638 research outputs found
The sub-millimeter properties of broad absorption line quasars
We have carried out the first systematic survey of the sub-millimeter
properties of broad absorption line (BAL) quasars. 30 BAL quasars drawn from a
homogeneously selected sample from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey at redshifts
2<z<2.6 were observed with the SCUBA array at the JCMT to a typical rms
sensitivity of 2.5 mJy. Eight quasars were detected at > 2 sigma significance,
four of which are at > 3 sigma significance. The far-infrared luminosities of
these quasars are > 10^{13} L_solar. There is no correlation of sub-millimeter
flux with either the strength of the broad absorption feature or with absolute
magnitude in our sample. We compare the sub-millimeter flux distribution of the
BAL quasar sample with that of a sample of quasars which do not show BAL
features in their optical spectra and find that the two are indistinguishable.
BAL quasars do not have higher sub-millimeter luminosities than non-BAL
quasars. These findings are consistent with the hypothesis that all quasars
would contain a BAL if viewed along a certain line-of-sight. The data are
inconsistent with a model in which the BAL phenomenon indicates a special
evolutionary stage which co-incides with a large dust mass in the host galaxy
and a high sub-millimeter luminosity. Our work provides constraints on
alternative evolutionary explanations of BAL quasars.Comment: 8 pages, 2 figures, ApJ, in pres
The Faintness of the 158 um [CII] Transition in the z=6.42 Quasar SDSS J1148+5251
We report the non-detection of the [CII] 157.74 um transition in the z=6.42
quasar SDSS J1148+5251 after 37.5 hours of integration with the James Clerk
Maxwell Telescope. This transition is the main cooling line of the star-forming
interstellar medium, and usually the brightest FIR line in galaxies. Our
observed RMS of 1.3 mK in the Ta* scale translates to L([CII])<2.6 x 10^9 Lsun.
Using a recent estimate of the far-infrared continuum of this quasar, we derive
for SDSS J1148+5251 L([CII])/L(FIR)<5 x 10^-4, a ratio similar to that observed
in local ultra-luminous infrared galaxies but considerably smaller than what is
typical in nearby normal and starburst galaxies. This indicates that the small
L([CII])/L(FIR) ratio observed locally in luminous far-infrared objects also
persists at the highest redshifts.Comment: Five pages, one figure, accepted by the Astrophysical Journal Letter
First results from the Canada-France High-z Quasar Survey: Constraints on the z=6 quasar luminosity function and the quasar contribution to reionization
We present preliminary results of a new quasar survey being undertaken with
multi-colour optical imaging from the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope. The
current data consists of 3.83 sq. deg. of imaging in the i' and z' filters to a
10 sigma limit of z'<23.35. Near-infrared photometry of 24 candidate 5.7<z<6.4
quasars confirms them all to be low mass stars including two T dwarfs and four
or five L dwarfs. Photometric estimates of the spectral type of the two T
dwarfs are T3 and T6. We use the lack of high-redshift quasars in this survey
volume to constrain the z=6 quasar luminosity function. For reasonable values
of the break absolute magnitude M*_1450 and faint-end slope alpha, we determine
that the bright-end slope beta>-3.2 at 95% confidence. We find that the
comoving space-density of quasars brighter than M_1450=-23.5 declines by a
factor >25 from z=2 to z=6, mirroring the decline observed for high-luminosity
quasars. We consider the contribution of the quasar population to the ionizing
photon density at z=6 and the implications for reionization. We show that the
current constraints on the quasar population give an ionizing photon density
<<30% that of the star-forming galaxy population. We conclude that active
galactic nuclei make a negligible contribution to the reionization of hydrogen
at z~6.Comment: 9 pages, 6 figures, ApJ, in pres
Molecular gas observations of the reddened quasar 3C 318
3C 318 is a z=1.574 radio-loud quasar. The small physical size of its radio
jets indicate that these jets were triggered relatively recently. In addition
to the ultraviolet continuum emission being reddened by dust, detections with
IRAS and SCUBA show it to have an exceptionally high far-infrared luminosity.
We present CO(2-1) observations of 3C 318 made with the IRAM Plateau de Bure
Interferometer. We detect CO(2-1) emission with a FWHM=200 km/s at a
signal-to-noise ratio of 5.4. There is evidence for positional (~ 20 kpc) and
velocity (~ -400 km/s) offsets between the molecular gas and the quasar which
may be due to the quasar experiencing a major merger. The mass of molecular gas
inferred from our observations is M_{H_2}=(3.0 +/- 0.6) x 10^{10} M_sun. This
molecular gas mass is comparable to that in sub-mm-selected galaxies at similar
redshifts. The large molecular gas mass is consistent with the primary source
of heating for the cool dust in this quasar to be massive star formation with a
star formation rate of 1700 M_sun/yr and a gas depletion timescale of 20 Myr.
Our observations support the idea that star formation episodes and jet
triggering can be synchronised.Comment: 4 pages, 3 b/w figures, AJ, in pres
The SCUBA 8-mJy survey - II: Multiwavelength analysis of bright sub-mm sources
We present the results of a multi-wavelength study of the 19 most significant
sub-mm sources detected in the SCUBA 8-mJy survey. As described in Scott et al.
(2001), this survey covers ~260 arcmin^2 using the sub-millimetre camera SCUBA,
to a limiting source detection limit S(850um) ~ 8 mJy. One advantage of this
relatively bright flux-density limit is that accurate astrometric positions are
potentially achievable for every source using existing radio and/or mm-wave
interferometers. However, an associated advantage is that SED-based redshift
constraints should be more powerful than in fainter sub-mm surveys. Here we
therefore exploit the parallel SCUBA 450um data, in combination with existing
radio and ISO data at longer and shorter wavelengths to set constraints on the
redshift of each source. We also analyse new and existing optical and
near-infrared imaging of our SCUBA survey fields to select potential
identifications consistent with these constraints. Our derived SED-based
redshift constraints, and the lack of statistically significant associations
with even moderately bright galaxies allow us to conclude that all 19 sources
lie at z > 1, and at least half of them apparently lie at z > 2.Comment: 14 pages (including 30 figures and 4 tables) accepted by MNRAS.
Figure 1 and 2 and a higher quality version of the full paper are available
at http://astro.ic.ac.uk/~mfox
Ionization near-zones associated with quasars at z ~ 6
We analyze the size evolution of HII regions around 27 quasars between z=5.7
to 6.4 ('quasar near-zones' or NZ). We include more sources than previous
studies, and we use more accurate redshifts for the host galaxies, with 8 CO
molecular line redshifts and 9 MgII redshifts. We confirm the trend for an
increase in NZ size with decreasing redshift, with the luminosity normalized
proper size evolving as: R_{NZ,corrected} = (7.4 \pm 0.3) - (8.0 \pm 1.1)
\times (z-6) Mpc. While derivation of the absolute neutral fraction remains
difficult with this technique, the evolution of the NZ sizes suggests a
decrease in the neutral fraction of intergalactic hydrogen by a factor ~ 9.4
from z=6.4 to 5.7, in its simplest interpretation. Alternatively, recent
numerical simulations suggest that this rapid increase in near-zone size from
z=6.4 to 5.7 is due to the rapid increase in the background photo-ionization
rate at the end of the percolation or overlap phase, when the average mean free
path of ionizing photons increases dramatically. In either case, the results
are consistent with the idea that z ~ 6 to 7 corresponds to the tail end of
cosmic reionization. The scatter in the normalized NZ sizes is larger than
expected simply from measurement errors, and likely reflects intrinsic
differences in the quasars or their environments. We find that the near-zone
sizes increase with quasar UV luminosity, as expected for photo-ionization
dominated by quasar radiation.Comment: 16 pages, aas format, 4 figures, to appear in the ApJ letter
Six more quasars at redshift 6 discovered by the Canada-France High-z Quasar Survey
We present imaging and spectroscopic observations for six quasars at z>5.9
discovered by the Canada-France High-z Quasar Survey (CFHQS). The CFHQS
contains sub-surveys with a range of flux and area combinations to sample a
wide range of quasar luminosities at z~6. The new quasars have luminosities 10
to 75 times lower than the most luminous SDSS quasars at this redshift. The
least luminous quasar, CFHQS J0216-0455 at z=6.01, has absolute magnitude
M_1450=-22.21, well below the likely break in the luminosity function. This
quasar is not detected in a deep XMM-Newton survey showing that optical
selection is still a very efficient tool for finding high redshift quasars.Comment: 7 pages, 4 figures, AJ, in pres
Redshifts and Neutral Hydrogen Observations of Compact Symmetric Objects in the COINS Sample
Compact Symmetric Objects (CSOs) are young radio galaxies whose jet axes lie
close to the plane of the sky, and whose appearance is therefore not dominated
by relativistic beaming effects. The small linear sizes of CSOs make them
valuable for studies of both the evolution of radio galaxies and testing
unified schemes for active galactic nuclei (AGN). A parsec-scale region of gas
surrounding the central engine is predicted by both accretion and obscuration
scenarios. Working surfaces, or ``hot spots,'' and the radio jets of CSOs are
close enough to the central engines that this circumnuclear gas can be seen in
absorption.
The CSOs Observed in the Northern Sky (COINS) sample is comprised of 52 CSO
candidates identified in three VLBI surveys. Of these, 27 have now been
confirmed as CSOs. Optical redshifts are available in the literature for 28 of
the CSO candidates, and HI absorption has been detected toward four. We present
new optical spectroscopic redshifts for three of the candidates and summarize
the current status of optical identifications. We further report on the
discovery of HI in absorption towards the CSO J1816+3457 and summarize the
results of neutral hydrogen absorption studies of the sources in this sample.Comment: 12 pages, Accepted for publication in Ap
MESMER: MeerKAT Search for Molecules in the Epoch of Reionization
[Abridged] Observations of molecular gas at all redshifts are critical for
measuring the cosmic evolution in molecular gas density and understanding the
star-formation history of the Universe. The 12CO molecule (J=1-0 transition =
115.27 GHz) is the best proxy for extragalactic H2, which is the gas reservoir
from which star formation occurs, and has been detected out to z~6. Typically,
redshifted high-J lines are observed at mm-wavelengths, the most commonly
targeted systems exhibiting high SFRs (e.g. submm galaxies), and far-IR-bright
QSOs. While the most luminous objects are the most readily observed, detections
of more typical galaxies with modest SFRs are essential for completing the
picture. ALMA will be revolutionary in terms of increasing the detection rate
and pushing the sensitivity limit down to include such galaxies, however the
limited FoV when observing at such high frequencies makes it difficult to use
ALMA for studies of the large-scale structure traced out by molecular gas in
galaxies. This article introduces a strategy for a systematic search for
molecular gas during the EoR (z~7 and above), capitalizing on the fact that the
J=1-0 transition of 12CO enters the upper bands of cm-wave instruments at
high-z. The FoV advantage gained by observing at such frequencies, coupled with
modern broadband correlators allows significant cosmological volumes to be
probed on reasonable timescales. In this article we present an overview of our
future observing programme which has been awarded 6,500 hours as one of the
Large Survey Projects for MeerKAT, the forthcoming South African SKA pathfinder
instrument. Its large FoV and correlator bandwidth, and high-sensitivity
provide unprecedented survey speed for such work. An existing astrophysical
simulation is coupled with instrumental considerations to demonstrate the
feasibility of such observations and predict detection rates.Comment: 7 pages, 4 figures, to appear in the proceedings of "Astronomy with
megastructures: Joint science with the E-ELT and SKA", 10-14 May 2010, Crete,
Greece (Eds: Isobel Hook, Dimitra Rigopoulou, Steve Rawlings and Aris
Karastergiou
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