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Broad-Line AGN at 3.5<z<6: The Black Hole Mass Function and a Connection with Little Red Dots

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arxiv 2409.06772 v2 pith:CIKLNABL submitted 2024-09-10 astro-ph.GA

classification astro-ph.GA
keywords blagnfunctionmassblackh-alphajwstlinessample
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We present a sample of 50 H-alpha detected broad-line active galactic nuclei (BLAGN) at redshifts 3.5<z<6.8 using data from the CEERS and RUBIES surveys. We select these sources directly from JWST/NIRSpec G395M/F290LP spectra. We use a multi-step pre-selection and a Bayesian fitting procedure to ensure a high-quality sample of sources with broad Balmer lines and narrow forbidden lines. We compute rest-frame ultraviolet and optical spectral slopes for these objects, and determine that 10 BLAGN in our sample are also little red dots (LRDs). These LRD BLAGN, when examined in aggregate, show broader H-alpha line profiles and a higher fraction of broad-to-narrow component H-alpha emission than non-LRD BLAGN. Moreover, we find that ~66% of these objects are intrinsically reddened (beta (optical)>0), independent of the contributions of emission lines to the broadband photometry. We construct the black hole (BH) mass function at 3.5<z<6 after computing robust observational and line detection completeness corrections. This BH mass function shows broad agreement with both recent JWST/NIRSpec and JWST/NIRCam WFSS based BH mass functions, though we extend these earlier results to log(M(BH)/M(sun)) < 7. The derived BH mass function is consistent with a variety of theoretical models, indicating that the observed abundance of black holes in the early universe is not discrepant with physically-motivated predictions. The BH mass function shape resembles a largely featureless power-law, suggesting that any signature from black-hole seeding has been lost by redshift z~5-6. Finally, we compute the BLAGN UV luminosity function and find good agreement with JWST-detected BLAGN samples from recent works, finding that BLAGN hosts constitute <10% of the total observed UV luminosity at all but the brightest luminosities.

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Cited by 14 Pith papers

Reviewed papers in the Pith corpus that reference this work. Sorted by Pith novelty score. Full citation record

  1. Misaligned or chaotic? A strong break of axial symmetry in the local LRD J1025 revealed with VLT/FORS2 spectropolarimetry

    astro-ph.GA 2026-07 accept novelty 7.0 of 10

    The local Little Red Dot J1025 shows a 48° polarisation-angle offset between continuum and broad H-alpha, requiring broken axial symmetry.

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    astro-ph.GA 2026-07 conditional novelty 6.5 of 10

    GN-77652, a compact broad-line AGN at z=5.229, lies beside a 12 kpc multi-source filament at the same redshift whose coalescence will erase the compact AGN appearance within ~150–440 Myr.

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    astro-ph.GA 2026-07 conditional novelty 6.0 of 10

    Balmer-line absorption occurs in ~35% (14/40) of JWST little-red-dot AGNs, roughly 850x the rate in SDSS type-1 AGNs, with mostly slow blueshifted absorber velocities.

  4. An (in)complete NIRSpec census of Balmer absorption in Type 1 AGN -- radiation-driven outflows in little red dots, quasars and variable stars

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  5. Ultrahigh-energy cosmogenic neutrino emissions in the high-redshift universe

    astro-ph.HE 2026-04 unverdicted novelty 6.0 of 10

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    cond-mat.str-el 2026-04 unverdicted novelty 6.0 of 10

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    hep-ph 2025-11 unverdicted novelty 6.0 of 10

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    astro-ph.GA 2025-09 conditional novelty 6.0 of 10

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  9. Subaru High-z Exploration of Low-Luminosity Quasars (SHELLQs). XXIV. 54 New Quasars and Candidate Obscured Quasars at $5.71 \le z \le 7.02$

    astro-ph.GA 2025-08 accept novelty 6.0 of 10

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  10. On the rapid growth of SMBHs in high-z galaxies: the aftermath of Population III.1 stars

    astro-ph.GA 2025-07 conditional novelty 6.0 of 10

    Cosmological zoom-in simulations find that 10^5 solar mass Pop III.1 black hole seeds reach ~10^7 solar masses by z=8, with AGN feedback, especially radiation, regulating growth and launching fast outflows.

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    astro-ph.GA 2025-06 conditional novelty 6.0 of 10

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    astro-ph.GA 2025-06 conditional novelty 6.0 of 10

    Little Red Dots are explained as galaxies formed in the lowest roughly 1% of dark matter halo spin, which reproduces their abundance, compactness, and redshift distribution.

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    physics.gen-ph 2025-10 reject novelty 4.0 of 10

    Under the author's CCC+TL cosmology, galaxy effective radii are larger by roughly (1+z)^0.93, reducing the inferred density and mass of early galaxies.

  14. What drives the growth of black holes: a decade of progress

    astro-ph.GA 2025-06 conditional novelty 4.0 of 10

    Over the past decade, understanding of supermassive black hole growth has advanced through new facilities, larger datasets, new techniques, and conceptual shifts, with AGN now viewed as transient events in galaxy lifecycles.

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