Gaia-supported re-discovery of a remarkable weak line quasar from a variability and proper motion survey

We demonstrate that VPMS J170850.95+433223.7 is a weak line quasar (WLQ) which is remarkable in several respects. It was already classified as a probable quasar two decades ago, but with considerable uncertainty. The non-significant proper motion and parallax from the Gaia Early Data Release 3 have solidified this assumption. Based on previously unpublished spectra, we show that VPMS J170850.95+433223.7 is a WLQ at z = 2.345 with immeasurably faint broad emission lines in the rest-frame ultraviolet. A preliminary estimate suggests that it hosts a supermassive black hole of ∼10⁹ M_⊙ accreting close to the Eddington limit, perhaps at the super-Eddington level. We identify two absorber systems with blueward velocity offsets of 0.05c and 0.1c, which could represent high-velocity outflows, which are perhaps related to the high accretion state of the quasar.

Based on observations with the 2.2 m telescope of the German-Spanish Astronomical Center, Calar Alto, jointly operated by the Max-Planck-Institut für Astronomie Heidelberg and the Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía (CSIC).