The Hobby–Eberly Telescope Dark Energy Experiment Survey (HETDEX) Active Galactic Nuclei Catalog: The Fourth Data Release

The Astrophysical Journal: Supplement Series American Astronomical Society 276:2 (2025) 72

Authors:

Chenxu Liu, Karl Gebhardt, Erin Mentuch Cooper, Dustin Davis, Donald P Schneider, Matt J Jarvis, Daniel J Farrow, Steven L Finkelstein, Óscar A Chávez Ortiz

Abstract:

We present the active galactic nuclei (AGN) catalog from the fourth data release (HDR4) of the Hobby–Eberly Telescope Dark Energy Experiment Survey (HETDEX). HETDEX is an untargeted spectroscopic survey. HDR4 contains 345,874 Integral Field Unit observations from 2017 January to 2023 August covering an effective area of 62.9 deg2. With no imaging preselection, our spectroscopic confirmed AGN sample includes low-luminosity AGN, narrow-line AGN, and/or red AGN down to g ∼ 25. This catalog has 15,940 AGN across the redshifts of z = 0.1 ∼ 4.6, giving a raw AGN number density of 253.4 deg−2. Among them, 10,499 (66%) have redshifts either confirmed by line pairs or matched to the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Quasar Catalog. For the remaining 5441 AGN, 2083 are single broad-line AGN candidates, while the remaining 3358 are single intermediate broad-line (full width at half-maximum, FWHM ∼1200 km s−1) AGN candidates. A total of 4060 (39%) of the 10,499 redshift-confirmed AGN have emission-line regions 3σ more extended than the image quality, which could be strong outflows blowing into the outskirts of the host galaxies or ionized intergalactic medium.

ZTF SN Ia DR2: High-velocity components in the Si II $λ$6355

(2025)

Authors:

L Harvey, K Maguire, U Burgaz, G Dimitriadis, J Sollerman, A Goobar, J Johansson, J Nordin, M Rigault, M Smith, M Aubert, R Cartier, P Chen, M Deckers, S Dhawan, L Galbany, M Ginolin, WD Kenworthy, Y-L Kim, C Liu, AA Miller, P Rosnet, R Senzel, JH Terwel, L Tomasella, M Kasliwal, RR Laher, J Purdum, B Rusholme, R Smith

Scant evidence for thawing quintessence

(2025)

Authors:

William J Wolf, Carlos García-García, Deaglan J Bartlett, Pedro G Ferreira

ATClean: A Novel Method for Detecting Low-luminosity Transients and Application to Pre-explosion Counterparts from SN 2023ixf

The Astrophysical Journal American Astronomical Society 979:2 (2025) 114

Authors:

S Rest, A Rest, CD Kilpatrick, JE Jencson, S von Coelln, L Strolger, S Smartt, JP Anderson, A Clocchiatti, DA Coulter, L Denneau, S Gomez, A Heinze, R Ridden-Harper, KW Smith, B Stalder, JL Tonry, Q Wang, Y Zenati

The Massive and Quiescent Elliptical Host Galaxy of the Repeating Fast Radio Burst FRB 20240209A

The Astrophysical Journal Letters American Astronomical Society 979:2 (2025) l22

Authors:

T Eftekhari, Y Dong, W Fong, V Shah, S Simha, BC Andersen, S Andrew, M Bhardwaj, T Cassanelli, S Chatterjee, DA Coulter, E Fonseca, BM Gaensler, AC Gordon, JWT Hessels, AL Ibik, RC Joseph, LA Kahinga, V Kaspi, B Kharel, CD Kilpatrick, AE Lanman, M Lazda, C Leung, C Liu, L Mas-Ribas, KW Masui, R Mckinven, J Mena-Parra, AA Miller, K Nimmo, A Pandhi, SS Patil, AB Pearlman, Z Pleunis, JX Prochaska, M Rafiei-Ravandi, M Sammons, P Scholz, K Shin, K Smith, I Stairs

Abstract:

The discovery and localization of FRB 20240209A by the Canadian Hydrogen Intensity Mapping Fast Radio Burst (CHIME/FRB) experiment marks the first repeating FRB localized with the CHIME/FRB Outriggers and adds to the small sample of repeating FRBs with associated host galaxies. Here we present Keck and Gemini observations of the host that reveal a redshift z = 0.1384 ± 0.0004. We perform stellar population modeling to jointly fit the optical through mid-IR data of the host and infer a median stellar mass log(M*/M⊙) = 11.35 ± 0.01 and a mass-weighted stellar population age ~11 Gyr, corresponding to the most massive and oldest FRB host discovered to date. Coupled with a star formation rate <0.31 M⊙ yr−1, the specific star formation rate <10−11.9 yr−1 classifies the host as quiescent. Through surface brightness profile modeling, we determine an elliptical galaxy morphology, marking the host as the first confirmed elliptical FRB host. The discovery of a quiescent early-type host galaxy within a transient class predominantly characterized by late-type star-forming hosts is reminiscent of short-duration gamma-ray bursts, Type Ia supernovae, and ultraluminous X-ray sources. Based on these shared host demographics, coupled with a large offset as demonstrated in our companion Letter, we conclude that preferred sources for FRB 20240209A include magnetars formed through merging binary neutron stars/white dwarfs or the accretion-induced collapse of a white dwarf, or a luminous X-ray binary. Together with FRB 20200120E localized to a globular cluster in M81, our findings provide strong evidence that some fraction of FRBs may arise from a process distinct from the core collapse of massive stars.