The Most Massive Active Galactic Nuclei at 1 ≲ z ≲ 2

Abstract

Abstract We obtained near-infrared spectra of 26 Sloan Digital Sky Survey quasars at with reported rest-frame ultraviolet M BH ∼ 1010 M ⊙ to critically examine the systematic effects involved with their mass estimations. We find that active galactic nuclei (AGNs) heavier than 1010 M ⊙ often display double-peaked Hα emission, extremely broad Fe ii complex emission around Mg ii, and highly blueshifted and broadenedC iv emission. The weight of this evidence, combined with previous studies, cautions against the use of M BH values based on any emission line with a width over 8000 km s−1. Also, the M BH estimations are not positively biased by the presence of ionized narrow line outflows, anisotropic radiation, or the use of line FWHM instead of σ for our sample, and unbiased with variability, scatter in broad line equivalent width, or obscuration for general type-1 quasars. Removing the systematically uncertain M BH values, ∼1010 M ⊙ black holes (BHs) in 1 ≲ z ≲ 2 AGNs can still be explained by anisotropic motion of the broad line region from ∼109.5 M ⊙ BHs, although current observations support that they are intrinsically most massive, and overmassive to the host’s bulge mass.