• 천문학회보
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• 제45권1호
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• pp.65.2-65.2
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• 2020

We present NIR spectroscopic data of young radio quasars obtained from Flamingos-2 (F2) at Gemini-South. The targets are originally selected from Wide-Field Infrared Survey Explorer survey in combination with radio survey data, such as FIRST and NVSS. Our goal is to find observational evidence of jet-driven outflows, which is expected to be present in young luminous quasars from the theoretical studies. While 16 targets were observed with F2, narrow emission lines ([O III] or Hα) were detected in 7 targets. FWHM of the emission lines (up to 2500 km/s) were remarkably broad compared to ordinary quasars, revealing the presence of strong outflows. The black hole mass estimated from Eddington limit ranges from ~108 to 109 solar mass, indicating that the target quasars are likely to be progenitors of massive galaxies. Finally, we present the comparisons between the outflow velocity and the physical properties of radio jets derived from the VLA radio imaging data, in order to investigate the physical connection between the ionized outflows and radio jets.

• 천문학회보
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• 제40권1호
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• pp.72.4-73
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• 2015

Over the last decade, more than 50 quasars have been discovered at redshift about 6 when reionization of the universe occurred. However, most of them are luminous quasars (zAB < 21 mag), implying that such a biased quasar sample, which cannot represent the entire population of quasars at z~6, is not enough to understand the properties of quasars in the early universe. Recently, we have been performing the Infrared Medium-deep Survey (IMS), a moderately wide (120 deg2) and deep (JAB ~ 22.5 - 23 mag) near-infrared imaging survey. Combining this with the optical (ugriz) imaging data from the CFHT Legacy Survey (CFHTLS), we have identified more than 10 faint quasar candidates at z~6 in the IMS field by using multiple color selection criteria. From now on, we will perform spectroscopic confirmations of these faint quasar candidates with IMACS on the Magellan Baade Telescope at Las Campanas Observatory and GMOS on the Gemini South Telescope at Gemini Observatory. The confirmed quasars will be used to constrain the faint-end slope of the quasar luminosity function at z~6 and calculate the ratio of quasar ionizing flux to required flux for reionization of the universe. Moreover, these confirmed quasars will be followed up with near-infrared spectroscopy to determine their black hole masses and Eddington ratios to check the rapidness of their growth.

• 천문학회보
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• 제38권2호
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• pp.69.1-69.1
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• 2013

We describe a survey of quasars in the early universe beyond z=5, which is one of the main sciences of the Infrared Medium-deep Survey (IMS) performed by the Center for the Exploration of the Origin of the Universe (CEOU). We use multi-wavelength archival data such as SDSS, CFHTLS, UKIDSS, and SWIRE, which provide deep images over wide areas sufficient enough for searching high redshift quasars. In addition, we carried out a J-band imaging survey at the United Kingdom InfraRed Telescope (UKIRT) with a depth of ~23 AB and survey area of ~100 $deg^2$, which makes IMS the most suitable survey for finding high redshift quasars at z~7. Also for the quasar candidates at z~5.5, we are conducting observations with the Camera for QUasars in EArly uNiverse (CQUEAN), which are efficient for selecting robust quasar candidate samples in this redshift range. We used various color-color diagrams suitable to the specific redshift ranges, which can reduce the contaminating sources such as M/L/T dwarfs, low redshift galaxies, and instrumental defects. The high redshift quasars we are confirming can provide us with clues to the growth of super massive black holes since z~7. Also by expanding the quasar sample at 5

• 천문학회지
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• 제55권4호
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• pp.131-138
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• 2022

We report the discovery of four quasars with M₁₄₅₀ ≳ -25.0 mag at z ~ 5 and supermassive black hole mass measurement for one of the quasars. They were selected as promising high-redshift quasar candidates via deep learning and Bayesian information criterion, which are expected to be effective in discriminating quasars from the late-type stars and high-redshift galaxies. The candidates were observed by the Double Spectrograph on the Palomar 200-inch Hale Telescope. They show clear Lyα breaks at about 7000-8000 Å, indicating they are quasars at 4.7 < z < 5.6. For HSC J233107-001014, we measure the mass of its supermassive black hole (SMBH) using its C _IV λ1549 emission line. The SMBH mass and Eddington ratio of the quasar are found to be ~10⁸ M_⊙ and ~0.6, respectively. This suggests that this quasar possibly harbors a fast growing SMBH near the Eddington limit despite its faintness (L_Bol < 10⁴⁶ erg s^-1). Our 100% quasar identification rate supports high efficiency of our deep learning and Bayesian information criterion selection method, which can be applied to future surveys to increase high-redshift quasar sample.

• 천문학회보
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• 제42권2호
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• pp.44.3-45
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• 2017

To date, luminous quasars at z ~ 6 have been found to be in maximal accretion with the Eddington ratios, ${\lambda}Edd$ ~ 1, suggesting enhanced nuclear activities in the early universe. However, this may not be the whole picture of supermassive black hole (SMBH) growth since previous studies have not reached on faint quasars that are more likely to harbor SMBHs with low ${\lambda}Edd$. To understand the accretion activities in quasars at high redshift, we obtained the deep near-infrared (NIR) spectrum of a quasar, IMS J2204+0112, one of the few faintest quasars that have been identified at z ~ 6. From the NIR spectrum, we find that IMS J2204+0112 harbors a SMBH with about a billion solar mass, with ${\log}({\lambda}Edd)=-0.91$. This is the lowest accretion rate found so far for quasars at z ~ 6, but a common value among quasars at z ~ 2. The inclusion of this object in the ${\lambda}Edd$ analysis gives the intrinsic ${\lambda}Edd$ distribution of z ~ 6 quasars, which is lower than previous results that are based on bright quasars, but it is still higher than ${\lambda}Edd$ of z ~ 2 quasars. Although the number statistics needs to be improved in future, the low peak ${\lambda}Edd$ value is consistent with the SMBH growth from a massive black hole seed (~ 105 Msun) or from a stellar mass black hole through short-duration super-Eddington accretion events (${\lambda}Edd$ > 10).

• 천문학회지
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• 제48권1호
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• pp.83-92
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• 2015

Recent large scale surveys such as Sloan Digital Sky Survey have produced homogeneous samples of multiple-image gravitationally lensed quasars with well-defined selection effects. Statistical analysis on these can yield independent constraints on cosmological parameters. Here we use the image separation statistics of lensed quasars from Sloan Digital Sky Survey Quasar Lens Search (SQLS) to derive constraints on cosmological parameters. Our analysis does not require knowledge of the magnification bias, which can only be estimated from the detailed knowledge on the quasar luminosity function at all redshifts, and includes the consideration for the bias against small image separation quasars due to selection against faint lens galaxy in the follow-up observations for confirmation. We first use the mean image separation of the lensed quasars as a function of redshift to find that cosmological models with extreme curvature are inconsistent with observed lensed quasars. We then apply the maximum likelihood test to the statistical sample of 16 lensed quasars that have both measured redshift and magnitude of lens galaxy. The likelihood incorporates the probability that the observed image separation is realized given the luminosity of the lens galaxy in the same manner as Im et al. (1997). We find that the 95% confidence range for the cosmological constant (i.e., the vacuum energy density) is $0.72{\leq}{\Omega}_{\Lambda}{\leq}1.0$ for a flat universe. We also find that the equation of state parameter can be consistent with -1 as long as the matter density ${\Omega}_m{\leq}0.4$ (95% confidence range). We conclude that the image separation statistics incorporating the brightness of lens galaxies can provide robust constraints on the cosmological parameters.

• 천문학논총
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• 제30권2호
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• pp.405-407
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• 2015

We describe a survey of quasars in the early universe, beyond z ~ 5, which is one of the main science goals of the Infrared Medium-deep Survey (IMS) conducted by the Center for the Exploration of the Origin of the Universe (CEOU). We use multi-wavelength archival data from SDSS, CFHTLS, UKIDSS, WISE, and SWIRE, which provide deep images over wide areas suitable for searching for high redshift quasars. In addition, we carried out a J-band imaging survey at the United Kingdom InfraRed Telescope with a depth of ~23 AB mag and survey area of ${\sim}120deg^2$, which makes IMS a suitable survey for finding faint, high redshift quasars at z ~ 7. In addition, for the quasar candidates at z ~ 5.5, we are conducting observations with the Camera for QUasars in EArly uNiverse (CQUEAN) on the 2.1m telescope at McDonald Observatory, which has a custom-designed filter set installed to enhance the efficiency of selecting robust quasar candidate samples in this redshift range. We used various color-color diagrams suitable for the specific redshift ranges, which can reduce contaminating sources such as M/L/T dwarfs, low redshift galaxies, and instrumental defects. The high redshift quasars we are confirming can provide us with clues to the growth of supermassive black holes since z ~ 7. By expanding the quasar sample at 5 < z < 7, the final stage of the hydrogen reionization in the intergalactic medium (IGM) can also be fully understood. Moreover, we can make useful constraints on the quasar luminosity function to study the contribution of quasars to the IGM reionization.

• 천문학논총
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• 제30권2호
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• pp.461-462
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• 2015

Quasars are among the farthest and brightest objects known in the universe. Because quasars are mostly observed in the redshift range between 1 and 3, they can be used to study large scale structure in the universe, and its evolution over the past billion years. An important issue is the evolution of the quasar luminosity function, which has been investigated for relative small samples of the 2QZ catalog. Here we extend the study to 3 quasar samples, the most recent data of the Milliquas, Master and 2QZ quasar catalogs to determine the luminosity function of quasars and its evolution, using the Standard cosmological ${\Lambda}CDM$ model with ${\Omega}_{\Lambda}=0.73$, ${\Omega}_M=0.27$, and $H_0=70kms^{-1}Mpc^{-1}$. For the purpose of this analysis we initially used 0.25-mag bins and approximately 0.180-redshift bins, then calculated the comoving distance and comoving volume for each bin of redshift and calculated the number of objects in each bin per unit volume, in order to find the number density per absolute magnitude bin. Our analysis on the basis of these new and much more complete datasets is largely in agreement with earlier studies of the luminosity evolution of quasars.

• 천문학회보
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• 제41권1호
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• pp.72.2-72.2
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• 2016

The SDSS-IV extended Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic (eBOSS) will provide new photometry and spectroscopy of an unprecedented number of quasars in a novel redshift range, along with some re-observations of SDSS DR12 objects. We present here an observational study of the geometry, spatial distribution, luminosity function, and clustering of a sample of low- and high-z quasars obtained from the first SDSS-IV data release (DR13). In particular, we characterize the amount of overlapping between different data releases, and then focus on the synergy among high- and low-z quasars as tracers of the cosmic web, particularly considering their cross-correlations and cosmological implications.

• 천문학회보
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• 제44권1호
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• pp.37.1-37.1
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• 2019

The faint quasars with M1450 > -24 mag are known to hold the key to the determination of the ultraviolet emissivity for the cosmic reionization. But only a few have been identified so far because of the limitations on the survey data. Here we present the first results of the z ~ 5 faint quasar survey with the Infrared Medium-deep Survey (IMS), which covers ${\sim}100deg^2$ areas in J band to the depths of $J_{AB}$ ~ 23 mag. To improve selection methods, the medium-band follow-up imaging has been carried out using the SED camera for QUasars in Early uNiverse (SQUEAN) on the Otto Struve 2.1 m Telescope. The optical spectra of the candidates were obtained with 8 m class telescopes. We newly discovered 10 quasars with -25 < $M_{1450}$ < -23 at z ~ 5, among which three have been missed in a previous survey using the same optical data over the same area, implying the necessity for improvements in high-redshift faint quasar selection. We derived photometric redshifts from the medium-band data and found that they have high accuracies of ${\langle}{\mid}{\Delta}z{\mid}/(1+z){\rangle}=0.016$. The medium-band-based approach allows us to rule out many of the interlopers that contaminate ${\geq}20%$ of the broadband-selected quasar candidates. These results suggest that the medium-band-based approach is a powerful way to identify z ~ 5 quasars and measure their redshifts at high accuracy (1%-2%). It is also a cost-effective way to understand the contribution of quasars to the cosmic reionization history.