No Arabic abstract
We report the discovery of a luminous quasar, J1007+2115 at $z=7.515$ (P={o}niu={a}ena), from our wide-field reionization-era quasar survey. J1007+2115 is the second quasar now known at $z>7.5$, deep into the reionization epoch. The quasar is powered by a $(1.5pm0.2)times10^9$ $M_{odot}$ supermassive black hole (SMBH), based on its broad MgII emission-line profile from Gemini and Keck near-IR spectroscopy. The SMBH in J1007+2115 is twice as massive as that in quasar J1342+0928 at $z=7.54$, the current quasar redshift record holder. The existence of such a massive SMBH just 700 million years after the Big Bang significantly challenges models of the earliest SMBH growth. Model assumptions of Eddington-limited accretion and a radiative efficiency of 0.1 require a seed black hole of $gtrsim 10^{4}$ $M_{odot}$ at $z=30$. This requirement suggests either a massive black hole seed as a result of direct collapse or earlier periods of rapid black hole growth with hyper-Eddington accretion and/or a low radiative efficiency. We measure the damping wing signature imprinted by neutral hydrogen absorption in the intergalactic medium (IGM) on J1007+2115s Ly$alpha$ line profile, and find that it is weaker than that of J1342+0928 and two other $zgtrsim7$ quasars. We estimate an IGM volume-averaged neutral fraction $langle xrm_{HI}rangle=0.39^{+0.22}_{-0.13}$. This range of values suggests a patchy reionization history toward different IGM sightlines. We detect the 158 $mu$m [C II] emission line in J1007+2115 with ALMA; this line centroid yields a systemic redshift of $z=7.5149pm0.0004$ and indicates a star formation rate of $sim210$ $M_{odot}$ yr$^{-1}$ in its host galaxy.
We report the discovery of an ultra-luminous quasar J030642.51+185315.8 (hereafter J0306+1853) at redshift 5.363, which hosts a super-massive black hole (SMBH) with $M_{BH} = (1.07 pm 0.27) times10^{10}~M_odot$. With an absolute magnitude $M_{1450}=-28.92$ and bolometric luminosity $L_{bol}sim3.4times10^{14} L_{odot}$, J0306+1853 is one of the most luminous objects in the early Universe. It is not likely to be a beamed source based on its small flux variability, low radio loudness and normal broad emission lines. In addition, a $z=4.986$ Damped Ly$alpha$ system (DLA) with $rm [M/H]=-1.3pm0.1$, among the most metal rich DLAs at $z gtrsim 5$, is detected in the absorption spectrum of this quasar. This ultra-luminous quasar puts strong constraint on the bright-end of quasar luminosity function and massive-end of black hole mass function. It will provide a unique laboratory to the study of BH growth and the co-evolution between BH and host galaxy with multi-wavelength follow-up observations. The future high resolution spectra will give more insights to the DLA and other absorption systems along the line-of-sight of J0306+1853.
From near-infrared spectroscopic measurements of the MgII emission line doublet, we estimate the black hole (BH) mass of the quasar, SMSS J215728.21-360215.1, as being (3.4 +/- 0.6) x 10^10 M_sun and refine the redshift of the quasar to be z=4.692. SMSS J2157 is the most luminous known quasar, with a 3000A luminosity of (4.7 +/- 0.5) x 10^47 erg/s and an estimated bolometric luminosity of 1.6 x 10^48 erg/s, yet its Eddington ratio is only ~0.4. Thus, the high luminosity of this quasar is a consequence of its extremely large BH -- one of the most massive BHs at z > 4.
The most distant known quasar recently discovered by Ba~nados et al. (2018) is at $z=7.5$ (690 Myr after the Big Bang), at the dawn of galaxy formation. We explore the host galaxy of the brightest quasar in the large volume cosmological hydrodynamic simulation BlueTides, which in Phase II has reached these redshifts. The brightest quasar in BlueTides has a luminosity of a $sim$ few $10^{13} L_{odot}$ and a black hole mass of $6.4 times 10^{8} M_{odot}$ at $z sim 7.5$, comparable to the observed quasar (the only one in this large volume). The quasar resides in a rare halo of mass $M_{H} sim 10^{12} M_{odot}$ and has a host galaxy of stellar mass of $4 times 10^{10}M_{odot}$ with an ongoing (intrinsic) star formation rate of $sim 80 M_{odot} yr^{-1}$. The corresponding intrinsic UV magnitude of the galaxy is $-23.1$, which is roughly $2.7$ magnitudes fainter than the quasars magnitude of $-25.9$. We find that the galaxy is highly metal enriched with a mean metallicity equal to the solar value. We derive quasar and galaxy spectral energy distribution (SED) in the mid and near infrared JWST bands. We predict a significant amount of dust attenuation in the rest-frame UV corresponding to $A_{1500} sim 1.7$ giving an UV based SFR of $sim 14 M_{odot} yr^{-1}$. We present mock JWST images of the galaxy with and without central point source, in different MIRI and NIRCam filters. The host galaxy is detectable in NIRCam filters, but it is extremely compact ($R_{E}=0.35$ kpc). It will require JWSTs exquisite sensitivity and resolution to separate the galaxy from the central point source. Finally within the FOV of the quasar in BlueTides there are two more sources that would be detectable by JWST.
Quasars are the most luminous non-transient objects known and as a result they enable studies of the Universe at the earliest cosmic epochs. Despite extensive efforts, however, the quasar ULAS J1120+0641 at z=7.09 has remained the only one known at z>7 for more than half a decade. Here we report observations of the quasar ULAS J134208.10+092838.61 (hereafter J1342+0928) at redshift z=7.54. This quasar has a bolometric luminosity of 4e13 times the luminosity of the Sun and a black hole mass of 8e8 solar masses. The existence of this supermassive black hole when the Universe was only 690 million years old---just five percent of its current age---reinforces models of early black-hole growth that allow black holes with initial masses of more than about 1e4 solar masses or episodic hyper-Eddington accretion. We see strong evidence of absorption of the spectrum of the quasar redwards of the Lyman alpha emission line (the Gunn-Peterson damping wing), as would be expected if a significant amount (more than 10 per cent) of the hydrogen in the intergalactic medium surrounding J1342+0928 is neutral. We derive a significant fraction of neutral hydrogen, although the exact fraction depends on the modelling. However, even in our most conservative analysis we find a fraction of more than 0.33 (0.11) at 68 per cent (95 per cent) probability, indicating that we are probing well within the reionization epoch of the Universe.
The radio-loud quasar SDSS J013127.34-032100.1at a redshift z=5.18 is one of the most distant radio-loud objects. The radio to optical flux ratio (i.e. the radio-loudness) of the source is large, making it a promising blazar candidate. Its overall spectral energy distribution, completed by the X-ray flux and spectral slope derived through Target of Opportunity Swift/XRT observations, is interpreted by a non-thermal jet plus an accretion disc and molecular torus model. We estimate that its black hole mass is (1.1+-0.2)1e10 Msun. for an accretion efficiency eta=0.08, scaling roughly linearly with eta. Although there is a factor ~2 of systematic uncertainty, this black hole mass is the largest found at these redshifts in a radio loud object. We derive a viewing angle between 3 and 5 degrees. This implies that there must be other (hundreds) sources with the same black hole mass of SDSS J013127.34-032100.1, but whose jets are pointing away from Earth. We discuss the problems posed by the existence of such large black hole masses at such redshifts, especially in jetted quasars. In fact, if they are associated to rapidly spinning black holes, the accretion efficiency is high, implying a slower pace of black hole growth with respect to radio-quiet quasars.