Tracing the rise of supermassive black holes: A panchromatic search for faint, unobscured quasars at z > 6 with COSMOS-Web and other surveys

Fuente: arXiv
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Autori principali: Andika, Irham T., Jahnke, Knud, Onoue, Masafusa, Silverman, John D., Fitriana, Itsna K., Bongiorno, Angela, Brinch, Malte, Casey, Caitlin M., Faisst, Andreas, Gillman, Steven, Gozaliasl, Ghassem, Hayward, Christopher C., Hirschmann, Michaela, Kocevski, Dale, Koekemoer, Anton M., Kokorev, Vasily, Lambrides, Erini, Lee, Minju M., Rich, R. Michael, Trakhtenbrot, Benny, Urry, C. Megan, Wilkins, Stephen M., Vijayan, Aswin P.
Natura: Preprint
Pubblicazione: 2024
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author Andika, Irham T.
Jahnke, Knud
Onoue, Masafusa
Silverman, John D.
Fitriana, Itsna K.
Bongiorno, Angela
Brinch, Malte
Casey, Caitlin M.
Faisst, Andreas
Gillman, Steven
Gozaliasl, Ghassem
Hayward, Christopher C.
Hirschmann, Michaela
Kocevski, Dale
Koekemoer, Anton M.
Kokorev, Vasily
Lambrides, Erini
Lee, Minju M.
Rich, R. Michael
Trakhtenbrot, Benny
Urry, C. Megan
Wilkins, Stephen M.
Vijayan, Aswin P.
author_facet Andika, Irham T.
Jahnke, Knud
Onoue, Masafusa
Silverman, John D.
Fitriana, Itsna K.
Bongiorno, Angela
Brinch, Malte
Casey, Caitlin M.
Faisst, Andreas
Gillman, Steven
Gozaliasl, Ghassem
Hayward, Christopher C.
Hirschmann, Michaela
Kocevski, Dale
Koekemoer, Anton M.
Kokorev, Vasily
Lambrides, Erini
Lee, Minju M.
Rich, R. Michael
Trakhtenbrot, Benny
Urry, C. Megan
Wilkins, Stephen M.
Vijayan, Aswin P.
contents We report the identification of 64 new candidates of compact galaxies, potentially hosting faint quasars with bolometric luminosities of $L_\mathrm{bol} = 10^{43}$--10$^{46}$ erg s$^{-1}$, residing in the reionization epoch within the redshift range of $6 \lesssim z \lesssim 8$. These candidates were selected by harnessing the rich multiband datasets provided by the emerging JWST-driven extragalactic surveys, focusing on COSMOS-Web, as well as JADES, UNCOVER, CEERS, and PRIMER. Our search strategy includes two stages: applying stringent photometric cuts to catalog-level data and detailed spectral energy distribution fitting. These techniques effectively isolate the quasar candidates while mitigating contamination from low-redshift interlopers, such as brown dwarfs and nearby galaxies. The selected candidates indicate physical traits compatible with low-luminosity active galactic nuclei, likely hosting $\approx10^5$--$10^7~M_\odot$ supermassive black holes (SMBHs) living in galaxies with stellar masses of $\approx10^8$--$10^{10}~M_\odot$. The SMBHs selected in this study, on average, exhibit an elevated mass compared to their hosts, with the mass ratio distribution slightly higher than those of galaxies in the local Universe. As with other high-$z$ studies, this is at least in part due to the selection method for these quasars. An extensive Monte Carlo analysis provides compelling evidence that heavy black hole seeds from the direct collapse scenario appear to be the preferred pathway to mature this specific subset of SMBHs by $z\approx7$. This work underscores the significance of further spectroscopic observations, as the quasar candidates presented here offer exceptional opportunities to delve into the nature of the earliest galaxies and SMBHs that formed during cosmic infancy.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2401_11826
institution arXiv
publishDate 2024
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Tracing the rise of supermassive black holes: A panchromatic search for faint, unobscured quasars at z > 6 with COSMOS-Web and other surveys
Andika, Irham T.
Jahnke, Knud
Onoue, Masafusa
Silverman, John D.
Fitriana, Itsna K.
Bongiorno, Angela
Brinch, Malte
Casey, Caitlin M.
Faisst, Andreas
Gillman, Steven
Gozaliasl, Ghassem
Hayward, Christopher C.
Hirschmann, Michaela
Kocevski, Dale
Koekemoer, Anton M.
Kokorev, Vasily
Lambrides, Erini
Lee, Minju M.
Rich, R. Michael
Trakhtenbrot, Benny
Urry, C. Megan
Wilkins, Stephen M.
Vijayan, Aswin P.
Astrophysics of Galaxies
Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics
High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena
We report the identification of 64 new candidates of compact galaxies, potentially hosting faint quasars with bolometric luminosities of $L_\mathrm{bol} = 10^{43}$--10$^{46}$ erg s$^{-1}$, residing in the reionization epoch within the redshift range of $6 \lesssim z \lesssim 8$. These candidates were selected by harnessing the rich multiband datasets provided by the emerging JWST-driven extragalactic surveys, focusing on COSMOS-Web, as well as JADES, UNCOVER, CEERS, and PRIMER. Our search strategy includes two stages: applying stringent photometric cuts to catalog-level data and detailed spectral energy distribution fitting. These techniques effectively isolate the quasar candidates while mitigating contamination from low-redshift interlopers, such as brown dwarfs and nearby galaxies. The selected candidates indicate physical traits compatible with low-luminosity active galactic nuclei, likely hosting $\approx10^5$--$10^7~M_\odot$ supermassive black holes (SMBHs) living in galaxies with stellar masses of $\approx10^8$--$10^{10}~M_\odot$. The SMBHs selected in this study, on average, exhibit an elevated mass compared to their hosts, with the mass ratio distribution slightly higher than those of galaxies in the local Universe. As with other high-$z$ studies, this is at least in part due to the selection method for these quasars. An extensive Monte Carlo analysis provides compelling evidence that heavy black hole seeds from the direct collapse scenario appear to be the preferred pathway to mature this specific subset of SMBHs by $z\approx7$. This work underscores the significance of further spectroscopic observations, as the quasar candidates presented here offer exceptional opportunities to delve into the nature of the earliest galaxies and SMBHs that formed during cosmic infancy.
title Tracing the rise of supermassive black holes: A panchromatic search for faint, unobscured quasars at z > 6 with COSMOS-Web and other surveys
topic Astrophysics of Galaxies
Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics
High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2401.11826