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

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 Andika, Kentaro Aoki, Shunsuke Baba, Rebekka Bieri, Sarah E. I. Bosman, Connor Bottrell, Anna-Christina Eilers, Seiji Fujimoto, Melanie Habouzit, Masatoshi Imanishi, Kohei Inayoshi, Kazushi Iwasawa, Nobunari Kashikawa, Toshihiro Kawaguchi, Kotaro Kohno, Chien-Hsiu Lee, Alessandro Lupi, Jianwei Lyu, Tohru Nagao, Roderik Overzier, Jan-Torge Schindler, Malte Schramm, Kazuhiro Shimasaku, Yoshiki Toba, Benny Trakhtenbrot, Maxime Trebitsch, Tommaso Treu, Hideki Umehata, Bram P. Venemans, Marianne Vestergaard, Fabian Walter, Feige Wang and Jinyi Yang
Additional contact information
Xuheng Ding: The University of Tokyo
Masafusa Onoue: The University of Tokyo
John D. Silverman: The University of Tokyo
Yoshiki Matsuoka: Ehime University
Takuma Izumi: National Astronomical Observatory of Japan, Osawa
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
Irham Taufik Andika: Technical University of München
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
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
Masatoshi Imanishi: National Astronomical Observatory of Japan, Osawa
Kohei Inayoshi: Peking University
Kazushi Iwasawa: University of Barcelona (IEEC-UB)
Nobunari Kashikawa: The University of Tokyo
Toshihiro Kawaguchi: Onomichi City University
Kotaro Kohno: 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
Yoshiki Toba: National Astronomical Observatory of Japan, Osawa
Benny Trakhtenbrot: Tel Aviv University
Maxime Trebitsch: University of Groningen
Tommaso Treu: University of California
Hideki Umehata: Nagoya University
Bram P. Venemans: Leiden University
Marianne Vestergaard: University of Arizona
Fabian Walter: Max Planck Institute for Astronomy
Feige Wang: University of Arizona
Jinyi Yang: University of Arizona

Nature, 2023, vol. 621, issue 7977, 51-55

Abstract: 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.

Date: 2023
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DOI: 10.1038/s41586-023-06345-5

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