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We present the results of an optical spectroscopic monitoring program targeting NGC 5548 as part of a larger multiwavelength reverberation mapping campaign. The campaign spanned 6 months and achieved an almost daily cadence with observations from five ground-based telescopes. The Hβ and He ii λ4686 broad emission-line light curves lag that of the 5100 +-optical continuum by 4.17+0.36-0.36 and 0.79+0.35-0.34 days, respectively. The Hβ lag relative to the 1158 ultraviolet continuum light curve measured by the Hubble Space Telescope is ∼50% longer than that measured against the optical continuum, and the lag difference is consistent with the observed lag between the optical and ultraviolet continua. This suggests that the characteristic radius of the broad-line region is ∼50% larger than the value inferred from optical data alone. We also measured velocity-resolved emission-line lags for Hβ and found a complex velocity-lag structure with shorter lags in the line wings, indicative of a broad-line region dominated by Keplerian motion. The responses of both the Hβ and He ii emission lines to the driving continuum changed significantly halfway through the campaign, a phenomenon also observed for C iv, Lyα, He ii(+O iii]), and Si iv(+O iv]) during the same monitoring period. Finally, given the optical luminosity of NGC 5548 during our campaign, the measured Hβ lag is a factor of five shorter than the expected value implied by the R BLR-L AGN relation based on the past behavior of NGC 5548.

Quasar-driven outflows on galactic scales are a routinely invoked ingredient for galaxy formation models. We report the discovery of ionized gas nebulae surrounding three luminous red quasars at z ~ 0.4 from Gemini integral field unit observations. All these nebulae feature unprecedented pairs of "superbubbles" extending ~20 kpc in diameter, and the line-of-sight velocity difference between the red- and blueshifted bubbles reaches up to ~1200 km/s. Their spectacular dual-bubble morphology (in analogy to the galactic "Fermi bubbles") and their kinematics provide unambiguous evidence for galaxy-wide quasar-driven outflows, in parallel with the quasi-spherical outflows similar in size from luminous type 1 and type 2 quasars at concordant redshift. These bubble pairs manifest themselves as a signpost of the short-lived superbubble "break-out" phase, when the quasar wind drives the bubbles to escape the confinement from the dense environment and plunge into the galactic halo with a high-velocity expansion.

Ultraluminous infrared galaxies are among the most luminous objects in the local Universe and are thought to be powered by intense star formation. It has been shown that in these objects the rotational spectral lines of molecular hydrogen observed at mid-infrared wavelengths are not affected by dust obscuration, but left unresolved was the source of excitation for this emission. Here I report an analysis of archival Spitzer Space Telescope data on ultraluminous infrared galaxies and demonstrate that dust obscuration affects star formation indicators but not molecular hydrogen. I thereby establish that the emission of H(2) is not co-spatial with the buried starburst activity and originates outside the obscured regions. This is unexpected in light of the standard view that H(2) emission is directly associated with star-formation activity. I propose the alternative view that H(2) emission in these objects traces shocks in the surrounding material that are excited by interactions with nearby galaxies. Large-scale shocks cooling by means of H(2) emission may accordingly be more common than previously thought. In the early Universe, a boost in H(2) emission by this process may have accelerated the cooling of matter as it collapsed to form the first stars and galaxies, and would make these first structures more readily observable.