A relativistic inflow candidate in a quasar at cosmic noon
Abstract
Cosmic noon (z∼2) marks the peak epoch of cosmic star formation and black hole accretion activity, where strong accretion and outflows are expected. We report two candidate absorption features in the \textit{XMM-Newton} spectrum of the quasar WISEA~J094835.95+432302.6 at z=1.893. Two redshifted features occur at rest-frame energies of ∼4.65 and ∼5.75keV with confidence levels of 99.3% and 94.1%, respectively, estimated from Monte Carlo (MC) simulations considering the look-elsewhere effect. These features can be explained by the Fe XXV/XXVI K-shell transitions from one ultra-fast inflow (UFI) with an apparent velocity of 0.37+0.02−0.01c. If confirmed by follow-up \textit{XMM-Newton} observations, these detections would extend reported UFI candidates from the local Universe to cosmic noon, offering a rare laboratory for black hole accretion at the peak of their growth.
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BibTeX
@misc{xu2026relativistic,
title = {{A relativistic inflow candidate in a quasar at cosmic noon}},
author = {Yerong Xu and Xiurui Zhao and Elena Bertola and Valentina Braito and Francesca Civano and Luca Comisso and Luigi Gallo and Vittoria E. Gianolli and Elias Kammoun and Giorgio Lanzuisi and Stefano Marchesi and Mar Mezcua and Ciro Pinto and James N. Reeves and Daniele Rogantini and Núria Torres-Albà and Lizhong Zhang},
howpublished = {arXiv},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.48550/arxiv.2610.10267},
eprint = {2610.10267},
archivePrefix = {arXiv},
url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2610.10267},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - A relativistic inflow candidate in a quasar at cosmic noon
AU - Yerong Xu
AU - Xiurui Zhao
AU - Elena Bertola
AU - Valentina Braito
AU - Francesca Civano
AU - Luca Comisso
AU - Luigi Gallo
AU - Vittoria E. Gianolli
AU - Elias Kammoun
AU - Giorgio Lanzuisi
AU - Stefano Marchesi
AU - Mar Mezcua
AU - Ciro Pinto
AU - James N. Reeves
AU - Daniele Rogantini
AU - Núria Torres-Albà
AU - Lizhong Zhang
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/07
PB - arXiv
DO - 10.48550/arxiv.2610.10267
UR - https://arxiv.org/abs/2610.10267
AB - Cosmic noon (z∼2) marks the peak epoch of cosmic star formation and black hole accretion activity, where strong accretion and outflows are expected. We report two candidate absorption features in the \textit{XMM-Newton} spectrum of the quasar WISEA~J094835.95+432302.6 at z=1.893. Two redshifted features occur at rest-frame energies of ∼4.65 and ∼5.75keV with confidence levels of 99.3% and 94.1%, respectively, estimated from Monte Carlo (MC) simulations considering the look-elsewhere effect. These features can be explained by the Fe XXV/XXVI K-shell transitions from one ultra-fast inflow (UFI) with an apparent velocity of 0.37^+0.02_−0.01c. If confirmed by follow-up \textit{XMM-Newton} observations, these detections would extend reported UFI candidates from the local Universe to cosmic noon, offering a rare laboratory for black hole accretion at the peak of their growth.
ER -