The Pan-STARRS1 z &gt; 5.6 Quasar Survey. III. The z ≈ 6 Quasar Luminosity Function

Schindler, Jan–Torge; Bañados, Eduardo; Connor, Thomas; Decarli, Roberto; Fan, Xiaohui; Farina, Emanuele Paolo; Mazzucchelli, Chiara; Nanni, Riccardo; Rix, Hans─Walter; Stern, Daniel; Venemans, Bram; Walter, Fabian

doi:10.3847/1538-4357/aca7ca

Cited by 18 publications

(15 citation statements)

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“…In this paper, we present the discovery of 55 quasars at 5.6 < z < 6.5, continuing the work from Bañados et al (2016) and Venemans et al (2015), to select high-redshift quasars with the Pan-STARRS1 and VIKING surveys, respectively. Our selection function for z ∼ 6 Pan-STARRS1 quasars is discussed and is used to derive the z ∼ 6 quasar luminosity function in the companion paper by Schindler et al (2023).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…We summarize our results in Section 5. We note that 30 quasars presented here are part of the z ∼ 6 Pan-STARRS1 quasar luminosity function presented in a companion paper by Schindler et al (2023). Table 1 lists the spectroscopic observations of the quasars.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 94%

“…There is no human intervention in the previous steps, but we finally visually inspect the stacked and single-epoch images to remove remaining obviously poor candidates. We note that the z ∼ 6 quasar luminosity function presented in Schindler et al (2023) focuses on objects with z P1 − y P1 < 0.5, for which our spectroscopic follow-up has been more extensive.…”

Section: Pan-starrs1 Candidate Selectionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Here we present additional notes on selected objects, sorted by R.A. PSO J065.9589+01.7235 had z P1 − y P1 = 0.6 in PV2 and is therefore not part of the luminosity function presented in Schindler et al (2023). However, its color in the latest version of PS1 is z P1 − y P1 = 0.34, and it would have been selected.…”

Section: Notes On Selected Objectsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…For full coordinates and redshifts, see Table2. The last column indicates whether the quasars are part of the z ∼ 6 quasar luminosity function presented inSchindler et al (2023). Properties of the Quasars Discovered in This Work, Sorted by R.A.…”

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confidence: 92%

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The Pan-STARRS1 z > 5.6 Quasar Survey. II. Discovery of 55 Quasars at 5.6 < z < 6.5

Bañados

Schindler

Venemans

et al. 2023

ApJS

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The identification of bright quasars at z ≳ 6 enables detailed studies of supermassive black holes, massive galaxies, structure formation, and the state of the intergalactic medium within the first billion years after the Big Bang. We present the spectroscopic confirmation of 55 quasars at redshifts 5.6 < z < 6.5 and UV magnitudes −24.5 < M 1450 < −28.5 identified in the optical Pan-STARRS1 and near-IR VIKING surveys (48 and 7, respectively). Five of these quasars have independently been discovered in other studies. The quasar sample shows an extensive range of physical properties, including 17 objects with weak emission lines, 10 broad absorption line quasars, and 5 objects with strong radio emission (radio-loud quasars). There are also a few notable sources in the sample, including a blazar candidate at z = 6.23, a likely gravitationally lensed quasar at z = 6.41, and a z = 5.84 quasar in the outskirts of the nearby (D ∼ 3 Mpc) spiral galaxy M81. The blazar candidate remains undetected in NOEMA observations of the [C ii] and underlying emission, implying a star formation rate <30–70 M ⊙ yr−1. A significant fraction of the quasars presented here lies at the foundation of the first measurement of the z ∼ 6 quasar luminosity function from Pan-STARRS1 (introduced in a companion paper). These quasars will enable further studies of the high-redshift quasar population with current and future facilities.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 94%

Section: Pan-starrs1 Candidate Selectionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Notes On Selected Objectsmentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 92%

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The Pan-STARRS1 z > 5.6 Quasar Survey. II. Discovery of 55 Quasars at 5.6 < z < 6.5

Bañados

Schindler

Venemans

et al. 2023

ApJS

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Tracing the rise of supermassive black holes

Andika,

Jahnke,

Onoue

et al. 2024

A&A

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We report the identification of 64 new candidates of compact galaxies, potentially hosting faint quasars with bolometric luminosities of $L_ bol $--1046 erg s$^ $, residing in the reionization epoch within the redshift range of $6 z 8$. 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 $ M_ supermassive black holes (SMBHs) living in galaxies with stellar masses of $ M_ 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 Notably, most of the selected candidates might have emerged from seeds with masses of $ M_ assuming a thin disk accretion with an average Eddington ratio of $f_ Edd and a radiative efficiency of $ 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.

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XQR-30: The ultimate XSHOOTER quasar sample at the reionization epoch

D’Odorico,

Bañados,

Becker

et al. 2023

Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

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The final phase of the reionization process can be probed by rest–frame UV absorption spectra of quasars at z ≳ 6, shedding light on the properties of the diffuse intergalactic medium within the first Gyr of the Universe. The ESO Large Programme ‘XQR-30: the ultimate XSHOOTER legacy survey of quasars at z ≃ 5.8–6.6’ dedicated ∼250 hours of observations at the VLT to create a homogeneous and high-quality sample of spectra of 30 luminous quasars at z ∼ 6, covering the rest wavelength range from the Lyman limit to beyond the Mg ii emission. Twelve quasar spectra of similar quality from the XSHOOTER archive were added to form the enlarged XQR-30 sample, corresponding to a total of ∼350 hours of on-source exposure time. The median effective resolving power of the 42 spectra is R ≃ 11400 and 9800 in the VIS and NIR arm, respectively. The signal-to-noise ratio per 10 km s−1 pixel ranges from ∼11 to 114 at λ ≃ 1285 Å rest frame, with a median value of ∼29. We describe the observations, data reduction and analysis of the spectra, together with some first results based on the E-XQR-30 sample. New photometry in the H and K bands are provided for the XQR-30 quasars, together with composite spectra whose characteristics reflect the large absolute magnitudes of the sample. The composite and the reduced spectra are released to the community through a public repository, and will enable a range of studies addressing outstanding questions regarding the first Gyr of the Universe.

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The Pan-STARRS1 z > 5.6 Quasar Survey. III. The z ≈ 6 Quasar Luminosity Function

Cited by 18 publications

References 152 publications

The Pan-STARRS1 z > 5.6 Quasar Survey. II. Discovery of 55 Quasars at 5.6 < z < 6.5

The Pan-STARRS1 z > 5.6 Quasar Survey. II. Discovery of 55 Quasars at 5.6 < z < 6.5

Tracing the rise of supermassive black holes

XQR-30: The ultimate XSHOOTER quasar sample at the reionization epoch

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