Undermassive Host Galaxies of Five z ∼ 6 Luminous Quasars Detected with JWST
We measure host galaxy stellar masses for a sample of five luminous quasars at z ∼ 5–7. Using JWST/NIRCam medium-band images of nearby point-spread function reference stars, we carefully subtract the contribution from the quasar light to place upper and lower limits on the flux of each host galaxy....
| Main Authors: | , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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IOP Publishing
2024-01-01
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| Series: | The Astrophysical Journal |
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| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ad2a57 |
| _version_ | 1797255743541346304 |
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| author | Meredith A. Stone Jianwei Lyu George H. Rieke Stacey Alberts Kevin N. Hainline |
| author_facet | Meredith A. Stone Jianwei Lyu George H. Rieke Stacey Alberts Kevin N. Hainline |
| author_sort | Meredith A. Stone |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | We measure host galaxy stellar masses for a sample of five luminous quasars at z ∼ 5–7. Using JWST/NIRCam medium-band images of nearby point-spread function reference stars, we carefully subtract the contribution from the quasar light to place upper and lower limits on the flux of each host galaxy. We find that the members of our sample of quasar host galaxies have mass upper limits of 10 ^9.7 –10 ^10.8 M _⊙ , significantly less than expected from their supermassive black hole (SMBH) masses and the local M _BH – M _* relation. We additionally obtain JWST/NIRSpec integral field unit spectra of three of our quasars to calculate black hole masses, which we find are consistent with those in the literature, and to search for the presence of bright but compact galaxies via a Balmer break, for which we do not find evidence. We discuss the potential effects of dust extinction on our measured fluxes and the impact of selection effects on high-redshift quasar samples. We conclude that the masses of the SMBHs relative to the host galaxy stellar masses have a much larger scatter than locally, large enough that these selection effects cannot be responsible. This result is reinforced by other studies. Finally, we explore the potential implications of these results on the picture of SMBH–galaxy coeval growth in the early Universe. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-24T22:10:42Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-b241ee7732c64d2a92d36475bd30a1e0 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1538-4357 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-24T22:10:42Z |
| publishDate | 2024-01-01 |
| publisher | IOP Publishing |
| record_format | Article |
| series | The Astrophysical Journal |
| spelling | doaj.art-b241ee7732c64d2a92d36475bd30a1e02024-03-20T09:44:21ZengIOP PublishingThe Astrophysical Journal1538-43572024-01-0196419010.3847/1538-4357/ad2a57Undermassive Host Galaxies of Five z ∼ 6 Luminous Quasars Detected with JWSTMeredith A. Stone0https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9720-3255Jianwei Lyu1https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6221-1829George H. Rieke2https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2303-6519Stacey Alberts3https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8909-8782Kevin N. Hainline4https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4565-8239Steward Observatory, University of Arizona , 933 North Cherry Avenue, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA ; meredithstone@arizona.eduSteward Observatory, University of Arizona , 933 North Cherry Avenue, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA ; meredithstone@arizona.eduSteward Observatory, University of Arizona , 933 North Cherry Avenue, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA ; meredithstone@arizona.eduSteward Observatory, University of Arizona , 933 North Cherry Avenue, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA ; meredithstone@arizona.eduSteward Observatory, University of Arizona , 933 North Cherry Avenue, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA ; meredithstone@arizona.eduWe measure host galaxy stellar masses for a sample of five luminous quasars at z ∼ 5–7. Using JWST/NIRCam medium-band images of nearby point-spread function reference stars, we carefully subtract the contribution from the quasar light to place upper and lower limits on the flux of each host galaxy. We find that the members of our sample of quasar host galaxies have mass upper limits of 10 ^9.7 –10 ^10.8 M _⊙ , significantly less than expected from their supermassive black hole (SMBH) masses and the local M _BH – M _* relation. We additionally obtain JWST/NIRSpec integral field unit spectra of three of our quasars to calculate black hole masses, which we find are consistent with those in the literature, and to search for the presence of bright but compact galaxies via a Balmer break, for which we do not find evidence. We discuss the potential effects of dust extinction on our measured fluxes and the impact of selection effects on high-redshift quasar samples. We conclude that the masses of the SMBHs relative to the host galaxy stellar masses have a much larger scatter than locally, large enough that these selection effects cannot be responsible. This result is reinforced by other studies. Finally, we explore the potential implications of these results on the picture of SMBH–galaxy coeval growth in the early Universe.https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ad2a57QuasarsAGN host galaxiesJames Webb Space Telescope |
| spellingShingle | Meredith A. Stone Jianwei Lyu George H. Rieke Stacey Alberts Kevin N. Hainline Undermassive Host Galaxies of Five z ∼ 6 Luminous Quasars Detected with JWST The Astrophysical Journal Quasars AGN host galaxies James Webb Space Telescope |
| title | Undermassive Host Galaxies of Five z ∼ 6 Luminous Quasars Detected with JWST |
| title_full | Undermassive Host Galaxies of Five z ∼ 6 Luminous Quasars Detected with JWST |
| title_fullStr | Undermassive Host Galaxies of Five z ∼ 6 Luminous Quasars Detected with JWST |
| title_full_unstemmed | Undermassive Host Galaxies of Five z ∼ 6 Luminous Quasars Detected with JWST |
| title_short | Undermassive Host Galaxies of Five z ∼ 6 Luminous Quasars Detected with JWST |
| title_sort | undermassive host galaxies of five z ∼ 6 luminous quasars detected with jwst |
| topic | Quasars AGN host galaxies James Webb Space Telescope |
| url | https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ad2a57 |
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