We present Chandra observations of nine high-redshift quasars (z=2.7-5.9) discovered by the Sloan Digital Sky Survey with weak or undetectable high-ionization emission lines in their UV spectra (WLQs). Adding archival X-ray observations of six additional sources of this class has enabled us to place the strongest constraints yet on the X-ray properties of this remarkable class of AGNs. Although our data cannot rule out the possibility that the emission lines are overwhelmed by a relativistically boosted continuum, as manifested by BL Lac objects, we find that WLQs are considerably weaker in the X-ray and radio bands than the majority of BL Lacs found at much lower redshifts. If WLQs are high-redshift BL Lacs, then it is difficult to explain the lack of a large parent population of X-ray and radio bright weak-lined sources at high redshift. We also consider the possibility that WLQs are quasars with extreme properties, and in particular that the emission lines are suppressed by high accretion rates. Using joint spectral fitting of the X-ray spectra of 11 WLQs we find that the mean photon index in the hard X-ray band is consistent with those observed in typical radio-quiet AGNs with no hint of an unusually steep hard-X-ray spectrum. This result poses a challenge to the hypothesis that WLQs have extremely high accretion rates, and we discuss additional observations required to test this idea.
Prescriptions for Correcting Ultraviolet-Based Redshifts for Luminous Quasars at High Redshift
高红移类星体的红移通常是由静止坐标系的紫外线（UV）发射线决定的。然而，这些线，更具体地说，突出的C IV $λ1549$发射线，通常是蓝移产生高度不确定的红移估计相比，从静止帧光发射线确定的红移。我们目前的近红外光谱的18个发光类星体在$2.15 < z < 3.70$，使我们能够获得可靠的系统红移这些来源。再加上近红外光谱的44个类星体具有可比的光度和红移的档案样本，我们提供了纠正紫外红移的处方。我们的处方减少速度偏移相对于系统的红移由$\sim140$公里的$^{-1}$和减少的不确定性的紫外线为基础的红移由$\sim25\%$相对于目前用于确定这些值的最佳方法。我们还发现，从斯隆数字巡天管道为我们的来源确定的红移遭受显着的不确定性，这是不容易减轻。我们讨论了我们的处方，以提高基于紫外线的红移校正的潜在的一个更大的样本的高红移类星体与近红外光谱。
The observed lensed fraction of high-redshift quasars $(\sim0.2\%)$ is significantly lower than previous theoretical predictions $(\gtrsim4\%)$. We revisit the lensed fraction of high-redshift quasars predicted by theoretical models, where we adopt recent measurements of galaxy velocity dispersion functions (VDFs) and explore a wide range of quasar luminosity function (QLF) parameters. We use both analytical methods and mock catalogs which give consistent results. For ordinary QLF parameters and the depth of current high-redshift quasar surveys $(m_z\lesssim22)$, our model suggests a multiply-…
We report the results of near-infrared spectroscopic observations of 37 quasars in the redshift range $6.3< z\le7.64$, including 32 quasars at $z>6.5$, forming the largest quasar near-infrared spectral sample at this redshift. The spectra, taken with Keck, Gemini, VLT, and Magellan, allow investigations of central black hole mass and quasar rest-frame ultraviolet spectral properties. The black hole masses derived from the MgII emission lines are in the range $(0.3-3.6)\times10^{9}\,M_{\odot}$, which requires massive seed black holes with masses $\gtrsim10^{3-4}\,M_{\odot}$, assuming Eddington …
We develop an automated technique to measure quasar redshifts in the Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (BOSS) of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS). Our technique is an extension of an earlier Gaussian process method for detecting damped Lyman-alpha absorbers (DLAs) in quasar spectra with known redshifts. We apply this technique to a subsample of SDSS DR12 with BAL quasars removed and redshift larger than 2.15. We show that we are broadly competitive to existing quasar redshift estimators, disagreeing with the PCA redshift by more than 0.5 in only 0.38% of spectra. Our method produces a…
We propose and apply a new test of Einstein's Equivalence Principle (EEP) based on the gravitational redshift induced by the central super massive black hole of quasars in the surrounding accretion disk. Specifically, we compare the observed gravitational redshift of the Fe III$λλ$2039-2113 emission line blend in quasars with the predicted values in a wide, uncharted, cosmic territory ($0 \lesssim z_{cosm}\lesssim3$). For the first time we measure, with statistical uncertainties comparable or better than those of other classical methods outside the Solar System, the ratio between the observed …
We present a method of selecting quasars up to redshift $\approx$ 6 with random forests, a supervised machine learning method, applied to Pan-STARRS1 and WISE data. We find that, thanks to the increasing set of known quasars we can assemble a training set that enables supervised machine learning algorithms to become a competitive alternative to other methods up to this redshift. We present a candidate set for the redshift range 4.8 to 6.3 which includes the region around z = 5.5 where quasars are difficult to select due to photometric similarity to red and brown dwarfs. We demonstrate that und…
Three Hundred Quasars from the Couch: A first look at high-redshift quasar discovery with SPHEREx
Max-Planck-Institut für Astronomie（马克斯·普朗克天文学研究所）；Institute for Theoretical Physics, Heidelberg University（海德堡大学理论物理研究所）；INAF - Osservatorio di Astrofisica e Scienza dello Spazio di Bologna（博洛尼亚天文物理与空间科学研究所（INAF））；Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology（加州理工学院喷气推进实验室）；Leiden Observatory, Leiden University（莱顿大学莱顿天文台）；Department of Physics, Broida Hall, University of California, Santa Barbara（加州大学圣塔芭芭拉分校物理系）；Department of Astronomy, University of Michigan（密歇根大学天文学系）
Search for quasar pairs with Gaia astrometric data. II. Photometric redshift prediction with machine learning for the MGQPC catalogue
Institute for Frontier in Astronomy and Astrophysics, Beijing Normal University（北京师范大学前沿天文与天体物理研究院）；National Astronomical Observatories, Chinese Academy of Sciences（中国科学院国家天文台）；School of Physics and Astronomy, Beijing Normal University（北京师范大学物理与天文学院）
Broad line regions (BLRs) in high-redshift quasars provide crucial information of chemical enrichment in the early universe. Here we present a study of BLR metallicities in 33 quasars at redshift $5.7<z<6.4$. Using the near-IR spectra of the quasars obtained from the Gemini telescope, we measure their rest-frame UV emission line flux and calculate flux ratios. We then estimate BLR metallicities with empirical calibrations based on photoionization models. The inferred median metallicity of our sample is a few times the solar value, indicating that the BLR gas had been highly metal-enriched at $…
A survey of luminous high-redshift quasars with SDSS and WISE. I. target selection and optical spectroscopy
高红移类星体是早期宇宙结构和演化的重要示踪物。然而，它们是非常罕见的，很难找到时，使用颜色选择，因为污染的晚型矮星。仅基于光学颜色的高红移类星体巡天观测存在着不完整性和低识别效率的问题，特别是在$z\gtrsim4.5$上。我们已经开发出一种新的方法来选择$4.7\lesssim z \lesssim 5.4$类星体与高效率和完整性相结合的光学和中红外宽视场红外巡天探测器（WISE）光度数据，并正在进行一个发光的$z\sim5$类星体调查在整个斯隆数字巡天（SDSS）的足迹。在110个$z$带星等大于19.5的候选天体中，我们观测到了99个，其中64个（64.6%）是红移为$4.4\lesssim z \lesssim 5.5$、绝对星等为$-29\lesssim M_{1450} \lesssim -26.4$的类星体。此外，我们还观测到了14个较暗的候选天体，并利用$4.7<z<5.4$确定了其中8个（57.1%）为类星体。在72个新发现的类星体中，有12个位于$5.2 < z < 5.7$，这使得在这个红移范围内的类星体数量增加了36%.更重要的是，我们的鉴定使具有$z>4.5$的$M_{1450}<-27.5$的类星体数量增加了一倍，这将对类星体光度函数的亮端设置强约束。我们还扩展了我们的方法，选择类星体在$z\gtrsim5.7$。本文报道了基于SDSS-WISE选择的四…
We present a new approach to capturing the broad diversity of emission line and continuum properties in quasar spectra. We identify populations of spectrally similar quasars through pixel-level clustering on 12,968 high signal-to-noise spectra from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) in the redshift range of $1.57<z<2.4$. Our clustering analysis finds 396 quasar spectra that are not assigned to any population, 15 misclassified spectra, and six quasars with incorrect redshifts. We compress the quasar populations into a library of 684 high signal-to-noise composite spectra, anchored in redshift …
We present spectroscopic measurements for 226 sources from the Gemini Near Infrared Spectrograph - Distant Quasar Survey (GNIRS-DQS). Being the largest uniform, homogeneous survey of its kind, it represents a flux-limited sample ($m_{i}$ ${\lesssim}$ 19.0 mag, $H$ ${\lesssim}$ 16.5 mag) of Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) quasars at 1.5 ${\lesssim}$ $z$ ${\lesssim}$ 3.5 with a monochromatic luminosity ($λL_λ$) at 5100 ${\unicode{xC5}}$ in the range of $10^{44} - 10^{46}$ erg $\rm{s}^{-1}$. A combination of the GNIRS and SDSS spectra covers principal quasar diagnostic features, chiefly the C IV …
We present multi object optical spectroscopy of the galaxies in the environment of 12 low-redshift (z < 0.5) quasars and of 11 inactive massive galaxies chosen to match the properties of the quasar host galaxies to probe physical association and possible events of recent star formation. The quasars are selected from a sample of QSOs in the SDSS Stripe82 region for which both the host galaxy and the large scale environments were previously investigated. The new observations complement those reported in our previous works on close companion galaxies of nearby quasars. For the whole dataset we fi…
Galaxy mergers occur frequently in the early universe and bring multiple supermassive black holes (SMBHs) into the nucleus, where they may eventually coalesce. Identifying post-merger-scale (i.e., <~a few kpc) dual SMBHs is a critical pathway to understanding their dynamical evolution and successive mergers. While serendipitously discovering kpc-scale dual SMBHs at z<1 is possible, such systems are elusive at z>2, but critical to constraining the progenitors of SMBH mergers. The redshift z~2 also marks the epoch of peak activity of luminous quasars, hence probing this spatial regime at high re…
