How similar are narrow-line Seyfert 1 galaxies and high-z type 1 AGN?
astro-ph.GA, astro-ph.HE
Submitted: 2025-09-03
Updated: 2026-09-01
Comments: 18 pages, 8 figures. Published in the Open Journal of Astrophysics
DOI: 10.33232/001c.169444
License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
The gist: The recent observations of highly accreting supermassive black holes (SMBH) at very high redshift (z> 4) with the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) allowed us to shed light for the very first time on
Terminology
Abstract
The recent observations of highly accreting supermassive black holes (SMBH) at very high redshift (z> 4) with the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) allowed us to shed light for the very first time on the early evolutionary phases of active galactic nuclei (AGN). Perhaps unsurprisingly, several of the physical properties observed in these new objects, including those known as little red dots (LRDs), are closely reminiscent of the low-mass and high-Eddington AGN in the local Universe, and in particular of the class of narrow-line Seyfert 1 (NLS1) galaxies. However, some differences also emerged, likely due to the radically different evolutionary path and the environment where LRDs and NLS1s live. In this work, we review the multiwavelength properties of local NLS1s and briefly compare them with type 1 AGN found at high- z, showing that despite some differences, the study of NLS1s can be extremely useful to better understand the extreme accretion physics of high- z quasars and the early stages of AGN evolution. The goal of this review is to provide the high-z community a handbook to compare their new sources with those already known in the local Universe, and to give the low-z community a starting point to venture in the early phases of AGN evolution.
Sources
- Quantifying biases in stellar masses of JWST high-z quasar host galaxies caused by quasar subtraction
- A remarkable Ruby: Absorption in dense gas, rather than evolved stars, drives the extreme Balmer break of a Little Red Dot at $z=3.5$
- JADES and BlackTHUNDER: rest-frame Balmer-line absorption and the local environment in a Little Red Dot at z = 5
- Another piece to the puzzle: radio detection of a JWST detected AGN candidate
- Little Red Dots as the Very First Activity of Black Hole Growth
- JADES: comprehensive census of broad-line AGN from Reionization to Cosmic Noon revealed by JWST
- On the nature of the radio calibrator and gamma-ray emitting NLS1 galaxy 3C 286 and its multiwavelength variability
- Radio emission from little red dots may reveal their true nature
- The Discovery of Little Red Dots in the Local Universe: Signatures of Cool Gas Envelopes
- Discovery of $\gamma$-ray emission from steep radio spectrum NLS1s
- Counting Little Red Dots at $z<4$ with Ground-based Surveys and Spectroscopic Follow-up
- Narrow line AGN selection in CEERS: spectroscopic selection, physical properties, X-ray and radio analysis
- A "Black Hole Star" Reveals the Remarkable Gas-Enshrouded Hearts of the Little Red Dots
- Little red dots as young supermassive black holes in dense ionized cocoons
- A Post-Starburst Pathway for the Formation of Massive Galaxies and Black Holes at z>6
- A Relativistic Jet in the Radio Quiet AGN Mrk 110
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