Related papers: The central engine of the highest redshift blazar
We present JWST MIRI/NIRSpec observations of the extremely red quasar SDSS J165202.64+172852.3 at z~3, one of the most luminous quasars known to date, driving powerful outflows and hosting a clumpy starburst, amidst several interacting…
We present SDSSJ092712.65+294344.0 as the best candidate to date for a recoiling supermassive black hole (SMBH). SDSSJ0927+2943 shows an exceptional optical emission-line spectrum with two sets of emission lines: one set of very narrow…
Extremely massive black holes, with masses $M_{\rm BH} > 10^9 M_\odot$, have been observed at ever higher redshifts. These results create ever tighter constraints on the formation and growth mechanisms of early black holes. Here we show…
Kinematical and luminosity relations for black-hole jet sources are reviewed. If the TeV flares observed from PKS 2155-304 in 2006 July are assumed to originate from a black hole with mass $\approx 10^8 M_8 M_\odot$, then the $\sim 5$…
A supermassive black hole (SMBH) of $\sim 3\times 10^6 \, \rm M_\odot$ was recently detected via dynamical measurements at the center of the dwarf galaxy Leo I. Standing $\sim 2$ orders of magnitude above standard scaling relations, this…
The radio-loud quasar SDSS J114657.79+403708.6 at a redshift z=5.0 is one of the most distant radio-loud objects. The IR-optical luminosity and spectrum suggest that its black hole has a very large mass: M=(5+-1)x 1e9 Msun. The…
The most powerful sources among the blazar family are MeV blazars. Often detected at $z>2$, they usually display high X- and \gm-ray luminosities, larger-than-average jet powers and black hole masses $\gtrsim 10^9 M_{\odot}$. In the present…
The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has unearthed black holes as massive as $10^{6.2-8.1}M_\odot$ at redshifts of $z \sim 8.5-10.6$ with many systems showing unexpectedly high black hole to stellar mass ratios >=30%, posing a crucial…
Relativistic jets are thought to play a crucial role in the formation and evolution of massive galaxies and supermassive black holes. Blazars, which are quasars with jets aligned along our line of sight, provide insights into the jetted…
High-redshift ($z>2$) blazars, with relativistic jets aligned toward us, probe the most powerful end of the active galactic nuclei (AGN) population. We aim at determining the black hole masses and mass accretion rates of high-$z$ blazars in…
We present deep near-infrared spectroscopy of six quasars at 6.1<z<6.7 with VLT/X-Shooter and Gemini-N/GNIRS. Our objects, originally discovered through a wide-field optical survey with the Hyper Suprime-Cam (HSC) Subaru Strategic Program…
We investigated a sample of 15 luminous high-redshift quasars (3.3 < z < 5.1) to measure the mass of their super-massive black holes (SMBH) and compare, for the first time, results based on CIV, MgII, and Hbeta emission lines at…
We estimate the accretion rates onto the supermassive black holes that power 20 of the highest-redshift quasars, at z>5.8, including the quasar with the highest redshift known to date -- ULAS J1120 at z=7.09. The analysis is based on the…
CGRaBS J0809+5341, a high redshift blazar at z = 2.144, underwent a giant optical outburst on 2014 April 19 when it brightened by $\sim$5 mag and reached an unfiltered apparent magnitude of 15.7 mag. This implies an absolute magnitude of…
The assembly of the first super massive black holes (SMBHs) at $z \gtrsim 6$ is still a subject of intense debate. If black holes (BHs) grow at their Eddington rate, they must start from $\gtrsim 10^4 \, M_\odot$ seeds formed by the direct…
We report on a calculation of the growth of the mass of supermassive black holes at galactic centers from dark matter and Eddington - limited baryonic accretion. Assuming that dark matter halos are made of fermions and harbor compact…
4C 71.07 is a high-redshift blazar whose optical radiation is dominated by quasar-like nuclear emission. We here present the results of a spectroscopic monitoring of the source to study its unbeamed properties. We obtained 24 optical…
The supermassive black holes (SMBHs) massive enough to power the bright redshift ~6 quasars observed in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) are thought to have assembled by mergers and/or gas accretion from less massive "seed" BHs. If the…
We present a catalog of central engine properties, i.e., black hole mass (mbh) and accretion luminosity (ld), for a sample of 1077 blazars detected with the Fermi~Large Area Telescope. This includes broad emission line systems and blazars…
The new high energy data coming mainly from the Fermi and Swift satellites and from the ground based Cerenkov telescopes are making possible to study not only the energetics of blazar jets, but also their connection to the associated…