162225fcdb2d5a3ed65a07baac614ab91432fd4f57"},"builder_version":"pith-number-builder-2026-05-17-v1"}