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Detection of stellar light from quasar host galaxies at redshifts above 6

Author

Listed:
  • Xuheng Ding

    (The University of Tokyo
    The University of Tokyo)

  • Masafusa Onoue

    (The University of Tokyo
    Peking University
    Max Planck Institute for Astronomy)

  • John D. Silverman

    (The University of Tokyo
    The University of Tokyo
    The University of Tokyo)

  • Yoshiki Matsuoka

    (Ehime University)

  • Takuma Izumi

    (National Astronomical Observatory of Japan, Osawa
    Tokyo Metropolitan University)

  • Michael A. Strauss

    (Princeton University)

  • Knud Jahnke

    (Max Planck Institute for Astronomy)

  • Camryn L. Phillips

    (Princeton University)

  • Junyao Li

    (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign)

  • Marta Volonteri

    (Sorbonne Université)

  • Zoltan Haiman

    (Columbia University
    Columbia University)

  • Irham Taufik Andika

    (Technical University of München
    Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics)

  • Kentaro Aoki

    (Subaru Telescope, National Astronomical Observatory of Japan)

  • Shunsuke Baba

    (Kagoshima University)

  • Rebekka Bieri

    (University of Zurich)

  • Sarah E. I. Bosman

    (Max Planck Institute for Astronomy)

  • Connor Bottrell

    (The University of Tokyo
    The University of Tokyo)

  • Anna-Christina Eilers

    (MIT Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research)

  • Seiji Fujimoto

    (The University of Texas at Austin)

  • Melanie Habouzit

    (Max Planck Institute for Astronomy
    Centre for Astronomy at the University of Heidelberg (ITA))

  • Masatoshi Imanishi

    (National Astronomical Observatory of Japan, Osawa
    Graduate University for Advanced Studies (SOKENDAI))

  • Kohei Inayoshi

    (Peking University)

  • Kazushi Iwasawa

    (University of Barcelona (IEEC-UB)
    ICREA)

  • Nobunari Kashikawa

    (The University of Tokyo
    The University of Tokyo)

  • Toshihiro Kawaguchi

    (Onomichi City University)

  • Kotaro Kohno

    (The University of Tokyo
    The University of Tokyo)

  • Chien-Hsiu Lee

    (W. M. Keck Observatory)

  • Alessandro Lupi

    (University of Studi di Milano-Bicocca)

  • Jianwei Lyu

    (University of Arizona)

  • Tohru Nagao

    (Ehime University)

  • Roderik Overzier

    (Observatoryl/MCTI, Rua General José Cristino)

  • Jan-Torge Schindler

    (Leiden University)

  • Malte Schramm

    (University of Potsdam)

  • Kazuhiro Shimasaku

    (The University of Tokyo
    The University of Tokyo)

  • Yoshiki Toba

    (National Astronomical Observatory of Japan, Osawa
    Academia Sinica Institute of Astronomy and Astrophysics)

  • Benny Trakhtenbrot

    (Tel Aviv University)

  • Maxime Trebitsch

    (University of Groningen)

  • Tommaso Treu

    (University of California)

  • Hideki Umehata

    (Nagoya University
    Nagoya University)

  • Bram P. Venemans

    (Leiden University)

  • Marianne Vestergaard

    (University of Arizona
    DARK, Niels Bohr Institute)

  • Fabian Walter

    (Max Planck Institute for Astronomy)

  • Feige Wang

    (University of Arizona)

  • Jinyi Yang

    (University of Arizona)

Abstract

The detection of starlight from the host galaxies of quasars during the reionization epoch (z > 6) has been elusive, even with deep Hubble Space Telescope observations1,2. The current highest redshift quasar host detected3, at z = 4.5, required the magnifying effect of a foreground lensing galaxy. Low-luminosity quasars4–6 from the Hyper Suprime-Cam Subaru Strategic Program (HSC-SSP)7 mitigate the challenge of detecting their underlying, previously undetected host galaxies. Here we report rest-frame optical images and spectroscopy of two HSC-SSP quasars at z > 6 with the JWST. Using near-infrared camera imaging at 3.6 and 1.5 μm and subtracting the light from the unresolved quasars, we find that the host galaxies are massive (stellar masses of 13 × and 3.4 × 1010 M☉, respectively), compact and disc-like. Near-infrared spectroscopy at medium resolution shows stellar absorption lines in the more massive quasar, confirming the detection of the host. Velocity-broadened gas in the vicinity of these quasars enables measurements of their black hole masses (1.4 × 109 and 2.0 × 108 M☉, respectively). Their location in the black hole mass–stellar mass plane is consistent with the distribution at low redshift, suggesting that the relation between black holes and their host galaxies was already in place less than a billion years after the Big Bang.

Suggested Citation

  • Xuheng Ding & Masafusa Onoue & John D. Silverman & Yoshiki Matsuoka & Takuma Izumi & Michael A. Strauss & Knud Jahnke & Camryn L. Phillips & Junyao Li & Marta Volonteri & Zoltan Haiman & Irham Taufik , 2023. "Detection of stellar light from quasar host galaxies at redshifts above 6," Nature, Nature, vol. 621(7977), pages 51-55, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:nature:v:621:y:2023:i:7977:d:10.1038_s41586-023-06345-5
    DOI: 10.1038/s41586-023-06345-5
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