An extremely X–ray weak blazar at z=5 [GA]

http://arxiv.org/abs/1908.08552


We present the discovery and properties of DESJ014132.4-542749.9 (DES0141-54), a new powerful radio-loud active galactic nucleus (AGN) in the early Universe (z=5.0). It was discovered by cross-matching the first data release of the Dark Energy Survey (DES DR1) with the Sidney University Molonglo Survey (SUMSS) radio catalog at 0.843 GHz. This object is the first radio-loud AGN at high redshift discovered in the DES. The radio properties of DES0141-54, namely its very large radio-loudness (R>10$^{4}$), the high radio luminosity (L${0.8 GHz}$=1.73$\times$10$^{28}$ W Hz$^{-1}$), and the flatness of the radio spectrum ($\alpha$=0.35) up to very high frequencies (120 GHz in the source’s rest frame), classify this object as a blazar, meaning, a radio-loud AGN observed along the relativistic jet axis. However, the X–ray luminosity of DESJ0141-54 is much lower compared to those of the high redshift (z$\geq$4.5) blazars discovered so far. Moreover its X-ray-to-radio luminosity ratio (log($\frac{L{[0.5-10]keV}}{L_{1.4GHz}}$)=9.96$\pm$0.30 Hz) is small also when compared to lower redshift blazars: only 2\% of the low-z population has a similar ratio. By modeling the spectral energy distribution we found that this peculiar X–ray weakness and the powerful radio emission could be related to a particularly high value of the magnetic field. Finally, the mass of the central black hole is relatively small (M${BH}$ = 3-8 $\times$10$^8$ M${\odot}$) compared to other confirmed blazars at similar redshift, making DES0141-54 the radio-loud AGN that host the smallest supermassive black hole ever discovered at z$\geq$5.

Read this paper on arXiv…

S. Belladitta, A. Moretti, A. Caccianiga, et. al.
Mon, 26 Aug 19
55/55

Comments: 12 pages, 10 figures, 6 tables. Accepted for publication in Astronomy and Astrophysics