Discovery of eight z~6 quasars from Pan-STARRS1
High-redshift quasars are currently the only probes of the growth of supermassive black holes and potential tracers of structure evolution at early cosmic time. Here we present our candidate selection criteria from the Panoramic Survey Telescope & Rapid Response System 1 and follow-up strategy t...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |
|---|---|
| Other Authors: | |
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | en_US |
| Published: |
IOP Publishing
2015
|
| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/92723 https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3769-9559 |
| _version_ | 1826190192651796480 |
|---|---|
| author | Banados, E. Venemans, B. P. Morganson, E. Decarli, R. Walter, F. Chambers, K. C. Rix, H.-W. Farina, E. P. Fan, X. Jiang, L. McGreer, I. De Rosa, G. Weiss, A. Price, P. A. Morgan, Jeffrey S. Burgett, William S. Greiner, J. Kaiser, Nick Kudritzki, R.-P. Magnier, Eugene A. Metcalfe, N. Stubbs, C. W. Sweeney, W. Tonry, J. L. Wainscoat, R. J. Waters, C. Simcoe, Robert A. |
| author2 | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Physics |
| author_facet | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Physics Banados, E. Venemans, B. P. Morganson, E. Decarli, R. Walter, F. Chambers, K. C. Rix, H.-W. Farina, E. P. Fan, X. Jiang, L. McGreer, I. De Rosa, G. Weiss, A. Price, P. A. Morgan, Jeffrey S. Burgett, William S. Greiner, J. Kaiser, Nick Kudritzki, R.-P. Magnier, Eugene A. Metcalfe, N. Stubbs, C. W. Sweeney, W. Tonry, J. L. Wainscoat, R. J. Waters, C. Simcoe, Robert A. |
| author_sort | Banados, E. |
| collection | MIT |
| description | High-redshift quasars are currently the only probes of the growth of supermassive black holes and potential tracers of structure evolution at early cosmic time. Here we present our candidate selection criteria from the Panoramic Survey Telescope & Rapid Response System 1 and follow-up strategy to discover quasars in the redshift range 5.7 [< over ~] z [< over ~] 6.2. With this strategy we discovered eight new 5.7 ≤ z ≤ 6.0 quasars, increasing the number of known quasars at z > 5.7 by more than 10%. We additionally recovered 18 previously known quasars. The eight quasars presented here span a large range of luminosities (–27.3 ≤ M [subscript 1450] ≤ –25.4; 19.6 ≤ z [subscript P1] ≤ 21.2) and are remarkably heterogeneous in their spectral features: half of them show bright emission lines whereas the other half show a weak or no Lyα emission line (25% with rest-frame equivalent width of the Lyα +N V line lower than 15 Å). We find a larger fraction of weak-line emission quasars than in lower redshift studies. This may imply that the weak-line quasar population at the highest redshifts could be more abundant than previously thought. However, larger samples of quasars are needed to increase the statistical significance of this finding. |
| first_indexed | 2024-09-23T08:36:29Z |
| format | Article |
| id | mit-1721.1/92723 |
| institution | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| language | en_US |
| last_indexed | 2024-09-23T08:36:29Z |
| publishDate | 2015 |
| publisher | IOP Publishing |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | mit-1721.1/927232022-09-23T13:13:10Z Discovery of eight z~6 quasars from Pan-STARRS1 Banados, E. Venemans, B. P. Morganson, E. Decarli, R. Walter, F. Chambers, K. C. Rix, H.-W. Farina, E. P. Fan, X. Jiang, L. McGreer, I. De Rosa, G. Weiss, A. Price, P. A. Morgan, Jeffrey S. Burgett, William S. Greiner, J. Kaiser, Nick Kudritzki, R.-P. Magnier, Eugene A. Metcalfe, N. Stubbs, C. W. Sweeney, W. Tonry, J. L. Wainscoat, R. J. Waters, C. Simcoe, Robert A. Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Physics MIT Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research Simcoe, Robert A. High-redshift quasars are currently the only probes of the growth of supermassive black holes and potential tracers of structure evolution at early cosmic time. Here we present our candidate selection criteria from the Panoramic Survey Telescope & Rapid Response System 1 and follow-up strategy to discover quasars in the redshift range 5.7 [< over ~] z [< over ~] 6.2. With this strategy we discovered eight new 5.7 ≤ z ≤ 6.0 quasars, increasing the number of known quasars at z > 5.7 by more than 10%. We additionally recovered 18 previously known quasars. The eight quasars presented here span a large range of luminosities (–27.3 ≤ M [subscript 1450] ≤ –25.4; 19.6 ≤ z [subscript P1] ≤ 21.2) and are remarkably heterogeneous in their spectral features: half of them show bright emission lines whereas the other half show a weak or no Lyα emission line (25% with rest-frame equivalent width of the Lyα +N V line lower than 15 Å). We find a larger fraction of weak-line emission quasars than in lower redshift studies. This may imply that the weak-line quasar population at the highest redshifts could be more abundant than previously thought. However, larger samples of quasars are needed to increase the statistical significance of this finding. National Science Foundation (U.S.) (Grant AST-9987045) National Science Foundation (U.S.). Telescope System Instrumentation Program (TSIP) Ohio Board of Regents Ohio State University. Office of Research 2015-01-07T15:33:38Z 2015-01-07T15:33:38Z 2014-06 2013-11 Article http://purl.org/eprint/type/JournalArticle 0004-6256 1538-3881 http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/92723 Bañados, E., et al. “DISCOVERY OF EIGHT z ∼ 6 QUASARS FROM Pan-STARRS1.” The Astronomical Journal, vol. 148, no. 1, June 2014, p. 14. © 2014 The Astronomical Journal https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3769-9559 en_US http://dx.doi.org/10.1088/0004-6256/148/1/14 Astronomical Journal Article is made available in accordance with the publisher's policy and may be subject to US copyright law. Please refer to the publisher's site for terms of use. application/pdf IOP Publishing American Astronomical Society |
| spellingShingle | Banados, E. Venemans, B. P. Morganson, E. Decarli, R. Walter, F. Chambers, K. C. Rix, H.-W. Farina, E. P. Fan, X. Jiang, L. McGreer, I. De Rosa, G. Weiss, A. Price, P. A. Morgan, Jeffrey S. Burgett, William S. Greiner, J. Kaiser, Nick Kudritzki, R.-P. Magnier, Eugene A. Metcalfe, N. Stubbs, C. W. Sweeney, W. Tonry, J. L. Wainscoat, R. J. Waters, C. Simcoe, Robert A. Discovery of eight z~6 quasars from Pan-STARRS1 |
| title | Discovery of eight z~6 quasars from Pan-STARRS1 |
| title_full | Discovery of eight z~6 quasars from Pan-STARRS1 |
| title_fullStr | Discovery of eight z~6 quasars from Pan-STARRS1 |
| title_full_unstemmed | Discovery of eight z~6 quasars from Pan-STARRS1 |
| title_short | Discovery of eight z~6 quasars from Pan-STARRS1 |
| title_sort | discovery of eight z 6 quasars from pan starrs1 |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/92723 https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3769-9559 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT banadose discoveryofeightz6quasarsfrompanstarrs1 AT venemansbp discoveryofeightz6quasarsfrompanstarrs1 AT morgansone discoveryofeightz6quasarsfrompanstarrs1 AT decarlir discoveryofeightz6quasarsfrompanstarrs1 AT walterf discoveryofeightz6quasarsfrompanstarrs1 AT chamberskc discoveryofeightz6quasarsfrompanstarrs1 AT rixhw discoveryofeightz6quasarsfrompanstarrs1 AT farinaep discoveryofeightz6quasarsfrompanstarrs1 AT fanx discoveryofeightz6quasarsfrompanstarrs1 AT jiangl discoveryofeightz6quasarsfrompanstarrs1 AT mcgreeri discoveryofeightz6quasarsfrompanstarrs1 AT derosag discoveryofeightz6quasarsfrompanstarrs1 AT weissa discoveryofeightz6quasarsfrompanstarrs1 AT pricepa discoveryofeightz6quasarsfrompanstarrs1 AT morganjeffreys discoveryofeightz6quasarsfrompanstarrs1 AT burgettwilliams discoveryofeightz6quasarsfrompanstarrs1 AT greinerj discoveryofeightz6quasarsfrompanstarrs1 AT kaisernick discoveryofeightz6quasarsfrompanstarrs1 AT kudritzkirp discoveryofeightz6quasarsfrompanstarrs1 AT magniereugenea discoveryofeightz6quasarsfrompanstarrs1 AT metcalfen discoveryofeightz6quasarsfrompanstarrs1 AT stubbscw discoveryofeightz6quasarsfrompanstarrs1 AT sweeneyw discoveryofeightz6quasarsfrompanstarrs1 AT tonryjl discoveryofeightz6quasarsfrompanstarrs1 AT wainscoatrj discoveryofeightz6quasarsfrompanstarrs1 AT watersc discoveryofeightz6quasarsfrompanstarrs1 AT simcoeroberta discoveryofeightz6quasarsfrompanstarrs1 |