No Arabic abstract
The intergalactic medium (IGM) at $zsim$ 5 to 6 is largely ionized, and yet the main source for the IGM ionization in the early universe is uncertain. Of the possible contributors are faint quasars with $-26 lesssim M_{rm 1450} lesssim -23$, but their number density is poorly constrained at $zsim5$. In this paper, we present our survey of faint quasars at $zsim5$ in the European Large-Area {it ISO} Survey-North 1 (ELAIS-N1) field over a survey area of 6.51 deg$^2$ and examine if such quasars can be the dominant source of the IGM ionization. We use the deep optical/near-infrared data of the ELAIS-N1 field as well as the additional medium-band observations to find $z sim 5$ quasars through a two-step approach using the broadband color selection, and SED fitting with the medium-band information included. Adopting Bayesian information criterion, we identify ten promising quasar candidates. Spectra of three of the candidates are obtained, confirming all of them to be quasars at $zsim5$ and supporting the reliability of the quasar selection. Using the promising candidates, we derive the $zsim5$ quasar luminosity function at $-26 lesssim M_{rm 1450} lesssim -23$. The number density of faint $zsim5$ quasars in the ELAIS-N1 field is consistent with several previous results that quasars are not the main contributors to the IGM-ionizing photons at $zsim5$
The LOFAR Two-metre Sky Survey (LoTSS) will cover the full northern sky and, additionally, aims to observe the LoTSS deep fields to a noise level of ~10 microJy/bm over several tens of square degrees in areas that have the most extensive ancillary data. This paper presents the ELAIS-N1 deep field, the deepest of the LoTSS deep fields to date. With an effective observing time of 163.7 hours, it reaches a root mean square (RMS) noise level below 20 microJy/bm in the central region (and below 30 microJy/bm over 10 square degrees). The resolution is 6 arcsecs and 84862 radio sources were detected in the full area (68 sq. deg.) with 74127 sources in the highest quality area at less than 3 degrees from the pointing centre. The observation reaches a sky density of more than 5000 sources per sq. deg. in the central ~5 sq. deg. region. We present the calibration procedure, which addresses the special configuration of some observations and the extended bandwidth covered (115 to 177 MHz; central frequency 146.2 MHz) compared to standard LoTSS. We also describe the methods used to calibrate the flux density scale using cross-matching with sources detected by other radio surveys in the literature. We find the flux density uncertainty related to the flux density scale to be ~6.5%. By studying the variations of the flux density measurements between different epochs, we show that relative flux density calibration is reliable out to about a 3 degree radius, but that additional flux density uncertainty is present for all sources at about the 3 per cent level; this is likely to be associated with residual calibration errors, and is shown to be more significant in datasets with poorer ionosphere conditions. We also provide intra-band spectral indices, which can be useful to detect sources with unusual spectral properties. The final uncertainty in the flux densities is estimated to be ~10% for ELAIS-N1.
Multiple color selection techniques have been successful in identifying quasars from wide-field broad-band imaging survey data. Among the quasars that have been discovered so far, however, there is a redshift gap at $5 lesssim {rm z} lesssim 5.7$ due to the limitations of filter sets in previous studies. In this work, we present a new selection technique of high redshift quasars using a sequence of medium-band filters: nine filters with central wavelengths from 625 to 1025 nm and bandwidths of 50 nm. Photometry with these medium-bands traces the spectral energy distribution (SED) of a source, similar to spectroscopy with resolution R $sim$ 15. By conducting medium-band observations of high redshift quasars at 4.7 $leq$ z $leq$ 6.0 and brown dwarfs (the main contaminants in high redshift quasar selection) using the SED camera for QUasars in EArly uNiverse (SQUEAN) on the 2.1-m telescope at the McDonald Observatory, we show that these medium-band filters are superior to multi-color broad-band color section in separating high redshift quasars from brown dwarfs. In addition, we show that redshifts of high redshift quasars can be determined to an accuracy of $Delta{rm z}/(1+{rm z}) = 0.002$ -- $0.026$. The selection technique can be extended to z $sim$ 7, suggesting that the medium-band observation can be powerful in identifying quasars even at the re-ionization epoch.
We present the quasar luminosity function at $z sim 5$ derived from the optical wide-field survey data obtained as a part of the Subaru strategic program (SSP) with Hyper Suprime-Cam (HSC). From $sim$81.8 deg$^2$ area in the Wide layer of the HSC-SSP survey, we selected 224 candidates of low-luminosity quasars at $z sim 5$ by adopting the Lyman-break method down to $i = 24.1$ mag. Based on our candidates and spectroscopically-confirmed quasars from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS), we derived the quasar luminosity function at $z sim 5$ covering a wide luminosity range of $-28.76 < M_{rm 1450} < -22.32$ mag. We found that the quasar luminosity function is fitted by a double power-law model with a break magnitude of $M^{*}_{1450} = -25.05^{+0.10}_{-0.24}$ mag. The inferred number density of low-luminosity quasars is lower, and the derived faint-end slope, $-1.22^{+0.03}_{-0.10}$, is flatter than those of previous studies at $z sim 5$. A compilation of the quasar luminosity function at $4 leq z leq 6$ from the HSC-SSP suggests that there is little redshift evolution in the break magnitude and in the faint-end slope within this redshift range, although previous studies suggest that the faint-end slope becomes steeper at higher redshifts. The number density of low-luminosity quasars decreases more rapidly from $z sim 5$ to $z sim 6$ than from $z sim 4$ to $z sim 5$.
In this paper we present a wide-area 610 MHz survey of the ELAIS,N1 field with the GMRT, covering an area of 12.8 deg$^2$ at a resolution of 6 arcsec and with an rms noise of $sim 40$ $mu$Jy beam$^{-1}$. This is equivalent to $sim 20$ $mu$Jy beam$^{-1}$ rms noise at 1.4 GHz for a spectral index of $-0.75$. The primary goal of the survey was to study the polarised sky at sub-mJy flux densities at $<$ GHz frequencies. In addition, a range of other science goals, such as investigations in to the nature of the low-frequency $mu$Jy source populations and alignments of radio jets. A total of 6,400 sources were found in this region, the vast majority of them compact. The sample jointly detected by GMRT at 610 MHz and by VLA FIRST at 1.4,GHz has a median spectral index of $-0.85 pm 0.05$ and a median 610 MHz flux density of 4.5 mJy. This region has a wealth of ancillary data which is useful to characterize the detected sources. The multi-wavelength cross matching resulted optical/IR counterparts to $sim 90$ per~cent of the radio sources, with a significant fraction having at least photometric redshift. Due to the improved sensitivity of this survey over preceding ones, we have discovered six giant radio sources (GRS), with three of them at $z sim 1$ or higher. This implies that the population of GRS may be more abundant and common than known to date and if true this has implications for the luminosity function and the evolution of radio sources. We have also identified several candidate extended relic sources.
We report the discovery of a remnant radio AGN J1615+5452 in the field of ELAIS-N1. GMRT continuum observations at 150, 325 and 610 MHz combined with archival data from the 1.4 GHz NVSS survey were used to derive the radio spectrum of the source. At a redshift $z sim$ 0.33, J1615+5452 has a linear size of $sim$ 100 kpc and spectral indices ranging between $alpha^{1400}_{610} < -1.5$ and $alpha^{325}_{150} = -0.61 pm 0.12$. While the source has a diffuse radio emission at low frequencies, we do not find evidence of core, jets or hotspots in the 1.4,GHz VLA data of $sim 5$ arcsec angular resolution. Such morphological properties coupled with a curved radio spectrum suggest that the AGN fueling mechanisms undergo a shortage of energy supply which is typical of a dying radio AGN. This is consistent with the observed steep curvature in the spectrum $Deltaalpha approx -1$, the estimated synchrotron age of $t_{rm s}=76.0^{+7.4}_{-8.7}$ Myr and a $t_{rm off}/t_{rm s}$ ratio of $sim 0.3$.