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Luis C. Ho

Publications and source records attributed to Luis C. Ho.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

No Detectable One-halo Galactic Conformity Signal with Halo-mass Estimates Consistent with Weak-lensing Constraints

One-halo galactic conformity is the tendency for satellites in halos with quenched centrals to have lower star-formation activity than those in halos with star-forming centrals at fixed halo mass. It is an important probe of the galaxy--halo connection and halo-wide quenching processes that may couple central and satellite evolution. However, its existence remains controversial, because conformity must be measured at fixed halo mass, while halo masses are difficult to estimate accurately. In this Letter, we measure one-halo conformity in SDSS using five stellar-mass-complete samples and three halo-mass estimates: an ML estimate whose star-forming and quenched stellar mass--halo mass relations (SHMRs) agree with independent weak-lensing constraints, and two conventional abundance-matching (AM) estimates. We quantify conformity as the difference in median $\log({\rm sSFR})$ between satellites of star-forming and quenched centrals, using both satellite-level and halo-level statistics. The two AM estimates produce strong positive conformity signals, consistent with previous AM-based measurements, but these signals are not reproduced with the ML halo masses. For the halo-level statistic, the representative AM-based signals are $+0.38\pm0.04$ dex and $+0.23\pm0.04$ dex for the luminosity-ranking and mass-ranking AM halo masses, detected relative to no conformity at about $10σ$ and $6σ$, respectively. In contrast, the ML result is consistent with no conformity, $+0.00\pm0.03$ dex; the satellite-level statistic gives a similar result. Thus, with halo-mass estimates consistent with weak-lensing constraints, we find no detectable one-halo conformity signal in the present SDSS sample, suggesting that the strong AM-based signal is largely driven by halo-mass estimation biases.

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NEXUS: Transient Searches and First Results from Year One Observations

We describe ongoing efforts of high-redshift transient searches using multi-epoch NIRCam imaging (F200W+F444W) and NIRSpec MSA/PRISM spectroscopy from the NEXUS JWST multi-cycle Treasury program targeting the north ecliptic pole region. The transient search area covers $\sim 61.5\,{\rm arcmin^2}$ between the reference epoch and each subsequent NEXUS-Deep epoch at a cadence of $\sim2$~months. In the first year of observations from NEXUS, we detect 68 robust transients, with the host photometric redshift distribution declining rapidly at $z>2$ but extending to $z_{\rm phot}\approx 6$. In addition, we obtained secure spectroscopic redshifts for 37 transients ($\sim54\%$) from NIRSpec/PRISM and NIRCam/WFSS, with seventeen at $1 < z < 2$, eight at $2 < z < 3$, two at $3 < z < 4$, and one tentative host association at z = 6.151. Overall, the NEXUS program recovers observed supernova (SN) rates broadly consistent with other SN search programs with JWST. While NEXUS achieves the highest transient detection efficiency, 6.6 SNe per imaging hr ($2.6\times$ COSMOS-SN and $26\times$ JADES-SN), the limited filter coverage (F200W+F444W only) limits robust identification and classification of high-$z$ SNe for deep spectroscopic follow-up. We describe the details of the data reduction and transient detection pipeline, and report the Year-1 transient sample along with their light curves, available MSA spectroscopy, host association, and the raw detection rate. We also describe and release a new PSF photometry package that properly accounts for correlated pixel noise from combining drizzled images.

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A New Sample of $\sim$ 100 Intermediate-mass Black Holes Reaching $z \approx 1$

We present a systematic search for intermediate-mass black hole (IMBH) active galactic nuclei (AGNs) at $0.5 < z \lesssim 1$ using DESI DR1 spectroscopy.We identify 98 broad-line IMBH AGNs with black hole masses $M_\mathrm{BH}<10^6$ $M_{\odot}$ through quantitative spectral decomposition and broad-H$β$ selection. This sample spans $M_\mathrm{BH}=10^{5.5}-10^{6.0}$ $M_{\odot}$ and Eddington ratios from 1.2 to 9.0 extending systematic IMBH AGN searches to intermediate redshift. Compared with a consistently selected $z<0.6$ IMBH sample, the $0.5<z<1$ sources reach higher broad-H$β$ luminosities and substantially higher Eddington ratios, indicating more extreme accretion states at earlier cosmic times. They also show broader [O III] profiles and stronger blueshifted wing components, with these kinematic differences persisting after matching in black hole mass and Eddington ratio. These results reveal two distinct signatures of evolution among IMBH AGNs at $z<1$: ability of IMBHs to reach increasingly extreme accretion states toward higher redshift, and systematic changes in their ionized-gas kinematics. The former demonstrates that rapid, including super-Eddington, growth of IMBHs can persist to relatively late cosmic times, while the latter may indicate evolution in the ionized-gas environment and associated outflow activity of actively growing IMBHs. Together, these findings provide new constraints on the evolutionary pathways of IMBHs at $z<1$, and show that seed-mass black holes can continue to undergo rapid growth well after the cosmic dawn.

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Super-Eddington Accretion and Early-Stage Feedback in Ton S180

Narrow-line Seyfert 1 (NLSy1) galaxies are key laboratories for studying rapid supermassive black hole (SMBH) growth and active galactic nucleus (AGN) feedback at high accretion rates. We investigate the nearby NLSy1 Ton S180 with VLT-MUSE optical integral field spectroscopy to connect its nuclear accretion properties with the spatially resolved ionized gas and host-galaxy kinematics. We modeled the unresolved nuclear spectrum and applied a custom point spread function subtraction to recover the host-galaxy emission on kiloparsec scales. The nuclear spectrum requires a complex permitted-line decomposition and a blueshifted [O III] outflow component. Single-epoch estimators and the stellar velocity dispersion imply black hole masses in the range $\log(M_{\rm BH}/M_\odot) = 6.5 - 7.7$. Combined with the observed luminosity, this implies a dimensionless mass accretion rate of $\dot{M} / \dot{M}_{\rm Edd} = 4.1 - 980$, confirming the extreme accretion regime. The host galaxy shows a circumnuclear ring, an inner elongated structure consistent with a bar, and rotation-dominated gas and stellar kinematics. Simple inflow models do not significantly better reproduce the observed velocity field. We detect a resolved ionized outflow extending about 2 kpc west of the nucleus, with mildly blueshifted velocities (with a maximum of $v_{\rm max} \sim 340$ km s$^{-1}$). Its mass outflow rate is only $\sim 4.2 \times 10^{-4}\,M_\odot\,\mathrm{yr}^{-1}$, whereas the unresolved nuclear outflow reaches $v_{\rm max} \sim 1140$ km s$^{-1}$ and $\dot{M}_{\rm out} > 1.5\,M_\odot\,\mathrm{yr}^{-1}$. This contrast may reflect either weak ionized coupling from nuclear to galactic scales or different episodes of AGN activity over time. These results show that Ton S180 is undergoing rapid SMBH growth, while the observed ionized outflow remains confined to the inner few kiloparsecs and is weak on host-galaxy scales.

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Widespread Inflows Reveal Baryonic Cycling in Star-forming and Quiescent Galaxies

Cool-gas inflows, required to sustain star formation, have been fundamental in simulations yet remained observationally elusive. Using DESI spectroscopy of ~30,000 galaxies, we identify coherent inflowing gas (~100 km/s) in 20-50% of the sample, yielding a population-level census of gas flows. We uncover a striking inversion: inflows are detected in quiescent galaxies, whereas star-forming systems are dominated by gravitationally bound outflows. At fixed age, galaxies with inflows, outflows, or no/weak flows share similar masses, environments, and structures, indicating that these properties do not differentiate flow states. Instead, gas-flow state is linked to stellar population age and recent evolutionary history, consistent with age-dependent gas flows in two regimes. In some star-forming galaxies, elevated star formation surface densities drive outflows that recycle on ~0.5 Gyr timescales, consistent with a galactic fountain. In quiescent systems, low-level ``drizzling'' inflows persist, consistent with slowly cooling enriched halo gas and weak radio-mode nuclear activity. Broad gas-phase metallicity distributions---and absence of a pristine dilution signature---indicate that detected inflows are predominantly recycled or enriched. Detectability is modulated by dust, ionization, and geometry: in star-forming disks, inflowing gas lies near the disk plane and is obscured or ionized, while outflow hosts exhibit higher dust and metal content. As star formation declines, cold-outflow signatures weaken, and recycled or slowly cooling gas is more readily detected as inflow. Post-starburst galaxies provide snapshots of this transition. Our results resolve the scarcity of observed inflows, provide evidence for widespread gas accretion and recycling in present day galaxies, and establish an observational framework linking gas flows to star formation, chemical evolution, and galaxy structure.

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The Intermediate-Mass Black Hole Reverberation Mapping Project: Scientific Overview and Sample Characteristics

Recent discoveries with the James Webb Space Telescope of massive black holes at high redshift have highlighted fundamental questions about black hole seed formation and the coevolution of black holes with their host galaxies. Because the initial seed population cannot yet be observed directly, nearby intermediate-mass black holes provide a complementary fossil record of black hole formation and early growth. Motivated by this opportunity, we present the Intermediate-Mass Black Hole Reverberation Mapping (IMBH-RM) project and construct a homogeneous Sloan Digital Sky Survey sample of active broad-line IMBHs by uniformly reanalyzing literature candidates with consistent spectral decomposition and black hole mass estimation. Our sample contains 192 reliable IMBH candidates at $z\lesssim0.3$ with $\log(M_{\rm BH}/M_\odot)<6$, including four particularly compelling sources with $\log(M_{\rm BH}/M_\odot)<5$. The primary goal of IMBH-RM is to obtain reliable black hole masses from direct measurements and characteristic sizes of the broad-line region and accretion disk for a carefully selected subsample. These measurements will provide robust low-mass anchors for calibrating single-epoch black hole mass estimates and extending black hole--galaxy scaling relations into the IMBH regime. By building a statistically meaningful reverberation-mapped sample spanning $10^4-10^6\,M_\odot$, we aim to constrain the local IMBH mass distribution and place observational constraints on competing black hole seed formation scenarios. The future Multi-Channel Imager aboard the Chinese Space-station Survey Telescope provides a particularly promising platform for achieving these goals.

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Constraints on the Intranight Optical Variability of Intermediate-Mass Black Hole Candidates

Intermediate-mass black holes (IMBHs) provide a unique regime for studying accretion variability at the low-mass end of the black hole population, yet their intranight optical variability (INOV) remains poorly constrained. We present a systematic investigation of INOV in an optically selected sample of IMBH candidates using high-cadence observations from the Zwicky Transient Facility (ZTF). From a parent sample of 1,447 broad H$α$-selected candidates, we identify 64 IMBH candidates (median $f_{\mathrm{AGN}}\sim0.06$) with 163 intranight monitoring sessions. Apparent INOV signals identified by conventional ZTF PSF-fit photometry are largely associated with seeing-dependent changes in the relative contributions of compact nuclear and extended host components, which can mimic intrinsic short-timescale variability. In contrast, no robust INOV is detected with difference-image analysis. An ensemble structure function spanning $Δt\sim0.003$--$1600$ days reveals long-term variability in a small subsample of sources, whereas intrinsic variability remains unresolved at intranight timescales. Monte Carlo simulations further show that ZTF-like single-night monitoring has a low INOV recovery probability ($\sim1.2%$) for the variability amplitudes inferred from the long-term analysis. The recovery probability is primarily controlled by source brightness, AGN contribution, intrinsic variability amplitude, and photometric precision. These results demonstrate that the absence of detected INOV does not imply the absence of rapid accretion variability, but can reflect the limited detectability of low-amplitude signals under current observing capabilities. Our findings highlight the importance of robust photometric methodologies for future high-cadence variability studies of low-mass accreting black holes.

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The Structural Abundance Crisis of Massive Galaxies in Current Cosmological Simulations

The internal structure of galaxies encodes the complex baryon cycle driven by gas accretion, star formation, and feedback, together with secular evolution and environmentally driven processes such as mergers and tidal interactions. We present a population-level census of massive nearby galaxies ($\log(M_\star/M_\odot) > 10$) by comparing Hyper Suprime-Cam Subaru Strategic Program observations with matched mock images from IllustrisTNG, EAGLE, and SIMBA. Using a consistent, like-for-like imaging pipeline, we construct structural abundance functions (SAFs) for key morphological parameters, revealing a structural abundance crisis. Across Sérsic index, concentration, size, and ellipticity, all simulations exhibit large, systematic discrepancies ($>5σ$; RMSE $\sim 0.2$--$1.8$\,dex), typically corresponding to abundance differences of factors of several. While individual simulations display diverse failures---underproducing or overproducing compact spheroids, extended or round galaxies ---all underproduce highly flattened disks. Although TNG shows the closest agreement and SIMBA the largest offsets, this shared failure indicates that current models---despite matching global demographics such as the stellar mass function---do not uniquely constrain internal galaxy structure. Our results demonstrate that agreement in integrated observables can mask fundamental shortcomings in the modelling of mass and angular momentum redistribution. We therefore establish SAFs as a stringent, multidimensional, and observationally accessible benchmark for testing and calibrating next-generation galaxy formation models in the era of upcoming deep, wide-field surveys.

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A systematic study of AGN feedback in a disk galaxy using MACER. III. High Gas Fractions in AGN Hosts

We use high-resolution hydrodynamic simulations in the MACER framework to explain why low-redshift PG quasar hosts can retain substantial cold-gas reservoirs, with gas fractions and gas-to-stellar mass ratios showing little dependence on instantaneous AGN luminosity. This paper is the third in a series systematically studying AGN feedback in a disk galaxy subject to cosmological gas inflow. The simulations include multiphase gas, star formation, stellar feedback, and self-consistent radiative and mechanical AGN feedback. We reproduce the observed weak connection between host-galaxy gas content and AGN luminosity over L_AGN/L_Edd ~ 10^{-5}-10, while the galaxy nevertheless undergoes pronounced gas depletion and star-formation quenching. During the quenching phase, the cold-gas mass declines by nearly three orders of magnitude, and the evolution of the gas distribution shows that AGN feedback progressively removes both cold and hot gas from the galaxy. The star formation rate is more closely linked to the cold-gas mass than to AGN luminosity. This behavior arises from a timescale mismatch: AGN luminosity varies on ~ 10^5-10^6 yr timescales, whereas repeated AGN-driven outflows cumulatively deplete the galaxy-scale gas reservoir over ~ 1 Gyr. Our simulations therefore provide a physical explanation for the gas-rich PG quasar hosts and show that their observed gas properties are fully consistent with effective, long-term ejective AGN feedback.

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Extended Components of Little Red Dots in the Rest-Frame Optical

Recent JWST observations have revealed a population of red, compact, high-redshift objects called Little Red Dots (LRDs), whose host components have remained largely unconstrained, possibly due to their extreme compactness. Current morphological studies suggest the presence of extended emission in LRDs at rest-frame ultraviolet wavelengths. However, in the rest-frame optical regime, investigations have been limited by small sample sizes and insufficient imaging depth, hindering reliable separation between point-like and potential extended components. Here we perform the image stacking analysis of 217 LRDs in four NIRCam bands, a large and homogeneous sample observed with the COSMOS-Web survey. Our results reveal the detection of faint extended emission in the F444W band, with a typical size of ~200 parsecs and magnitude of ~27.7 AB at z~6.5. We perform four-band photometric spectral energy distribution fitting based on galaxy templates and derive an average stellar mass of log(M*/M_sun) = 9.02 +0.20/-0.18. Given this stellar mass, the host galaxy is compact, that is, ~2.5 times smaller than star-forming galaxies of similar mass at comparable redshifts. This work provides direct observational evidence for the existence of LRD host galaxies at rest-frame optical wavelengths and offers new insights into the stellar buildup of these systems within the first billion years after the Big Bang.

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The VariableTNG project: mass-dependent regulation of galaxy morphology by baryonic feedback

Galaxy morphology is shaped by both assembly history and baryonic processes, but their relative roles remain uncertain. We use the VariableTNG (VTNG) simulation suite to investigate how variations in baryonic feedback regulate galaxy morphology while keeping the initial conditions fixed. VTNG consists of cosmological magnetohydrodynamic simulations performed with the moving-mesh code {\sc AREPO}, varying eight parameters governing stellar and AGN feedback. At $z=1$, we characterize morphology using $κ_{\rm co}$, $v/σ$, and the axis ratio $c/a$. We find substantial morphological diversity across feedback models, with the dominant mechanism strongly dependent on stellar mass. For $M_\ast \lesssim 10^{11}\,{\rm M_\odot}$, morphology is primarily controlled by the supernova temperature $T_{\rm SN}$: larger $T_{\rm SN}$ delays early star formation, promotes a denser and more rotationally supported gas reservoir, and favours subsequent disc growth through in-situ star formation. At higher masses, morphology becomes increasingly sensitive to AGN feedback, particularly the quasar-mode coupling efficiency $ε_{\rm f,high}$. Higher $ε_{\rm f,high}$ suppresses early black hole growth, thereby weakening subsequent radio-mode feedback associated with gas depletion and loss of rotational support. The resulting morphology--mass relation is non-monotonic, with maximum rotational support at intermediate stellar masses. Our results demonstrate that baryonic feedback regulates galaxy morphology through distinct mass-dependent pathways, with stellar feedback dominating at lower masses and AGN self-regulation becoming increasingly important at the massive end.

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The VariableTNG project: Unveiling the physical drivers of galaxy quenching

Understanding the physical processes that regulate galaxy quenching is a key challenge in galaxy formation and evolution. The VariableTNG (VTNG) project provides a laboratory to investigate these processes, as it systematically varies eight parameters of galaxy formation while keeping the initial conditions fixed, allowing the effects of individual feedback prescriptions to be isolated. We use interpretable machine-learning techniques as a tool to identify the parameters that most strongly regulate the quenched galaxy fraction. Our goal is to quantify the relative importance of the galaxy formation and feedback parameters that regulate the quenched galaxy fraction at z=0, determine how their influence changes across stellar mass and environment. We compute the quenched galaxy fraction for 26 VTNG boxes as a function of stellar mass, black hole mass, and gas mass, considering both the total galaxy population and separate samples of central and satellite galaxies. We train Random Forest regressors to predict the variation of the quenched fraction relative to the TNG100-1 model and use SHAP values to quantify both the magnitude and direction of the influence of each parameter. Our analysis reveals that only a small subset of the VTNG parameters dominates the variance of the quenched fraction. The stellar feedback wind parameter is the primary driver at low stellar masses, while its importance gradually shifts toward AGN-related parameters at higher masses. The supernova temperature also plays an important role at both extremes of the stellar-mass range. This transition persists when the galaxy population is divided into central and satellite systems. Comparisons with observational measurements further suggest that variations in these feedback parameters may contribute to the discrepancies between the fiducial TNG100-1 model and the observed passive galaxy population.

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Extreme Variability Reveals How the Eddington Ratio Regulates Coronal Power in Active Galactic Nuclei

The bolometric luminosity ($L_{\rm bol}$) of active galactic nuclei (AGNs) is a key tracer of accretion physics, but its direct determination is often hindered by limited spectral coverage and contamination of the host galaxy. Bolometric corrections ($κ_λ = L_{\rm bol}/L_λ$) offer a practical means of estimating $L_{\rm bol}$, with the X-ray bolometric correction ($κ_{\rm 2-10}$) being crucial for exploring the coupling between the accretion disk and the X-ray corona. Here we present multi-epoch, multi-wavelength observations of five highly variable, changing-state AGNs that span more than three orders of magnitude in Eddington ratio ($-3.6\lesssim \log λ_{\rm Edd} \lesssim -0.5$). This unique data set reveals a remarkably tight relation between $κ_{\rm 2-10}$ and $λ_{\rm Edd}$, with an intrinsic scatter of only $\sim0.05$ dex. We find that while the sources show bolometric corrections following different tracks in luminosity space that depend on black hole mass, they all display the same $κ_{\rm 2-10}-λ_{\rm Edd}$ trend. This shows unambiguously that $λ_{\rm Edd}$ is the primary driver of X-ray bolometric corrections, and points to a tight underlying trend that can be used to obtain reliable estimates of bolometric output from X-ray luminosities. Our results highlight how time-domain, multi-wavelength observations of variable AGN offer unique insights into the accretion flow structure and its radiative output.

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The Distinctive Evolution and Spectral Energy Distribution of Binary Massive Black Hole Accretion

Binary (super-)massive black holes (BHs) are expected to reside in the center of some galaxies. In this work, we re-visit accretion onto binary massive BHs, incorporating recent advances in both accretion theory and the mass transfer rate between the two massive BHs. We focus on relatively bright systems with an Eddington ratio of 0.1 for a binary with total BH mass $10^8\,M_\odot$, but consider a wide range of mass ratios $10^{-4} \le q \le 0.5$. The binary system consists of two mini-disks surrounding two individual BHs and a circumbinary disk surrounding the mass center of binary BHs. Depending on the mass ratio, the two mini-disks can be hot accretion flows, standard thin (cold) disks, or Slim disks. The radiative contributions from all three disks, each potentially in different accretion modes, are taken into account self-consistently. The spectral energy distributions of the binary BH system show universal ``notch'' features from the near-infrared to ultraviolet bands, caused by the gap or cavity in the accretion disk, consistent with previous studies. Binary with different mass ratios exhibit distinct spectral energy distribution properties, offering opportunities for testing (identifying candidates) with future broad band (infrared up to X-rays) observations. We also investigate the evolution of these binary systems, and find that, for systems with initial mass ratios $q \lesssim \text{a few} \times 10^{-3}$, the mass ratio evolves toward an equilibrium value $q \sim 10^{-3}$. For binary BH systems with a larger initial mass ratio, their mass ratio instead evolves toward unity.

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Comparison of Polarized Radiative Transfer Codes used by the EHT Collaboration

Interpretation of resolved polarized images of black holes by the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) requires predictions of the polarized emission observable by an Earth-based instrument for a particular model of the black hole accretion system. Such predictions are generated by general relativistic radiative transfer (GRRT) codes, which integrate the equations of polarized radiative transfer in curved spacetime. A selection of ray-tracing GRRT codes used within the EHT collaboration is evaluated for accuracy and consistency in producing a selection of test images, demonstrating that the various methods and implementations of radiative transfer calculations are highly consistent. When imaging an analytic accretion model, we find that all codes produce images similar within a pixel-wise normalized mean squared error (NMSE) of 0.012 in the worst case. When imaging a snapshot from a cell-based magnetohydrodynamic simulation, we find all test images to be similar within NMSEs of 0.02, 0.04, 0.04, and 0.12 in Stokes I, Q, U , and V respectively. We additionally find the values of several image metrics relevant to published EHT results to be in agreement to much better precision than measurement uncertainties.

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Optically Thick Outflow Driven by Supercritical Accretion May Explain Little Red Dots

Recent JWST observations have revealed a population of compact, optically red sources known as Little Red Dots (LRDs). A popular interpretation is that LRDs host massive black holes embedded in dense gaseous envelopes, yet the physical origin of such envelopes remains unclear. We propose that the optically thick outflow driven by supercritical accretion onto black holes may explain the envelope. Based on an analytic radiative hydrodynamic outflow model, we relate the outflow properties to the black hole mass $M$ and dimensionless accretion rate $\dot{m}$. With $M\sim10^5-10^7\,M_\odot$ and $\dot m \sim 1500-5000$, the outflow photosphere reaches luminosities of $10^{43}-10^{45}\,\rm erg\,s^{-1}$ and temperatures of $\sim 3000-6000$ K, effectively matching the red optical continua observed in LRDs. The presence of a thick scattering region beyond the photosphere is central to deciphering the distinctive properties of LRDs. For each object, if one derives $M$ and $\dot{m}$ from the observed luminosity and temperature, while accounting for both kinematic broadening and scattering effects, the model predicts an emission line FWHM consistent with observations within a factor of 1.5 for more than 80\% objects. Furthermore, with Cloudy simulations, we find that the partially ionized gas beyond the photosphere produces Balmer breaks broadly consistent with measurements.

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Dynamics and geometry of the inner sub-parsec-scale jet in 3C 279 observed with the Event Horizon Telescope

The 2021 Event Horizon Telescope observations resolve the innermost jet region of the blazar 3C279 with unprecedented detail. The reconstructed images consistently reveal a compact core elongated nearly orthogonal to the large-scale jet axis. This rarely observed morphology recurs across multiple epochs and from 22-230 GHz and is therefore intrinsic rather than an imaging artifact. Geometric model fitting identifies several components with apparent speeds up to 10c, requiring bulk Lorentz factors greater than 10.3 and constraining viewing angles to extremely small values (smaller than one degree). Rest-frame brightness temperatures are systematically low (between 10^9 and 10^10 K), consistent with optically thin emission at 230 GHz. These results suggest that the jet bends toward the observer on sub-parsec scales, producing strong relativistic beaming. Possible drivers of the observed jet bending and temporal evolution include the jet's interaction with the interstellar medium, kink or Kelvin--Helmholtz instabilities, magnetic reconnection near the horizon, or binary-induced precession. However, the current temporal coverage of VLBI data remains insufficient to distinguish between these mechanisms. Continued multifrequency VLBI monitoring will be essential to constraining the dynamics and geometry of the jet base in 3C279.

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Local Analogs of Little Red Dots: Optical Variability and Evidence for an Active Galatic Nucleus Origin

Little red dots (LRDs) draw extensive attention because of their unique observational characteristics and apparent overabundance in the early Universe, raising new insights into early black hole formation and growth. Early studies show that LRDs exhibit weak variability in broad-band photometry and emission-line fluxes, suggesting a preference for super-Eddington accretion or disfavouring an AGN origin. However, the cadence of the current data, and therefore, the resulting light curves for LRDs, is limited, preventing us from placing strong constraints on their variability. Based on Zwicky Transient Facility (ZTF) light curves with a baseline of $\sim6$ years, we here study the optical variability of seven previously reported local analogs of LRDs at $z \sim 0.3$, offering an insight into LRDs from a low-redshift sample. Three out of seven local analogs show excess variances on all three bands of their light curves, and two of them can be fitted with the damping random walk model, supporting their AGN origins for the variability. The remaining sources show weak variance in at least one band, but no detectable variability at the current sensitivity level, exhibiting $\rm SF_\infty$ upper limits consistent with estimates from high-redshift (high-$z$) LRDs. Their non-detection of variability is likely due to the large photometric uncertainty. As an implication, by simulating long baseline light curves with the variability amplitude of local analogs and adopting JWST observation cadence, we investigate the limitation of the variability amplitude estimate for LRDs. Our mock observations imply that the current constraints on LRDs' variability are probably underestimated. This underestimation might be induced by the short temporal baseline of observations, as well as the intrinsic scatter of the empirical $M_{\rm BH}-τ$ relation.

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