Double-peaked Balmer line emission in the radio-quiet AGN RX J1042 + 1212

Abstract

We present optical and X-ray spectra of a radio-quiet X-ray selected AGN, RX J1042+1212 ($z$=0.271). The Halpha and Hbeta emission lines are very broad (with full widths at half maximum of ~10000 km s-1) and have double-peaked profiles. Such features are rarely observed in AGN in general but are even more unusual in radio-quiet objects. The analysis of the ROSAT PSPC data reveals a non-varying, unabsorbed spectrum with an energy spectral index, alphax=1.2 and little or no emission from a soft X-ray excess. The slope of the optical spectrum is similar, alphaopt=1.0, and is consistent with an extrapolation of the X-ray spectrum, suggesting that the same power-law continuum may dominate throughout and that the big blue bump component is relatively weak. We look for a link between these various properties and investigate models of double-peaked Balmer line emission in AGN. An accretion disc origin is unlikely in RX J1042+1212 as this model predicts that lines emitted by a disc should have a net gravitational redshift (both Halpha and Hbeta have a net blueshift). Emission from two broad line regions, each gravitationally bound to one component of a supermassive black hole binary, is a possibility if the two components are similar in size and nature. Alternatively, the lines (or at least the narrow peaks of the lines) may be produced by a double-sided jet or bipolar flow.