First reverberation mapping of a Bowen fluorescence line

Context. Reverberation mapping (RM) is a powerful tool to determine the extent, structure, and kinematics of the broad-line region (BLR) of active galactic nuclei (AGNs). So far, RM of the BLR has only been performed for recombination lines responding to the varying ionizing continuum.

Aims. We tested whether O I λ8446, attributed to Bowen fluorescence driven by Lyβ pumping, varied on short (day- to week-long) timescales during a 2016 Hubble Space Telescope/Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph (HST/STIS) campaign of NGC 4593, and examined how it relates to other emission lines and the ionizing UV continuum.

Methods. We quantified the variability of O I λ8446 by its root-mean-square (rms) amplitude. We then extracted integrated light curves of O I λ8446 and other UV and optical emission lines, and compared them with each other and the UV continuum light curve using correlation analyses. In addition, we used archival near-infrared spectra to assess the dominant excitation mechanism of O I λ8446.

Results. We detect, for the first time, variability in O I λ8446 on day timescales. The fractional rms amplitude is ∼4% over the 4-week campaign. The O I λ8446 light curve reverberates with a delay of ∼2.5 days relative to Lyα, used as a proxy for Lyβ, detected at a false-alarm probability of 0.6% (significance of ∼2.8σ) under our adopted null hypothesis. It closely tracks Hα with only a minor additional delay of ∼0.3 days, placing its emission region at essentially the same distance as the Balmer-line weighted BLR. Line ratios indicate that Lyβ pumping is the dominant excitation mechanism for O I λ8446.

Conclusions. Our results establish O I λ8446 as the first Bowen fluorescence line to be reverberation-mapped, responding directly to variations in the Lyβ flux. We propose that in future campaigns targeting AGNs with larger BLRs, O I could enable dual-driver RM using both the continuum and the pumping line as drivers.