Fading Light, Fierce Winds: JWST Snapshot of a Sub-Eddington Quasar at Cosmic Dawn

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Main Authors: Lyu, Jianwei, Rieke, George H., Stone, Meredith, Morrison, Jane, Alberts, Stacey, Jin, Xiangyu, Zhu, Yongda, Liu, Weizhe, Yang, Jinyi
Format: Preprint
Published: 2024
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author Lyu, Jianwei
Rieke, George H.
Stone, Meredith
Morrison, Jane
Alberts, Stacey
Jin, Xiangyu
Zhu, Yongda
Liu, Weizhe
Yang, Jinyi
author_facet Lyu, Jianwei
Rieke, George H.
Stone, Meredith
Morrison, Jane
Alberts, Stacey
Jin, Xiangyu
Zhu, Yongda
Liu, Weizhe
Yang, Jinyi
contents The majority of most luminous quasars during the epoch of reionization accrete near or above the Eddington limit, marking the vigorous growth of primitive supermassive black holes (SMBHs). However, their subsequent evolution and environmental impact remain poorly characterized. We present JWST/NIRSpec prism IFU observations of HSC J2239+0207, a low-luminosity quasar at $z\sim6.25$ likely in a late stage of mass assembly with an overmassive SMBH relative to its host galaxy. Using H$β$ and H$α$ broad emission lines, we estimate an SMBH mass $M_{\rm BH}\sim3\times10^8~M_{\odot}$ and confirm its sub-Eddington accretion at $λ_{\rm Edd}\sim0.4$. Strong FeII emission and a proximity zone of typical size suggest a metal-rich, highly evolved system. In the far-UV, this quasar presents strong broad-absorption-line features, indicative of high-velocity winds ($ν\sim10^4~{\rm km/s}$). Meanwhile, minimal dust reddening is inferred from the quasar continuum and broad-line Balmer decrement, suggesting little dust along the polar direction. Most interestingly, we identify a gas companion $\sim$5 kpc from the quasar with a high [OIII]/H$β$ ratio ($\gtrsim10$), likely representing outflowing gas blown away by AGN feedback. These results highlight HSC J2239+0207 as a likely fading quasar in transition, providing rare insights into SMBH evolution, AGN feedback, and AGN-galaxy interactions in the early Universe.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2412_04548
institution arXiv
publishDate 2024
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Fading Light, Fierce Winds: JWST Snapshot of a Sub-Eddington Quasar at Cosmic Dawn
Lyu, Jianwei
Rieke, George H.
Stone, Meredith
Morrison, Jane
Alberts, Stacey
Jin, Xiangyu
Zhu, Yongda
Liu, Weizhe
Yang, Jinyi
Astrophysics of Galaxies
Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics
The majority of most luminous quasars during the epoch of reionization accrete near or above the Eddington limit, marking the vigorous growth of primitive supermassive black holes (SMBHs). However, their subsequent evolution and environmental impact remain poorly characterized. We present JWST/NIRSpec prism IFU observations of HSC J2239+0207, a low-luminosity quasar at $z\sim6.25$ likely in a late stage of mass assembly with an overmassive SMBH relative to its host galaxy. Using H$β$ and H$α$ broad emission lines, we estimate an SMBH mass $M_{\rm BH}\sim3\times10^8~M_{\odot}$ and confirm its sub-Eddington accretion at $λ_{\rm Edd}\sim0.4$. Strong FeII emission and a proximity zone of typical size suggest a metal-rich, highly evolved system. In the far-UV, this quasar presents strong broad-absorption-line features, indicative of high-velocity winds ($ν\sim10^4~{\rm km/s}$). Meanwhile, minimal dust reddening is inferred from the quasar continuum and broad-line Balmer decrement, suggesting little dust along the polar direction. Most interestingly, we identify a gas companion $\sim$5 kpc from the quasar with a high [OIII]/H$β$ ratio ($\gtrsim10$), likely representing outflowing gas blown away by AGN feedback. These results highlight HSC J2239+0207 as a likely fading quasar in transition, providing rare insights into SMBH evolution, AGN feedback, and AGN-galaxy interactions in the early Universe.
title Fading Light, Fierce Winds: JWST Snapshot of a Sub-Eddington Quasar at Cosmic Dawn
topic Astrophysics of Galaxies
Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2412.04548