Related papers: Physical properties of the first quasars
So far, roughly 40 quasars with redshifts greater than z=6 have been discovered. Each quasar contains a black hole with a mass of about one billion solar masses ($10^9 M_\odot$). The existence of such black holes when the Universe was less…
I review recent observations on the evolution of quasars, describe new surveys for quasars at z > 5 and for quasars at z > 3.3 down to luminosities corresponding to L* galaxies, and note the possible connection between the evolution of the…
I begin by summarizing the evidence that there is a close relationship between the evolution of galaxies and supermassive black holes. They evidently share a common fuel source, and feedback from the black hole may be needed to suppress…
Several arguments suggest that quasars at z > 4 may be in the cores of future giant ellipticals, and forming at the very highest peaks of the primordial density field. A strong bias-driven primordial clustering is then expected in these…
Mass estimates, based on scaling relationships, are presented of central black holes in luminous quasars at a range of redshifts (z < 0.5, 1.2 ~< z ~< 6.3). The data show that very massive (about 10^9 solar masses or larger) black holes…
The properties of high redshift quasar host galaxies are studied, in order to investigate the connection between galaxy evolution, nuclear activity, and the formation of supermassive black holes. We combine new near-infrared observations of…
The existence of supermassive black holes as early as z ~ 7 is one of the great unsolved problems in cosmological structure formation. One leading theory argues that they are born during catastrophic baryon collapse in z ~ 15 protogalaxies…
Galaxies hosting z~2 quasars are the high-$z$ progenitors of today's massive `red-and-dead' galaxies. With close pairs of quasars at different redshifts, a background quasar can be used to study a foreground quasar's halo gas in absorption,…
The first massive astrophysical black holes likely formed at high redshifts (z>10) at the centers of low mass (~10^6 Msun) dark matter concentrations. These black holes grow by mergers and gas accretion, evolve into the population of bright…
The majority of bright distant quasars $(z {}^{>}_{\sim} 1)$ may form in massive mergers appearing in compact galaxy groups in/and young clusters. The expected tests are (i) large correlation signal for medium-$z$ QSOs $(1 < z < 2)$ and…
Supermassive black holes are nowadays believed to reside in most local galaxies. Observations have revealed us vast information on the population of local and distant black holes, but the detailed physical properties of these dark massive…
The discovery of quasars few hundred megayears after the Big Bang represents a major challenge to our understanding of black holes and galaxy formation and evolution. Their luminosity is produced by extreme gas accretion onto black holes,…
I recall how the discovery of quasars occurred more than forty years ago, and the strong debates marking out their story. It led to the discovery of Massive Black Holes, which are now known to be present in almost all galaxies, and it…
In recent years, the discovery of massive quasars at z~7 has provided a striking challenge to our understanding of the origin and growth of supermassive black holes in the early Universe. Mounting observational and theoretical evidence…
We review observable signatures of the first generation of stars and low-luminosity quasars, including the metal enrichment, radiation background, and dust opacity/emission that they produce. We compute the formation history of collapsed…
The discovery of the first strongly lensed $(\mu \approx 50)$ quasar at $z>6$ (J0439+1634) represents a breakthrough in our understanding of the early Universe. We derive the theoretical consequences of the new discovery. We predict that…
The discoveries made over the past 20 years by Chandra and XMM-Newton surveys in conjunction with multiwavelength imaging and spectroscopic data available in the same fields have significantly changed the view of the supermassive black hole…
We investigate the hypothesis that quasars formed together with the stellar populations of early-type galaxies. This hypothesis, in conjunction with the stellar ages of early-type galaxies from population synthesis models, the relation of…
I review recent progress in understanding the formation of the first stars and quasars. The initial conditions for their emergence are given by the now firmly established model of cosmological structure formation. Numerical simulations of…
Supermassive black holes (SMBHs) are nowadays believed to reside in most local galaxies, and the available data show an empirical correlation between bulge luminosity - or stellar velocity dispersion - and black hole mass, suggesting a…