A Massive Protocluster Anchored by a Luminous Quasar at z = 6.63
Protoclusters, the progenitors of galaxy clusters, trace large scale structures in the early Universe and are important to our understanding of structure formation and galaxy evolution. To date, only a handful of protoclusters have been identified in the Epoch of Reionization. As one of the rarest p...
| 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 Letters |
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| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.3847/2041-8213/ad20ef |
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| author | Feige Wang Jinyi Yang Joseph F. Hennawi Xiaohui Fan Minghao Yue Eduardo Bañados Shane Bechtel Fuyan Bian Sarah Bosman Jaclyn B. Champagne Frederick B. Davies Roberto Decarli Emanuele Paolo Farina Chiara Mazzucchelli Bram Venemans Fabian Walter |
| author_facet | Feige Wang Jinyi Yang Joseph F. Hennawi Xiaohui Fan Minghao Yue Eduardo Bañados Shane Bechtel Fuyan Bian Sarah Bosman Jaclyn B. Champagne Frederick B. Davies Roberto Decarli Emanuele Paolo Farina Chiara Mazzucchelli Bram Venemans Fabian Walter |
| author_sort | Feige Wang |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Protoclusters, the progenitors of galaxy clusters, trace large scale structures in the early Universe and are important to our understanding of structure formation and galaxy evolution. To date, only a handful of protoclusters have been identified in the Epoch of Reionization. As one of the rarest populations in the early Universe, distant quasars that host active supermassive black holes are thought to reside in the most massive dark matter halos at that cosmic epoch and could thus potentially pinpoint some of the earliest protoclusters. In this Letter, we report the discovery of a massive protocluster around a luminous quasar at z = 6.63. This protocluster is anchored by the quasar and includes three [C ii ] emitters at z ∼ 6.63, 12 spectroscopically confirmed Ly α emitters (LAEs) at 6.54 < z ≤ 6.64, and a large number of narrow-band-imaging selected LAE candidates at the same redshift. This structure has an overall overdensity of $\delta ={3.3}_{-0.9}^{+1.1}$ within ∼35 × 74 cMpc ^2 on the sky and an extreme overdensity of δ > 30 in its central region (i.e., R ≲ 2 cMpc). We estimate that this protocluster will collapse into a galaxy cluster with a mass of ${6.9}_{-1.4}^{+1.2}\times {10}^{15}\,{M}_{\odot }$ at the current epoch, more massive than the most massive clusters known in the local Universe such as Coma. In the quasar vicinity, we discover a double-peaked LAE, which implies that the quasar has a UV lifetime greater than 0.8 Myrs and has already ionized its surrounding intergalactic medium. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-08T05:27:29Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-d9cc483914194cd38e5d48a39e623667 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2041-8205 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-08T05:27:29Z |
| publishDate | 2024-01-01 |
| publisher | IOP Publishing |
| record_format | Article |
| series | The Astrophysical Journal Letters |
| spelling | doaj.art-d9cc483914194cd38e5d48a39e6236672024-02-06T11:47:26ZengIOP PublishingThe Astrophysical Journal Letters2041-82052024-01-019621L1110.3847/2041-8213/ad20efA Massive Protocluster Anchored by a Luminous Quasar at z = 6.63Feige Wang0https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7633-431XJinyi Yang1https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5287-4242Joseph F. Hennawi2https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7054-4332Xiaohui Fan3https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3310-0131Minghao Yue4https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5367-8021Eduardo Bañados5https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2931-7824Shane Bechtel6https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2851-2924Fuyan Bian7https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1620-0897Sarah Bosman8https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8582-7012Jaclyn B. Champagne9https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6184-9097Frederick B. Davies10https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0821-3644Roberto Decarli11https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2662-8803Emanuele Paolo Farina12https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6822-2254Chiara Mazzucchelli13https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5941-5214Bram Venemans14https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9024-8322Fabian Walter15https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4793-7880Steward Observatory, University of Arizona , 933 N Cherry Avenue, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA ; feigewang@arizona.eduSteward Observatory, University of Arizona , 933 N Cherry Avenue, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA ; feigewang@arizona.eduDepartment of Physics, University of California , Santa Barbara, CA 93106-9530, USA; Leiden Observatory, Leiden University , Niels Bohrweg 2, NL-2333 CA Leiden, NetherlandsSteward Observatory, University of Arizona , 933 N Cherry Avenue, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA ; feigewang@arizona.eduSteward Observatory, University of Arizona , 933 North Cherry Avenue, Tucson, AZ 85721, USAMax Planck Institut für Astronomie, Königstuhl 17 , D-69117, Heidelberg, GermanyDepartment of Physics, University of California , Santa Barbara, CA 93106-9530, USAEuropean Southern Observatory , Alonso de Córdova 3107, Casilla 19001, Vitacura, Santiago 19, ChileMax Planck Institut für Astronomie, Königstuhl 17 , D-69117, Heidelberg, GermanySteward Observatory, University of Arizona , 933 N Cherry Avenue, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA ; feigewang@arizona.eduMax Planck Institut für Astronomie, Königstuhl 17 , D-69117, Heidelberg, GermanyINAF–Osservatorio di Astrofisica e Scienza dello Spazio , via Gobetti 93/3, I-40129, Bologna, ItalyGemini Observatory , NSFs NOIRLab, 670 N Aohoku Place, HI-96720, Hilo, USAInstituto de Estudios Astrofísicos , Facultad de Ingeniería y Ciencias, Universidad Diego Portales, Avenida Ejercito Libertador 441, Santiago, ChileLeiden Observatory, Leiden University , Niels Bohrweg 2, NL-2333 CA Leiden, NetherlandsMax Planck Institut für Astronomie, Königstuhl 17 , D-69117, Heidelberg, GermanyProtoclusters, the progenitors of galaxy clusters, trace large scale structures in the early Universe and are important to our understanding of structure formation and galaxy evolution. To date, only a handful of protoclusters have been identified in the Epoch of Reionization. As one of the rarest populations in the early Universe, distant quasars that host active supermassive black holes are thought to reside in the most massive dark matter halos at that cosmic epoch and could thus potentially pinpoint some of the earliest protoclusters. In this Letter, we report the discovery of a massive protocluster around a luminous quasar at z = 6.63. This protocluster is anchored by the quasar and includes three [C ii ] emitters at z ∼ 6.63, 12 spectroscopically confirmed Ly α emitters (LAEs) at 6.54 < z ≤ 6.64, and a large number of narrow-band-imaging selected LAE candidates at the same redshift. This structure has an overall overdensity of $\delta ={3.3}_{-0.9}^{+1.1}$ within ∼35 × 74 cMpc ^2 on the sky and an extreme overdensity of δ > 30 in its central region (i.e., R ≲ 2 cMpc). We estimate that this protocluster will collapse into a galaxy cluster with a mass of ${6.9}_{-1.4}^{+1.2}\times {10}^{15}\,{M}_{\odot }$ at the current epoch, more massive than the most massive clusters known in the local Universe such as Coma. In the quasar vicinity, we discover a double-peaked LAE, which implies that the quasar has a UV lifetime greater than 0.8 Myrs and has already ionized its surrounding intergalactic medium.https://doi.org/10.3847/2041-8213/ad20efQuasarsProtoclustersSupermassive black holesReionizationEarly universe |
| spellingShingle | Feige Wang Jinyi Yang Joseph F. Hennawi Xiaohui Fan Minghao Yue Eduardo Bañados Shane Bechtel Fuyan Bian Sarah Bosman Jaclyn B. Champagne Frederick B. Davies Roberto Decarli Emanuele Paolo Farina Chiara Mazzucchelli Bram Venemans Fabian Walter A Massive Protocluster Anchored by a Luminous Quasar at z = 6.63 The Astrophysical Journal Letters Quasars Protoclusters Supermassive black holes Reionization Early universe |
| title | A Massive Protocluster Anchored by a Luminous Quasar at z = 6.63 |
| title_full | A Massive Protocluster Anchored by a Luminous Quasar at z = 6.63 |
| title_fullStr | A Massive Protocluster Anchored by a Luminous Quasar at z = 6.63 |
| title_full_unstemmed | A Massive Protocluster Anchored by a Luminous Quasar at z = 6.63 |
| title_short | A Massive Protocluster Anchored by a Luminous Quasar at z = 6.63 |
| title_sort | massive protocluster anchored by a luminous quasar at z 6 63 |
| topic | Quasars Protoclusters Supermassive black holes Reionization Early universe |
| url | https://doi.org/10.3847/2041-8213/ad20ef |
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