A powerful radio-loud quasar at the end of cosmic reionization

We present the discovery of the radio-loud quasar PSO J352.4034-15.3373 at z=5.84 pm 0.02. This quasar is the radio brightest source known, by an order of magnitude, at z~6 with a flux density in the range of 8-100 mJy from 3GHz to 230MHz and a radio loudness parameter R>~1000. This source provides an unprecedented opportunity to study powerful jets and radio-mode feedback at the highest redshifts, and presents the first real chance to probe deep into the neutral intergalactic medium by detecting 21 cm absorption at the end of cosmic reionization.Comment: ApJL accepted on May 8, 2018. See the companion paper by Momjian et a

Circum-galactic medium in the halo of quasars

The properties of circum-galactic gas in the halo of quasar host galaxies are investigated analyzing Mg II 2800 and C IV 1540 absorption-line systems along the line of sight close to quasars. We used optical spectroscopy of closely aligned pairs of quasars (projected distance $\leq$ 200 kpc, but at very different redshift) obtained at the VLT and Gran Telescopio Canarias to investigate the distribution of the absorbing gas for a sample of quasars at z$\sim$1. Absorption systems of EW $\geq$ 0.3 $\rm{\AA}$ associated with the foreground quasars are revealed up to 200 kpc from the centre of the host galaxy, showing that the structure of the absorbing gas is patchy with a covering fraction quickly decreasing beyond 100 kpc. In this contribution we use optical and near-IR images obtained at VLT to investigate the relations between the properties of the circum-galactic medium of the host galaxies and of the large scale galaxy environments of the foreground quasars.Comment: 6 pages, 3 figures, proceedings of the conference "QUASARS at all cosmic epochs", accepted for publication on Frontiers in Astronomy and Space Scienc

Mapping the Lyman-Alpha Emission Around a z~6.6 QSO with MUSE: Extended Emission and a Companion at Close Separation

We utilize the Multi Unit Spectroscopic Explorer (MUSE) on the Very Large Telescope (VLT) to search for extended Lyman-Alpha emission around the z~6.6 QSO J0305-3150. After carefully subtracting the point-spread-function, we reach a nominal 5-sigma surface brightness limit of SB = 1.9x10$^{-18}$ erg/s/cm$^2$/arcsec$^2$ over a 1 arcsec$^2$ aperture, collapsing 5 wavelength slices centered at the expected location of the redshifted Lyman-Alpha emission (i.e. at 9256 Ang.). Current data suggest the presence (5-sigma, accounting for systematics) of a Lyman-Alpha nebula that extends for 9 kpc around the QSO. This emission is displaced and redshifted by 155 km/s with respect to the location of the QSO host galaxy traced by the [CII] emission line. The total luminosity is L = 3.0x10$^{42}$ erg/s. Our analysis suggests that this emission is unlikely to rise from optically thick clouds illuminated by the ionizing radiation of the QSO. It is more plausible that the Lyman-Alpha emission is due to fluorescence of the highly ionized optically thin gas. This scenario implies a high hydrogen volume density of n$_H$ ~ 6 cm$^{-3}$. In addition, we detect a Lyman-Alpha emitter (LAE) in the immediate vicinity of the QSO: i.e., with a projected separation of 12.5 kpc and a line-of-sight velocity difference of 560 km/s. The luminosity of the LAE is L = 2.1x10$^{42}$ erg/s and its inferred star-formation-rate is SFR ~ 1.3 M$_\odot$/yr. The probability of finding such a close LAE is one order of magnitude above the expectations based on the QSO-galaxy cross-correlation function. This discovery is in agreement with a scenario where dissipative interactions favour the rapid build-up of super-massive black holes at early Cosmic times.Comment: 17 pages, 15 figures. Accepted for publication in Ap

Mapping the Lyman-Alpha Emission Around a z~6.6 QSO with MUSE: Extended Emission and a Companion at Close Separation

We utilize the Multi Unit Spectroscopic Explorer (MUSE) on the Very Large Telescope (VLT) to search for extended Lyman-Alpha emission around the z~6.6 QSO J0305-3150. After carefully subtracting the point-spread-function, we reach a nominal 5-sigma surface brightness limit of SB = 1.9x10$^{-18}$ erg/s/cm$^2$/arcsec$^2$ over a 1 arcsec$^2$ aperture, collapsing 5 wavelength slices centered at the expected location of the redshifted Lyman-Alpha emission (i.e. at 9256 Ang.). Current data suggest the presence (5-sigma, accounting for systematics) of a Lyman-Alpha nebula that extends for 9 kpc around the QSO. This emission is displaced and redshifted by 155 km/s with respect to the location of the QSO host galaxy traced by the [CII] emission line. The total luminosity is L = 3.0x10$^{42}$ erg/s. Our analysis suggests that this emission is unlikely to rise from optically thick clouds illuminated by the ionizing radiation of the QSO. It is more plausible that the Lyman-Alpha emission is due to fluorescence of the highly ionized optically thin gas. This scenario implies a high hydrogen volume density of n$_H$ ~ 6 cm$^{-3}$. In addition, we detect a Lyman-Alpha emitter (LAE) in the immediate vicinity of the QSO: i.e., with a projected separation of 12.5 kpc and a line-of-sight velocity difference of 560 km/s. The luminosity of the LAE is L = 2.1x10$^{42}$ erg/s and its inferred star-formation-rate is SFR ~ 1.3 M$_\odot$/yr. The probability of finding such a close LAE is one order of magnitude above the expectations based on the QSO-galaxy cross-correlation function. This discovery is in agreement with a scenario where dissipative interactions favour the rapid build-up of super-massive black holes at early Cosmic times.Comment: 17 pages, 15 figures. Accepted for publication in Ap

A metal-poor damped Ly-alpha system at redshift 6.4

We identify a strong Ly-alpha damping wing profile in the spectrum of the quasar P183+05 at z=6.4386. Given the detection of several narrow metal absorption lines at z=6.40392, the most likely explanation for the absorption profile is that it is due to a damped Ly-alpha system. However, in order to match the data a contribution of an intergalactic medium 5-38% neutral or additional weaker absorbers near the quasar is also required. The absorption system presented here is the most distant damped Ly-alpha system currently known. We estimate an HI column density ($10^{20.68\pm0.25}\,$cm$^{-2}$), metallicity ([O/H]$=-2.92\pm 0.32$), and relative chemical abundances of a system consistent with a low-mass galaxy during the first Gyr of the universe. This object is among the most metal-poor damped Ly-alpha systems known and, even though it is observed only ~850 Myr after the big bang, its relative abundances do not show signatures of chemical enrichment by Population III stars.Comment: Updated to match published versio

The Decoupled Kinematics of High- z QSO Host Galaxies and Their Ly α Halos

© 2022. The Author(s). Published by the American Astronomical Society. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, to view a copy of the license, see: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/We present a comparison of the interstellar medium traced by [C ii] (Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array), and ionized halo gas traced by Lyα (Multi Unit Spectroscopic Explorer), in and around QSO host galaxies at z ∼ 6. To date, 18 QSOs at this redshift have been studied with both MUSE and high-resolution ALMA imaging; of these, 8 objects display a Lyα halo. Using data cubes matched in velocity resolution, we compare and contrast the spatial and kinematic information of the Lyα halos and the host galaxies’ [C ii] (and dust-continuum) emission. We find that the Lyα halos extend typically 3−30 times beyond the interstellar medium of the host galaxies. The majority of the Lyα halos do not show ordered motion in their velocity fields, whereas most of the [C ii] velocity fields do. In those cases where a velocity gradient can be measured in Lyα, the kinematics do not align with those derived from the [C ii] emission. This implies that the Lyα emission is not tracing the outskirts of a large rotating disk, which is a simple extension of the central galaxy seen in [C ii] emission. It rather suggests that the kinematics of the halo gas are decoupled from those of the central galaxy. Given the scattering nature of Lyα, these results need to be confirmed with James Webb Space Telescope Integral Field Unit observations that can constrain the halo kinematics further using the nonresonant Hα line.Peer reviewe

Enhanced X-ray Emission from the Most Radio-Powerful Quasar in the Universe's First Billion Years

We present deep (265 ks) Chandra X-ray observations of PSO J352.4034$-$15.3373, a quasar at z=5.831 that, with a radio-to-optical flux ratio of R>1000, is one of the radio-loudest quasars in the early universe and is the only quasar with observed extended radio jets of kpc-scale at $z \gtrsim 6$. Modeling the X-ray spectrum of the quasar with a power law, we find a best fit of $\Gamma = 1.99^{+0.29}_{-0.28}$, leading to an X-ray luminosity of $L_{2-10} = 1.26^{+0.45}_{-0.33} \times 10^{45}\ {\rm erg}\ {\rm s}^{-1}$ and an X-ray to UV brightness ratio of $\alpha_{\rm OX} = -1.36 \pm 0.11$. We identify a diffuse structure 50 kpc (${\sim}8^{\prime\prime}$) to the NW of the quasar along the jet axis that corresponds to a $3\sigma$ enhancement in the angular density of emission and can be ruled out as a background fluctuation with a probability of P=0.9985. While with few detected photons the spectral fit of the structure is uncertain, we find that it has a luminosity of $L_{2-10}\sim10^{44}\ {\rm erg}\ {\rm s}^{-1}$. These observations therefore potentially represent the most distant quasar jet yet seen in X-rays. We find no evidence for excess X-ray emission where the previously-reported radio jets are seen (which have an overall linear extent of $0.^{\prime\prime}28$), and a bright X-ray point source located along the jet axis to the SE is revealed by optical and NIR imaging to not be associated with the quasar.Comment: 16 pages, 7 Figures. Accepted for publication the Astrophysical Journa

The Discovery of A Luminous Broad Absorption Line Quasar at A Redshift of 7.02

Despite extensive efforts, only two quasars have been found at $z>7$ to date due to a combination of low spatial density and high contamination from more ubiquitous Galactic cool dwarfs in quasar selection. This limits our current knowledge of the super-massive black hole (SMBH) growth mechanism and reionization history. In this letter, we report the discovery of a luminous quasar at $z=7.021$, DELS J003836.10$-$152723.6 (hereafter J0038$-$1527), selected using photometric data from DESI Legacy imaging Survey (DELS), Pan-STARRS1 (PS1) imaging Survey, as well as Wide-field Infrared Survey Explore ($WISE$) mid-infrared all-sky survey. With an absolute magnitude of $M_{1450}$=$-$27.1 and bolometric luminosity of $L_{\rm Bol}$=5.6$\times$10$^{13}$ $L_\odot$, J0038$-$1527 is the most luminous quasar known at $z>7$. Deep optical to near infrared spectroscopic observations suggest that J0038-1527 hosts a 1.3 billion solar mass BH accreting at the Eddington limit, with an Eddington ratio of 1.25$\pm$0.19. The CIV broad emission line of J0038$-$1527 is blue-shifted by more than 3000 km s$^{-1}$ to the systemic redshift. More detailed investigations of the high quality spectra reveal three extremely high velocity CIV broad absorption lines (BALs) with velocity from 0.08 to 0.14 times the speed of light and total balnicity index of more than 5000 km s$^{-1}$, suggesting the presence of relativistic outflows. J0038$-$1527 is the first quasar found at the epoch of reionization (EoR) with such strong outflows and provides a unique laboratory to investigate AGN feedback on the formation and growth of the most massive galaxies in the early universe.Comment: ApJL in pres