Strong response of the very broad Hβ emission line in the luminous radio-quiet quasar PG1416-129

Abstract

We report new spectroscopic observations performed in 2010 and 2011 for the luminous radio-quiet quasar PG1416-129. Our new spectra with high quality cover both Hβ and Hα regions, and show negligible line profile variation within a timescale of one year. The two spectra allow us to study the variability of the Balmer line profile by comparing the spectra with previous ones taken at 10 and 20 years ago. By decomposing the broad Balmer emission lines into two Gaussian profiles, our spectral analysis suggests a strong response to the continuum level for the very broad component, and significant variations in both bulk blueshift velocity/FWHM and flux for the broad component. The new observations additionally indicate flat Balmer decrements (i.e., too strong Hβ emission) at the line wings, which is hard to reproduce using recent optically thin models. With these observations we argue that a separate inner optically thin emission-line region might not be necessary in the object to reproduce the observed line profiles. © 2011. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved.