No Arabic abstract
We have used the Taurus Tunable Filter to search for Lyman alpha emitters in the fields of three high redshift quasar fields: two at z~2.2 (MRC B1256-243 and MRC B2158-206) and one at z~4.5 (BR B0019-1522). Our observations had a field of view of around 35 square arcminutes, and reached AB magnitudes of magnitudes of ~21 (MRC B1256-243), ~22 (MRC B2158-206), and ~22.6 (BR B0019-1522), dependent on wavelength. We have identified candidate emission line galaxies in all three of the fields, with the higher redshift field being by far the richest. By combining our observations with simulations of the instrumental response, we estimate the total density of emission line galaxies in each field. Seventeen candidate emission line galaxies were found in within 1.5 Mpc of BR0019-1522, a number density of 4.9 +/- 1.2 x 10^-3 Mpc^-3, suggesting a significant galaxy overdensity at z~4.5.
We have scanned the fields of six radio-loud quasars using the Taurus Tunable Filter to detect redshifted [OII] 3727 line-emitting galaxies at redshifts 0.8 < z < 1.3. Forty-seven new emission-line galaxy (ELG) candidates are found. This number corresponds to an average space density about 100 times that found locally and, at L([OII]) < 10^{42} erg s^{-1} cm^{-2}, is 2 - 5 times greater than the field ELG density at similar redshifts, implying that radio-loud quasars inhabit sites of above-average star formation activity. The implied star-formation rates are consistent with surveys of field galaxies at z ~ 1. However, the variation in candidate density between fields is large and indicative of a range of environments, from the field to rich clusters. The ELG candidates also cluster -- both spatially and in terms of velocity -- about the radio sources. In fields known to contain rich galaxy clusters, the ELGs lie at the edges and outside the concentrated cores of red, evolved galaxies, consistent with the morphology-density relation seen in low-redshift clusters. This work, combined with other studies, suggests that the ELG environments of powerful AGN look very much the same from moderate to high redshifts, i.e. 0.8 < z < 4.
We present the discovery of the first high redshift (z > 5.7) quasar from the Panoramic Survey Telescope and Rapid Response System 1 (Pan-STARRS1 or PS1). This quasar was initially detected as an i dropoutout in PS1, confirmed photometrically with the SAO Widefield InfraRed Camera (SWIRC) at Arizonas Multiple Mirror Telescope (MMT) and the Gamma-Ray Burst Optical/Near-Infrared Detector (GROND) at the MPG 2.2 m telescope in La Silla. The quasar was verified spectroscopically with the the MMT Spectrograph, Red Channel and the Cassegrain Twin Spectrograph (TWIN) at the Calar Alto 3.5 m telescope. It has a redshift of 5.73, an AB z magnitude of 19.4, a luminosity of 3.8 x 10^47 erg/s and a black hole mass of 6.9 x 10^9 solar masses. It is a Broad Absorption Line quasar with a prominent Ly-beta peak and a very blue continuum spectrum. This quasar is the first result from the PS1 high redshift quasar search that is projected to discover more than a hundred i dropout quasars, and could potentially find more than 10 z dropout (z > 6.8) quasars.
We trace the cosmic web at redshifts 1.0 <= z <= 1.8 using the quasar data from the SDSS DR7 QSO catalogue (Schneider et al. 2010). We apply a friend-of-friend (FoF) algorithm to the quasar and random catalogues to determine systems at a series of linking lengths, and analyse richness and sizes of these systems. At the linking lengths l <= 30 Mpc/h the number of quasar systems is larger than the number of systems detected in random catalogues, and systems themselves have smaller diameters than random systems. The diameters of quasar systems are comparable to the sizes of poor galaxy superclusters in the local Universe, the richest quasar systems have four members. The mean space density of quasar systems is close to the mean space density of local rich superclusters. At intermediate linking lengths (40 <= l <= 70 Mpc/h) the richness and length of quasar systems are similar to those derived from random catalogues. Quasar system diameters are similar to the sizes of rich superclusters and supercluster chains in the local Universe. At the linking length 70 Mpc/h the richest systems of quasars have diameters exceeding 500 Mpc/h. The percolating system which penetrate the whole sample volume appears in quasar sample at smaller linking length than in random samples (85 Mpc/h). Quasar luminosities in systems are not correlated with the system richness. Quasar system catalogues at our web pages http://www.aai.ee/~maret/QSOsystems.html serve as a database to search for superclusters of galaxies and to trace the cosmic web at high redshifts.
Most galaxy evolutionary models require quasar feedback to regulate star formation in their host galaxies. In particular, at high redshift, models expect that feedback associated with quasar-driven outflows is so efficient that the gas in the host galaxy is largely swept away or heated up, hence suppressing star formation in massive galaxies. We observationally investigate this phenomenon by using VLT-SINFONI integral field spectroscopy of the luminous quasar 2QZJ002830.4-281706 at z=2.4. The spectra sample the optical emission lines redshifted into the near-IR. The [OIII]5007 emission-line kinematics map reveals a massive outflow on scales of several kpc. The detection of narrow Halpha emission reveals star formation in the quasar host galaxy, with SFR=100 Msun/yr. However, the star formation is not distributed uniformly, but is strongly suppressed in the region with the highest outflow velocity and highest velocity dispersion. This result indicates that star formation in this region is strongly quenched by the quasar outflow, which is cleaning the galaxy disk of its molecular gas. This is one of the first direct observational proofs of quasar feedback quenching the star formation at high redshift.
We present photometry of the large scale environments of a sample of twelve broad line AGN with $0.06 < z < 0.37$ from deep images in the SDSS $u$, $g$, $r$, and $i$ filters taken with the 90Prime prime focus camera on the Steward Observatory Bok Telescope. We measure galaxy clustering around these AGN using two standard techniques: correlation amplitude (B$_{gq}$) and the two point correlation function. We find average correlation amplitudes for the 10 radio quiet objects in the sample equal to (9$pm$18, 144$pm$114, -39$pm$56, 295$pm$260) Mpc$^{1.77}$ in ($u$, $g$, $r$, $i$), all consistent with the expectation from galaxy clustering. Using a ratio of the galaxy-quasar cross-correlation function to the galaxy autocorrelation function, we calculate the relative bias of galaxies and AGN, $b_{gq}$. The bias in the $u$ band, $b_{gq}=3.08pm0.51$ is larger compared to that calculated in the other bands, but it does not correlate with AGN luminosity, black hole mass, or AGN activity via the luminosity of the [OIII] emission line. Thus ongoing nuclear accretion activity is not reflected in the large scale environments from $sim$10 h$^{-1}$ kpc to $sim$0.5 h$^{-1}$ Mpc and may indicate a non-merger mode of AGN activity and/or a significant delay between galaxy mergers and nuclear activity in this sample of mostly radio quiet quasars.