{
  "abstract": "We investigated whether little red dots (LRDs) are the dust-reddened, high-inclination counterparts of compact, blue broad-line AGNs (“little blue dots”; LBDs) powered by super-Eddington accretion. We modeled the central engine as a geometrically thick, radiation-pressure supported accretion flow whose funnel produces strongly anisotropic, intrinsically blue ionizing continua. This is coupled to an equatorially concentrated broad-line region (BLR) and dusty reprocessing clouds with a modest covering factor. Using inclination-dependent spectral energy distributions (SEDs) as input to CLOUDY, we show that the extreme broad H α equivalent widths (EWs) of JWST LRDs can be reproduced with global BLR covering factors of only C BLR ≃ 0.1, fully consistent with standard type 1 active galactic nuclei (AGNs) and far below unity. Large Balmer EWs arise because self-shadowing suppresses the high-inclination optical continuum while the BLR is illuminated by an ionizing-rich extreme ultraviolet (EUV) SED. Weak high-ionization lines (e.g., He II λ 4686) follow from the orientation-dependent suppression of the hard extreme ultraviolet (XUV) and soft X-ray continuum toward equatorial directions, without requiring a fully enclosing gaseous “cocoon.” Applying a gray dust attenuation law with A V ≃ 3 along high-inclination (LRD-selected) sightlines, our fiducial model reproduces the V-shaped UV–optical continua of LRDs and the large Balmer decrements. Strong Balmer breaks arise only along the most obscured sightlines. A compact equatorial dust structure with a modest global covering factor intercepts and reradiates only a small fraction of the bolometric luminosity, yielding a modest hot-dust bump and far-infrared and submillimeter output consistent with current measurements and limits and implying small dust masses. This single-framework model links LRD and LBD observables through orientation, predicting correlated trends in H α EW, Balmer decrement, Balmer break, high-ionization line strengths, and infrared emission.",
  "abstract_shown": true,
  "affiliations": [
    "Department of Astronomy & Astrophysics, University of California",
    "Dipartimento di Fisica “G. Occhialini,” Università degli Studi di Milano-Bicocca",
    "Cavendish Laboratory, University of Cambridge",
    "Department of Physics and Astronomy, University College London",
    "Kavli Institute for Cosmology, University of Cambridge"
  ],
  "article_type": null,
  "arxiv": null,
  "author_total": 2,
  "authors": [
    {
      "affs": [
        0,
        1
      ],
      "name": "Piero Madau",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-6336-3293"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        2,
        3,
        4
      ],
      "name": "R. Maiolino",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-4985-3819"
    }
  ],
  "bibtex": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/6kk5pcqyt88pq.bib",
  "cited_by": 72,
  "doi": "10.1051/0004-6361/202659606",
  "fulltext_url": null,
  "id": "6kk5pcqyt88pq",
  "issns": [
    "0004-6361",
    "1432-0746"
  ],
  "landing_url": "https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/202659606",
  "language": "en",
  "licence": "CC-BY",
  "licence_label": "CC BY",
  "licence_source": "journal",
  "licence_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
  "metadata_licence": null,
  "native_subjects": [
    [
      "openalex",
      "3103|Galaxies: Formation, Evolution, Phenomena"
    ]
  ],
  "openalex": "W7131881103",
  "pdf_url": null,
  "pmcid": null,
  "pmid": null,
  "published": "2026-09-03",
  "publisher": "EDP Sciences",
  "ris": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/6kk5pcqyt88pq.ris",
  "sources": [
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-11-02T13:20:35Z",
      "native_id": "W7131881103",
      "source": "openalex",
      "url": "https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/202659606"
    }
  ],
  "subjects": [
    {
      "field": "astronomy",
      "origin": "openalex:3103|Galaxies: Formation, Evolution, Phenomena",
      "subfield": "galaxies"
    }
  ],
  "title": "Little red dots as obscured little blue dots: A super-Eddington unification model",
  "title_text": "Little red dots as obscured little blue dots: A super-Eddington unification model",
  "type": "peer-reviewed",
  "updated_at": "2026-11-09T13:21:01Z",
  "url": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/6kk5pcqyt88pq",
  "venue": "Astronomy and Astrophysics",
  "versions": []
}