arXiv subjects

Michael A. Strauss

Publications and source records attributed to Michael A. Strauss.

At least 55 records · Page 3Linked to original sources

arXiv2023

A SPectroscopic survey of biased halos In the Reionization Era (ASPIRE): A First Look at the Rest-frame Optical Spectra of $z > 6.5$ Quasars Using JWST

Studies of rest-frame optical emission in quasars at $z>6$ have historically been limited by the wavelengths accessible by ground-based telescopes. The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) now offers the opportunity to probe this emission deep into the reionization epoch. We report the observations of eight quasars at $z>6.5$ using the JWST/NIRCam Wide Field Slitless Spectroscopy, as a part of the ''A SPectroscopic survey of biased halos In the Reionization Era (ASPIRE)" program. Our JWST spectra cover the quasars' emission between rest frame $\sim$ 4100 and 5100 Å. The profiles of these quasars' broad H$β$ emission lines span a FWHM from 3000 to 6000 $\rm{km~s^{-1}}$. The H$β$-based virial black hole (BH) masses, ranging from 0.6 to 2.1 billion solar masses, are generally consistent with their MgII-based BH masses. The new measurements based on the more reliable H$β$ tracer thus confirm the existence of billion solar-mass BHs in the reionization epoch. In the observed [OIII] $λλ$4960,5008 doublets of these luminous quasars, broad components are more common than narrow core components ($\le~1200~\rm{km~s^{-1}}$), and only one quasar shows stronger narrow components than broad. Two quasars exhibit significantly broad and blueshifted [OIII] emission, thought to trace galactic-scale outflows, with median velocities of $-610~\rm{km~s^{-1}}$ and $-1430~\rm{km~s^{-1}}$ relative to the [CII] $158\,μ$m line. All eight quasars show strong optical FeII emission, and follow the Eigenvector 1 relations defined by low-redshift quasars. The entire ASPIRE program will eventually cover 25 quasars and provide a statistical sample for the studies of the BHs and quasar spectral properties.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2023

A SPectroscopic survey of biased halos In the Reionization Era (ASPIRE): JWST Reveals a Filamentary Structure around a z=6.61 Quasar

We present the first results from the JWST ASPIRE program (A SPectroscopic survey of biased halos In the Reionization Era). This program represents an imaging and spectroscopic survey of 25 reionization-era quasars and their environments by utilizing the unprecedented capabilities of NIRCam Wide Field Slitless Spectroscopy (WFSS) mode. ASPIRE will deliver the largest ($\sim280~{\rm arcmin}^2$) galaxy redshift survey at 3-4 $μ$m among JWST Cycle-1 programs and provide extensive legacy values for studying the formation of the earliest supermassive black holes (SMBHs), the assembly of galaxies, early metal enrichment, and cosmic reionization. In this first ASPIRE paper, we report the discovery of a filamentary structure traced by the luminous quasar J0305-3150 and ten [OIII] emitters at $z=6.6$. This structure has a 3D galaxy overdensity of $δ_{\rm gal}=12.6$ over 637 cMpc$^3$, one of the most overdense structures known in the early universe, and could eventually evolve into a massive galaxy cluster. Together with existing VLT/MUSE and ALMA observations of this field, our JWST observations reveal that J0305-3150 traces a complex environment where both UV-bright and dusty galaxies are present, and indicate that the early evolution of galaxies around the quasar is not simultaneous. In addition, we discovered 31 [OIII] emitters in this field at other redshifts, $5.3<z<6.7$, with half of them situated at $z\sim5.4$ and $z\sim6.2$. This indicates that star-forming galaxies, such as [OIII] emitters, are generally clustered at high redshifts. These discoveries demonstrate the unparalleled redshift survey capabilities of NIRCam WFSS and the potential of the full ASPIRE survey dataset.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2023

Shedding New Light on Weak Emission-Line Quasars in the C$_{\rm IV}$-H$β$ Parameter Space

Weak emission-line quasars (WLQs) are a subset of Type 1 quasars that exhibit extremely weak Ly$α+$N V $λ$1240 and/or C IV $λ$1549 emission lines. We investigate the relationship between emission-line properties and accretion rate for a sample of 230 `ordinary' Type 1 quasars and 18 WLQs at $z < 0.5$ and $1.5 < z < 3.5$ that have rest-frame ultraviolet and optical spectral measurements. We apply a correction to the H$β$-based black-hole mass ($M_{\rm BH}$) estimates of these quasars using the strength of the optical Fe II emission. We confirm previous findings that WLQs' $M_{\rm BH}$ values are overestimated by up to an order of magnitude using the traditional broad emission-line region size-luminosity relation. With this $M_{\rm BH}$ correction, we find a significant correlation between H$β$-based Eddington luminosity ratios and a combination of the rest-frame C IV equivalent width and C IV blueshift with respect to the systemic redshift. This correlation holds for both ordinary quasars and WLQs, which suggests that the two-dimensional C IV parameter space can serve as an indicator of accretion rate in all Type 1 quasars across a wide range of spectral properties.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2023

Hyper Suprime-Cam Year 3 Results: Cosmology from Galaxy Clustering and Weak Lensing with HSC and SDSS using the Emulator Based Halo Model

We present cosmology results from a blinded joint analysis of cosmic shear, $ξ_{\pm}(\vartheta)$, galaxy-galaxy weak lensing, $Δ\!Σ(R)$, and projected galaxy clustering, $w_{\rm p}(R)$, measured from the Hyper Suprime-Cam three-year (HSC-Y3) shape catalog and the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) DR11 spectroscopic galaxy catalog - a 3$\times$2pt cosmology analysis. We define luminosity-cut samples of SDSS galaxies to serve as the tracers of $w_{\rm p}$ and as the lens samples for $Δ\!Σ$ in three spectroscopic redshift bins spanning the range $0.15<z<0.7$. For the $ξ_{\pm}$ and $Δ\!Σ$ measurements, we use a single source sample over 416 deg$^2$, selected from HSC-Y3 based on having photometric redshifts (photo-$z$) greater than 0.75. For cosmological parameter inference, we use Dark Emulator combined with a halo occupation distribution prescription to model $w_{\rm p}$ and $Δ\!Σ$ down to quasi-nonlinear scales. In our baseline analysis we employ an uninformative flat prior of the residual photo-$z$ error to model a residual bias in the mean redshift of HSC source galaxies. We obtain a robust constraint on the cosmological parameters for the flat $Λ$CDM model: $S_8=σ_8(Ω_{\rm m}/0.3)^{0.5}=0.763^{+0.040}_{-0.036}$ (68% C.I.), or the best-constrained parameter given by $S'_8=σ_8(Ω_{\rm m}/0.3)^{0.22}=0.721\pm 0.028$, determined with about 4% fractional precision. Our HSC-Y3 data exhibits about 2.5$σ$ tension with the Planck inferred $S_8$ value for the $Λ$CDM model, and hints at a non-zero residual photo-$z$ bias implying that the true mean redshift of the HSC galaxies at $z\gtrsim 0.75$ is higher than that implied by the original photo-$z$ estimates.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2023

Hyper Suprime-Cam Year 3 Results: Cosmology from Cosmic Shear Power Spectra

We measure weak lensing cosmic shear power spectra from the three-year galaxy shear catalog of the Hyper Suprime-Cam (HSC) Subaru Strategic Program imaging survey. The shear catalog covers $416 \ \mathrm{deg}^2$ of the northern sky, with a mean $i$-band seeing of 0.59 arcsec and an effective galaxy number density of 15 $\mathrm{arcmin}^{-2}$ within our adopted redshift range. With an $i$-band magnitude limit of 24.5 mag, and four tomographic redshift bins spanning $0.3 \leq z_{\mathrm{ph}} \leq 1.5$ based on photometric redshifts, we obtain a high-significance measurement of the cosmic shear power spectra, with a signal-to-noise ratio of approximately 26.4 in the multipole range $300<\ell<1800$. The accuracy of our power spectrum measurement is tested against realistic mock shear catalogs, and we use these catalogs to get a reliable measurement of the covariance of the power spectrum measurements. We use a robust blinding procedure to avoid confirmation bias, and model various uncertainties and sources of bias in our analysis, including point spread function systematics, redshift distribution uncertainties, the intrinsic alignment of galaxies and the modeling of the matter power spectrum. For a flat $Λ$CDM model, we find $S_8 \equiv σ_8 (Ω_m/0.3)^{0.5} =0.776^{+0.032}_{-0.033}$, which is in excellent agreement with the constraints from the other HSC Year 3 cosmology analyses, as well as those from a number of other cosmic shear experiments. This result implies a $\sim$$2σ$-level tension with the Planck 2018 cosmology. We study the effect that various systematic errors and modeling choices could have on this value, and find that they can shift the best-fit value of $S_8$ by no more than $\sim$$0.5σ$, indicating that our result is robust to such systematics.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2023

A comprehensive view of the interstellar medium in a quasar host galaxy at z~6.4

Characterizing the physical conditions (density, temperature, ionization state, metallicity, etc) of the interstellar medium is critical to our understanding of the formation and evolution of galaxies. Here we present a multi-line study of the interstellar medium in the host galaxy of a quasar at z~6.4, i.e., when the universe was 840 Myr old. This galaxy is one of the most active and massive objects emerging from the dark ages, and therefore represents a benchmark for models of the early formation of massive galaxies. We used the Atacama Large Millimeter Array to target an ensemble of tracers of ionized, neutral, and molecular gas, namely the fine-structure lines: [OIII] 88$μ$m, [NII] 122$μ$m, [CII] 158$μ$m, and [CI] 370$μ$m and the rotational transitions of CO(7-6), CO(15-14), CO(16-15), and CO(19-18); OH 163.1$μ$m and 163.4$μ$m; and H$_2$O 3(0,3)-2(1,2), 3(3,1)-4(0,4), 3(3,1)-3(2,2), 4(0,4)-3(1,3), 4(3,2)-4(2,3). All the targeted fine-structure lines are detected, as are half of the targeted molecular transitions. By combining the associated line luminosities, the constraints on the dust temperature from the underlying continuum emission, and predictions from photoionization models of the interstellar medium, we find that the ionized phase accounts for about one third of the total gaseous mass budget, and is responsible for half of the total [CII] emission. It is characterized by high density (n~180 cm$^{-3}$), typical of HII regions. The spectral energy distribution of the photoionizing radiation is comparable to that emitted by B-type stars. Star formation also appears to drive the excitation of the molecular medium. We find marginal evidence for outflow-related shocks in the dense molecular phase, but not in other gas phases. This study showcases the power of multi-line investigations in unveiling the properties of the star-forming medium in galaxies at cosmic dawn.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2022

The interstellar medium distribution, gas kinematics, and system dynamics of the far-infrared luminous quasar SDSS J2310+1855 at $z=6.0$

We present ALMA sub-kpc- to kpc-scale resolution observations of the [CII], CO(9-8), and OH$^{+}$\,($1_{1}$--$0_{1}$) lines along with their dust continuum emission toward the FIR luminous quasar SDSS J231038.88+185519.7 at $z = 6.0031$. The [CII] brightness follows a flat distribution with a Sersic index of 0.59. The CO(9-8) line and the dust continuum can be fit with an unresolved nuclear component and an extended Sersic component with a Sersic index of ~1. The dust temperature drops with distance from the center. The effective radius of the dust continuum is smaller than that of the line emission and the dust mass surface density, but is consistent with that of the star formation rate surface density. The OH$^{+}$\,($1_{1}$--$0_{1}$) line shows a P-Cygni profile with an absorption, which may indicate an outflow with a neutral gas mass of $(6.2\pm1.2)\times10^{8} M_{\odot}$ along the line of sight. We employed a 3D tilted ring model to fit the [CII] and CO(9-8) data cubes. The two lines are both rotation dominated and trace identical disk geometries and gas motions. We decompose the circular rotation curve measured from the kinematic model fit to the [CII] line into four matter components (black hole, stars, gas, and dark matter). The quasar-starburst system is dominated by baryonic matter inside the central few kiloparsecs. We constrain the black hole mass to be $2.97^{+0.51}_{-0.77}\times 10^{9}\,M_{\odot}$; this is the first time that the dynamical mass of a black hole has been measured at $z\sim6$. A massive stellar component (on the order of $10^{9}\,M_{\odot}$) may have already existed when the Universe was only ~0.93 Gyr old. The relations between the black hole mass and the baryonic mass of this quasar indicate that the central supermassive black hole may have formed before its host galaxy. [Abridged version. Please see the full abstract in the manuscript.]

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2022

The three-year shear catalog of the Subaru Hyper Suprime-Cam SSP Survey

We present the galaxy shear catalog that will be used for the three-year cosmological weak gravitational lensing analyses using data from the Wide layer of the Hyper Suprime-Cam (HSC) Subaru Strategic Program (SSP) Survey. The galaxy shapes are measured from the $i$-band imaging data acquired from 2014 to 2019 and calibrated with image simulations that resemble the observing conditions of the survey based on training galaxy images from the Hubble Space Telescope in the COSMOS region. The catalog covers an area of 433.48 deg$^2$ of the northern sky, split into six fields. The mean $i$-band seeing is 0.59 arcsec. With conservative galaxy selection criteria (e.g., $i$-band magnitude brighter than 24.5), the observed raw galaxy number density is 22.9 arcmin$^{-2}$, and the effective galaxy number density is 19.9 arcmin$^{-2}$. The calibration removes the galaxy property-dependent shear estimation bias to a level: $|δm|<9\times 10^{-3}$. The bias residual $δm$ shows no dependence on redshift in the range $0 1$ degree scales and will require mitigation during the inference of cosmological parameters using cosmic shear measurements.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2021

Cosmological inference from the emulator based halo model II: Joint analysis of galaxy-galaxy weak lensing and galaxy clustering from HSC-Y1 and SDSS

We present high-fidelity cosmology results from a blinded joint analysis of galaxy-galaxy weak lensing ($Δ\!Σ$) and projected galaxy clustering ($w_{\rm p}$) measured from the Hyper Suprime-Cam Year-1 (HSC-Y1) data and spectroscopic Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) galaxy catalogs in the redshift range $0.15<z<0.7$. We define luminosity-limited samples of SDSS galaxies to serve as the tracers of $w_{\rm p}$ in three spectroscopic redshift bins, and as the lens samples for $Δ\!Σ$. For the $Δ\!Σ$ measurements, we select a single sample of 4 million source galaxies over 140 deg$^2$ from HSC-Y1 with photometric redshifts (photo-$z$) greater than 0.75, enabling a better handle of photo-$z$ errors by comparing the $Δ\!Σ$ amplitudes for the three lens redshift bins. For cosmological parameter inference, we use an input galaxy-halo connection model built on the {\tt Dark Emulator} package with a halo occupation distribution that includes nuisance parameters to marginalize over modeling uncertainties. We model the $Δ\!Σ$ and $w_{\rm p}$ measurements on scales from $R\simeq 3$ and $2\,h^{-1}{\rm Mpc}$, respectively, up to $30\,h^{-1}{\rm Mpc}$ assuming a flat $Λ$CDM cosmology. With various tests using mock catalogs described in Miyatake et al. (2021), we show that any bias in the clustering amplitude $S_8\equiv σ_8(Ω_{\rm m}/0.3)^{0.5}$ due to uncertainties in the galaxy-halo connection is less than $\sim50$\% of the statistical uncertainty of $S_8$, {\it unless} the assembly bias effect is unexpectedly large. Our best-fit models have $S_8=0.795^{+0.049}_{-0.042}$ (mode and 68\% credible interval) for the flat $Λ$CDM model; we find tighter constraints on the quantity $S_8(α=0.17)\equivσ_8(Ω_{\rm m}/0.3)^{0.17} =0.745^{+0.039}_{-0.031}$. (abriged)

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2021

Subaru High-z Exploration of Low-Luminosity Quasars (SHELLQs). XVI. 69 New Quasars at 5.8 < z < 7.0

We present the spectroscopic discovery of 69 quasars at 5.8 < z < 7.0, drawn from the Hyper Suprime-Cam (HSC) Subaru Strategic Program (SSP) imaging survey data. This is the 16th publication from the Subaru High-z Exploration of Low-Luminosity Quasars (SHELLQs) project, and completes identification of all but the faintest candidates (i.e., i-band dropouts with zAB < 24 and y-band detections, and z-band dropouts with yAB < 24) with Bayesian quasar probability Pq > 0.1 in the HSC-SSP third public data release (PDR3). The sample reported here also includes three quasars with Pq < 0.1 at z ~ 6.6, which we selected in an effort to completely cover the reddest point sources with simple color cuts. The number of high-z quasars discovered in SHELLQs has now grown to 162, including 23 type-II quasar candidates. This paper also presents identification of seven galaxies at 5.6 < z < 6.7, an [O III] emitter at z = 0.954, and 31 Galactic cool stars and brown dwarfs. High-z quasars and galaxies comprise 75 % and 16 % respectively of all the spectroscopic SHELLQs objects that pass our latest selection algorithm with the PDR3 photometry. That is, a total of 91 % of the objects lie at z > 5.6. This demonstrates that the algorithm has very high efficiency, even though we are probing an unprecedentedly low-luminosity population down to M1450 ~ -21 mag.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2021

HSC Year 1 cosmology results with the minimal bias method: HSC$\times$BOSS galaxy-galaxy weak lensing and BOSS galaxy clustering

We present cosmological parameter constraints from a blinded joint analysis of galaxy-galaxy weak lensing, $Δ\!Σ(R)$, and projected correlation function, $w_\mathrm{p}(R)$, measured from the first-year HSC (HSC-Y1) data and SDSS spectroscopic galaxies over $0.15 0.75$ for the $Δ\!Σ$ measurements, selected based on their photometric redshifts. For theoretical template, we use the "minimal bias" model for the cosmological clustering observables for the flat $Λ$CDM cosmological model. We compare the model predictions with the measurements in each redshift bin on large scales, $R>12$ and $8~h^{-1}\mathrm{Mpc}$ for $Δ\!Σ(R)$ and $w_\mathrm{p}(R)$, respectively, where the perturbation theory-inspired model is valid. When we employ weak priors on cosmological parameters, without CMB information, we find $S_8=0.936^{+0.092}_{-0.086}$, $σ_8=0.85^{+0.16}_{-0.11}$, and $Ω_\mathrm{m}=0.283^{+0.12}_{-0.035}$ for the flat $Λ$CDM model. Although the central value of $S_8$ appears to be larger than those inferred from other cosmological experiments, we find that the difference is consistent with expected differences due to sample variance, and our results are consistent with the other results to within the statistical uncertainties. (abriged)

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2021

Synchronized Co-evolution between Supermassive Black Holes and Galaxies Over the Last Seven Billion Years as Revealed by the Hyper Suprime-Cam

We measure the evolution of the $M_{\rm BH}-M_*$ relation using 584 uniformly-selected SDSS quasars at $0.2<z<0.8$. The black-hole masses ($M_{\rm BH}$) are derived from the single-epoch virial mass estimator using the H$β$ emission line, and span the range $7.0<{\rm log}\,M_{\rm BH}/M_\odot<9.5$. The host-galaxy stellar masses ($M_*$), which cover the interval $10.0<{\rm log}\,M_* / M_\odot <11.5$, are determined by performing two-dimensional quasar-host decomposition of the Hyper Suprime-Cam images and spectral energy distribution fitting. To quantify sample-selection biases and measurement uncertainties on the mass terms, a mock quasar sample is constructed to jointly constrain the redshift evolution of the $M_{\rm BH}-M_*$ relation and its intrinsic scatter ($σ_μ$) through forward modeling. We find that the level of evolution is degenerate with $σ_μ$, such that both positive mild evolution (i.e, $M_{\rm BH}/M_*$ increases with redshift) with a small $σ_μ$, and negative mild evolution with a larger $σ_μ$ are consistent with our data. The posterior distribution of $σ_μ$ enables us to put a strong constraint on the intrinsic scatter of the $M_{\rm BH}-M_*$ relation, which has a best inference of $0.25_{-0.04}^{+0.03}$ dex, consistent with the local value. The redshift evolution of the $M_{\rm BH}-M_*$ relation relative to the local relation is constrained to be $(1+z)^{0.12_{-0.27}^{+0.28}}$, in agreement with no significant evolution since $z\sim0.8$. The tight and non-evolving $M_{\rm BH}-M_*$ relation is suggestive of a coupling through AGN feedback or/and a common gas supply at work, thus restricting the mass ratio of galaxies and their black holes to a limited range. Given the considerable stellar disk component, the $M_{\rm BH}-M_{\rm bulge}$ relation may evolve as previously seen at higher redshifts.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2021

Optimization of the Observing Cadence for the Rubin Observatory Legacy Survey of Space and Time: a pioneering process of community-focused experimental design

Vera C. Rubin Observatory is a ground-based astronomical facility under construction, a joint project of the National Science Foundation and the U.S. Department of Energy, designed to conduct a multi-purpose 10-year optical survey of the southern hemisphere sky: the Legacy Survey of Space and Time. Significant flexibility in survey strategy remains within the constraints imposed by the core science goals of probing dark energy and dark matter, cataloging the Solar System, exploring the transient optical sky, and mapping the Milky Way. The survey's massive data throughput will be transformational for many other astrophysics domains and Rubin's data access policy sets the stage for a huge potential users' community. To ensure that the survey science potential is maximized while serving as broad a community as possible, Rubin Observatory has involved the scientific community at large in the process of setting and refining the details of the observing strategy. The motivation, history, and decision-making process of this strategy optimization are detailed in this paper, giving context to the science-driven proposals and recommendations for the survey strategy included in this Focus Issue.

astro-ph.IM↗

arXiv2021

Third Data Release of the Hyper Suprime-Cam Subaru Strategic Program

The paper presents the third data release of Hyper Suprime-Cam Subaru Strategic Program (HSC-SSP), a wide-field multi-band imaging survey with the Subaru 8.2m telescope. HSC-SSP has three survey layers (Wide, Deep, and UltraDeep) with different area coverages and depths, designed to address a wide array of astrophysical questions. This third release from HSC-SSP includes data from 278 nights of observing time and covers about 670 square degrees in all five broad-band filters at the full depth ($\sim26$~mag at $5σ$) in the Wide layer. If we include partially observed area, the release covers 1,470 square degrees. The Deep and UltraDeep layers have $\sim80\%$ of the originally planned integration times, and are considered done, as we have slightly changed the observing strategy in order to compensate for various time losses. There are a number of updates in the image processing pipeline. Of particular importance is the change in the sky subtraction algorithm; we subtract the sky on small scales before the detection and measurement stages, which has significantly reduced false detections. Thanks to this and other updates, the overall quality of the processed data has improved since the previous release. However, there are limitations in the data (for example, the pipeline is not optimized for crowded fields), and we encourage the user to check the quality assurance plots as well as a list of known issues before exploiting the data. The data release website is https://hsc-release.mtk.nao.ac.jp/.

astro-ph.IM↗

arXiv2021

Brightest Cluster Galaxies Are Statistically Special From $z=0.3$ to $z=1$

We study Brightest Cluster Galaxies (BCGs) in $\sim5000$ galaxy clusters from the Hyper Suprime-Cam (HSC) Subaru Strategic Program. The sample is selected over an area of 830 $\textrm{deg}^2$ and is uniformly distributed in redshift over the range $z=0.3-1.0$. The clusters have stellar masses in the range $10^{11.8} - 10^{12.9} M_{\odot}$. We compare the stellar mass of the BCGs in each cluster to what we would expect if their masses were drawn from the mass distribution of the other member galaxies of the clusters. The BCGs are found to be "special", in the sense that they are not consistent with being a statistical extreme of the mass distribution of other cluster galaxies. This result is robust over the full range of cluster stellar masses and redshifts in the sample, indicating that BCGs are special up to a redshift of $z=1.0$. However, BCGs with a large separation from the center of the cluster are found to be consistent with being statistical extremes of the cluster member mass distribution. We discuss the implications of these findings for BCG formation scenarios.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2021

Subaru High-z Exploration of Low-Luminosity Quasars (SHELLQs). XIV. A Candidate Type-II Quasar at z=6.1292

We present deep Keck/MOSFIRE near-infrared spectroscopy of a strong Lyman alpha emitting source at z=6.1292, HSC J142331.71-001809.1, which was discovered by the SHELLQS program from imaging data of the Subaru Hyper Suprime-Cam (HSC) survey. This source is one of five objects that show unresolved (<230 km s-1) and prominent (>10^44 erg s-1) Lyman alpha emission lines at absolute 1450 angstrom continuum magnitudes of M1450~-22 mag. Its rest-frame Lyman alpha equivalent width (EW) is 370+/-30 angstrom. In the 2 hour Keck/MOSFIRE spectrum in Y band, the high-ionization CIV 1548,1550 doublet emission line was clearly detected with FWHM =120+/-20 km s-1 and a total rest-frame EW of 37-5+6 angstrom. We also report the detection of weak continuum emission, and the tentative detection of OIII] 1661,1666 in the 4 hour J band spectrum. Judging from the UV magnitude, line widths, luminosities, and EWs of Lyman alpha and CIV, we suggest that this source is a reionization-era analog of classical type-II AGNs, although there is a possibility that it represents a new population of AGN/galaxy composite objects in the early universe. We compare the properties of J1423-0018 to intermediate-redshift type-II AGNs and CIV emitters seen in z=6-7 galaxy samples. Further observations of other metal emission lines in the rest-frame UV or optical, and X-ray follow-up observations of the z=6-7 narrow-line quasars are needed for more robust diagnostics and to determine their nature.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2021

Optical Spectroscopy of Dual Quasar Candidates from the Subaru HSC-SSP program

We report on a spectroscopic program to search for dual quasars using Subaru Hyper Suprime-Cam (HSC) images of SDSS quasars which represent an important stage during galaxy mergers. Using Subaru/FOCAS and Gemini-N/GMOS, we identify three new physically associated quasar pairs having projected separations less than 20 kpc, out of 26 observed candidates. These include the discovery of the highest redshift ($z=3.1$) quasar pair with a separation $<$ 10 kpc. Based on the sample acquired to date, the success rate of identifying physically associated dual quasars is $19\%$ when excluding stars based on their HSC colors. Using the full sample of six spectroscopically confirmed dual quasars, we find that the black holes in these systems have black hole masses ($M_{BH} \sim 10^{8-9}M_{\odot}$) similar to single SDSS quasars as well as their bolometric luminosities and Eddington ratios. We measure the stellar mass of their host galaxies based on 2D image decomposition of the five-band ($grizy$) optical emission and assess the mass relation between supermassive black holes (SMBHs) and their hosts. Dual SMBHs appear to have elevated masses relative to their host galaxies. Thus mergers may not necessarily align such systems onto the local mass relation, as suggested by the Horizon-AGN simulation. This study suggests that dual luminous quasars are triggered prior to the final coalescence of the two SMBHs, resulting in early mass growth of the black holes relative to their host galaxies.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2021

Subaru High-z Exploration of Low-Luminosity Quasars (SHELLQs). XIII. Large-scale Feedback and Star Formation in a Low-Luminosity Quasar at z = 7.07 on the Local Black Hole to Host Mass Relation

We present ALMA [CII] 158 $μ$m line and underlying far-infrared (FIR) continuum emission observations ($0''.70 \times 0''.56$ resolution) toward HSC J124353.93$+$010038.5 (J1243$+$0100) at $z = 7.07$, the only low-luminosity ($M_{\rm 1450} > -25$ mag) quasar currently known at $z > 7$. The FIR continuum is bright (1.52 mJy) and resolved with a total luminosity of $L_{\rm FIR} = 3.5 \times 10^{12}~L_\odot$. The spatially extended component is responsible for $\sim 40\%$ of the emission. The area-integrated [CII] spectrum shows a broad wing (${\rm FWHM} = 997$ km s$^{-1}$, $L_{\rm [CII]} = 1.2 \times 10^9~L_\odot$) as well as a bright core (${\rm FWHM} = 235$ km s$^{-1}$, $L_{\rm [CII]} = 1.9 \times 10^9~L_\odot$). This wing is the first detection of a galactic-scale quasar-driven outflow (atomic outflow rate $> 447~M_\odot$ yr$^{-1}$) at $z > 7$. The estimated large mass loading factor of the total outflow (e.g., $\gtrsim 9$ relative to the [CII]-based SFR) suggests that this outflow will soon quench the star-formation of the host. The core gas dynamics are governed by rotation, with a rotation curve suggestive of a compact bulge ($\sim 3.3 \times 10^{10}~M_\odot$), although it is not yet spatially resolved. Finally, we found that J1243$+$0100 has a black hole mass-to-dynamical mass ratio (and -to-bulge mass ratio) of $\sim 0.4\%$ ($\sim 1\%$), consistent with the local value within uncertainties. Our results therefore suggest that the black hole-host co-evolution relation is already in place at $z \sim 7$ for this object.

astro-ph.GA↗