相关论文: First Spectroscopic Study of a Young Quasar
Many cosmological studies predict that early supermassive black holes (SMBHs) can only form in the most massive dark matter halos embedded within large scale structures marked by galaxy over-densities that may extend up to 10 physical Mpc.…
Wang et al. (2006) estimated an average radiative efficiency of 30% -- 35% for quasars at moderate redshift. We find that their method is not independent of quasar lifetimes and thus that quasars do not necessarily have such high…
We present sensitive near-infrared spectroscopic observations for a sample of five z ~ 6 quasars. These are amongst the most distant, currently known quasars in the universe. The spectra have been obtained using ISAAC at the VLT and include…
Supermassive black hole binaries (SMBHBs) should be an inevitable consequence of the hierarchical growth of massive galaxies through mergers, and the strongest sirens of gravitational waves (GWs) in the cosmos. And yet, their direct…
We combine stellar mass functions and the recent first JWST-based galaxy--black hole scaling relations at $z=6$ to for the first time compute the supermassive black hole (SMBH) mass volume density at this epoch, and compare this to the…
The evolution of the quasar luminosity function (QLF) is fundamental to understanding the cosmic evolution of black holes (BHs) through their accretion phases. In the era of the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), Euclid, and Nancy Grace…
Proximity zones of high-redshift quasars are unique probes of supermassive black hole formation, but simultaneously explaining proximity zone sizes and black hole masses has proved to be challenging. We study the robustness of some of the…
Virial black-hole mass estimates are presented for 12698 quasars in the redshift interval 0.1<z<2.1, based on modelling of spectra from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) first data release. The black-hole masses of the SDSS quasars are…
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,…
We investigate the constraints on models of supermassive black hole (SMBH) and quasar formation obtainable from two recent observational developments: the discovery of luminous quasars at z~6, and estimates of the local mass density of…
Recent improved determinations of the mass density rho_BH of supermassive black holes (SMBHs) in the local universe have allowed accurate comparisons of rho_BH with the amount of light received from past quasar activity. These comparisons…
We propose a model of quasar lifetimes in which observational quasar lifetimes and an intrinsic lifetime of rapid accretion are strongly distinguished by the physics of obscuration by surrounding gas and dust. Quasars are powered by gas…
The formation, accretion and growth of supermassive black holes in the early universe are investigated. The accretion rate ${\dot M}$ is calculated using the Bondi accretion rate onto black holes. Starting with initial seed black holes with…
Recent quasar surveys have revealed that supermassive black holes (SMBHs) rarely exceed a mass of $M_{\rm BH} \sim {\rm a~few}\times10^{10}~M_{\odot}$ during the entire cosmic history. It has been argued that quenching of the BH growth is…
Quasars are galaxies hosting accreting supermassive black holes; due to their brightness, they are unique probes of the early universe. To date, only few quasars have been reported at $z > 6.5$ ($<$800 Myr after the Big Bang). In this work,…
We test the impact of gravitational lensing on the lifetime estimates of seven high-redshift quasars at redshift $z\gtrsim6$. The targeted quasars are identified by their small observed proximity zone sizes, which indicate extremely short…
Observational constraints on the birth and early evolution of massive black holes (BHs) come from two extreme regimes. At high redshift, quasars signal the rapid growth of billion-solar-mass BHs and indicate that these objects began…
The black hole (BH) mass and luminosity are key factors in determining how a quasar interacts with its environment. In this study, we utilise data from the European Southern Observatory Large Programme XQ-100, a high-quality sample of 100…
We present the first study dedicated to measuring the timescales for black hole accretion and jet launch in a quasar at the edge of Reionization, PSO J352.4034-15.3373 at z = 5.832 $\pm$ 0.001. Previous work presented evidence of the strong…
Observations from the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) have uncovered supermassive black holes (SMBHs) with masses exceeding $10^6 \mathrm{M}_{\odot}$ at redshifts $z > 8$, posing significant challenges to existing models of early black…