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Quasars show a considerable spectroscopic diversity. However, the variety of quasar spectra at low redshifts is non-random: a principal component analysis applied to large samples customarily identifies two main eigenvectors. In this contribution we show that the range of quasar optical spectral properties observed at low-z and associated with the first eigenvector is preserved up to z ≈ 2 in a sample of high luminosity quasars. We also describe two major luminosity effects.

We present evidence for two populations of quasars showing distinctly different broad line structure and kinematics. The first evidence for quasar dichotomy involve differences between radio-quiet and radio-loud sources. We proposed an alternate population A-B dichotomy based on optical, UV and X-ray spectroscopic properties. One of these populations (Pop. A: FWHM Hβ 4000 kms-1) includes most radio-loud sources and a significant number of spectroscopically indistinguishable (as far as the low-ionization lines are concerned) radio-quiet sources. Comparison of multiwavelength measures for population A and B sources reveals more/larger differences than are found between radioquiet and radio-loud sources leading us to conclude that the population A-B distinction is more fundamental. The major physical driver of these differences is likely the Eddington ratio where the Pop. A sources show log L/LEdd = 0.2-1.0, and the Pop. B sources show log L/LEdd = 0.01-0.2 (for black hole masses logMBH ≈ 8.5).

Determining the masses of the central compact object believed to power all active galactic nuclei is relevant to our understanding of their evolution and of their inner workings. Keys to present-day mass estimates are: (1) the assumption of line broadening due to virial motion of the emitting gas, (2) an estimate of the distance of broad-line emitting gas from the central compact object, and (3) a measure of the AGN luminosity. We discuss the merits and the limitations of an alternative method based on estimates of physical conditions in the broad line emitting region derived from an appropriate multi-component analysis of emission line profiles. This ‘photo-ionization method’, applied to UV intermediate-ionization lines appears to be promising for at least a sizable population of high-z quasars.

Using images from Sloan Digital Sky Survey Data Release 8, we have re-examined the morphology of 719 galaxies from the Analysis of the interstellar Medium in Isolated GAlaxies (AMIGA) project, a sample consisting of the most isolated galaxies that have yet been identified. The goal is to further improve the classifications of these galaxies by examining them in the context of the Comprehensive de Vaucouleurs revised Hubble-Sandage (CVRHS) system, which includes recognition of features that go beyond the original de Vaucouleurs point of view. Our results confirm previous findings that isolated galaxies are found across the complete revised Hubble sequence, with intermediate- to late-type (Sb-Sc) spirals being relatively more common. Elmegreen Arm Classifications are also presented, and show that more than 50 per cent of the 514 spirals in the sample for which an arm class (AC) could be judged are grand design (AC 8,9,12). The visual bar fraction for the sample is ≈50 per cent, but only 16 per cent are classified as strongly barred (SB). The dominant family classification is SA (non-barred), the dominant inner variety classification is (s) (pure spiral), and the dominant outer variety classification is no outer ring, pseudo-ring, or lens. The Kolmogorov–Smirnov test is used to check for potential biases in the morphological interpretations, and for any possible relation between rings, bars, and ACs with local environment and far-infrared excess. The connection between morphology and stellar mass is also examined for a subset of the sample. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present a new spectroscopic sample of 11 quasars at intermediate redshift observed with the Infrared Spectrometer and Array Camera (ISAAC) on the ESO Very Large Telescope (VLT), covering O I λ8446 and the Ca II triplet 8498, 8542, 8662. The new observations - that supplement the sample presented by Martínez-Aldama et al. (2015) - allow us to confirm the constraints on physical conditions and location of the region emitting the low ionization lines, as well as the relation between Ca II and Fe II. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Context. The advent of 8-10 m class telescopes for the first time makes it possible to compare in detail quasars with similar luminosity and very different redshifts. Aims. We conducted a search for z-dependent gradients in line-emission diagnostics and derived physical properties by comparing, in a narrow bolometric luminosity range (log L ∼ 46.1± 0.4 [erg s-1]), some of the most luminous local z < 0.6 quasars with some of the lowest luminosity sources yet found at redshift z = 2.1-2.5. Methods. Moderate signal-to-noise ratio spectra for 22 high-redshift sources were obtained with the 10.4 m Gran Telescopio Canarias (GTC), for which the HST (largely the Faint Object Spectrograph) archive provides a low-redshift control sample. We compared the spectra in the context of the 4D Eigenvector 1 formalism, meaning that we divided both source samples into highly accreting population A and population B sources accreting at a lower rate. Results. Civλ1549, the strongest and most reliable diagnostic line, shows very similar properties at both redshifts, which confirms the Civλ1549 profile differences at high redshift between populations A and B, which are well established in local quasars. The Civλ1549 blueshift that appears quasi-ubiquitous in higher L sources is found in only half (population A) of the quasars observed in the two samples. A Civλ1549 evolutionary Baldwin effect is certainly disfavored. We find evidence for lower metallicity in the GTC sample that may point toward a gradient with z. No evidence for a gradient in MBH or L/LEdd is found. Conclusions. Spectroscopic differences established at low z are also present in much higher redshift quasars. Our results on the Civλ1549 blueshift suggest that it depends both on source luminosity and L/LEdd. Given that our samples involve sources with very similar luminosity, the evidence for a systematic metallicity decrease, if real, points toward an evolutionary effect. Our samples are not large enough to effectively constrain possible changes of MBH or L/LEdd with redshift. The two samples appear representative of a slowly evolving quasar population that is most likely present at all redshifts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highly accreting quasars are characterized by distinguishing properties in the 4D eigenvector 1 parameter space t hat make them easily recognizable over a broad range range of redshift and luminosity. The 4D eigenvector 1 approach allows us to define selection criteria that go beyond the restriction to Narrow Line Seyfert 1s identified at low redshift. These criteria are probably able to isolate sources with a defined physical structure i.e., a geometrically thick, optically thick advectiondominated accretion disk (a "slim" disk). We stress that the importance of highly accreting quasars goes beyond the understanding of the details of their physics: their Eddington ratio is expected to saturate toward values of order unity, making them possible cosmological probes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The formation of low emission lines in quasars and active galactic nuclei is still an open issue. Aided by the organizing power of the 4D eigenvector 1 scheme, we review basic developments since the 1980s, devoting special attention to the CaII IR triplet and the OI 8446 emission lines. Coverage of these lines is cumbersome since they are shifted in an inconvenient IR domain already at modest redshifts (≈ 0.2). Their detection is also difficult since they are faint and often buried in the CaII absorption of the host galaxy. We discuss how these lines can provide unambiguous constraints on the physical conditions of the broad line emitting regions of quasars when detected in emission, and summarise preliminary results for a sample of luminous, intermediate redshift quasars. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Accurate measurements of emission line properties are crucial to understand the physics of the broad line region in quasars. This region consists of warm gas that is closest to the quasar central engine and has not been spatially resolved for almost all sources. We present here an analysis of optical and IR data for a large sample of quasars, covering the Hi Hβ spectral region in the redshift range 0 ≲ z ≲ 2.5. Spectra were interpreted within the framework of the the so-called “eigenvector 1” parameter space, which can be viewed as a tentative H-R diagram for quasars. We stress the lack of spectral evolution in the low ionization lines of quasars, with prominent Fe ii emission also at z ≳ 2. We also show how selection effects influence the ability to find quasars radiating at low Eddington ratio in flux-limited surveys. The quasar similarity at different redshift is probably due to the absence of super-Eddington radiators (at least within the caveats of black hole mass and Eddington ratio determination discussed in this paper) as well as to the limited Eddington ratio range within which quasars seem to radiate. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

We compute the virial mass ( M) of the central black hole and the luminosity-to-mass ( L/ M) ratio of ≈300 low- z quasars and luminous type 1 Seyfert nuclei. We analyse the following: (1) whether radio-quiet and radio-loud objects show systematic differences in terms of M and L/ M; (2) the influence of M and L/ M on the shape of the Hβ broad component line profile; and (3) the significance of the so-called ‘blue outliers’, i.e. sources showing a significant blueshift of the [O iii]λλ4959,5007 lines with respect to the narrow component of Hβ, which is used as an estimator of the quasar reference frame. We show that M and L/ M distributions for radio-quiet and radio-loud sources are probably different for samples matched in luminosity and redshift, in the sense that radio-quiet sources have systematically smaller masses and larger L/ M. However, the L/ M ratio distributions become indistinguishable if . Line profile comparisons for median spectra computed over narrow ranges of M and L/ M indicate that a Lorentz function provides a better fit for higher L/ M sources and a double Gaussian for lower L/ M values. A second (redshifted) Gaussian component at low L/ M appears as a red asymmetry frequently observed in radio-loud and radio-quiet sources with broader (full width at half-maximum ≳4000 km s−1) Hβ broad component profiles. This component becomes stronger in larger mass and lower L/ M sources. No specific influence of radio loudness on the Hβ broad component profile is detected, although equivalent widths of Hβ broad component and especially of [O iii]λλ4959,5007 are larger for radio-loud sources. We identify five more ‘blue outlier’ sources. Since these sources are, on average, one magnitude brighter than other active galactic nuclei with similar mass, their resulting Eddington ratio is 2–3 times higher. We hint at evolutionary effects that explain some of these results, and reinforce the ‘eigenvector 1’ correlations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]