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QSONG: Supermassive Black Holes in Quasars at World's End

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 June 2010

Myungshin Im
Myungshin Im
Affiliation:
Center for the Exploration of the Origin of the Universe Department of Physics & Astronomy, Seoul National University, Seoul, Korea Email: mim@astro.snu.ac.kr
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Abstract

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We present the initial results of the AKARI mission program QSONG (Quasar Spectroscopic Observation with NIR Grism). QSONG utilizes the unique AKARI capability of performing spectroscopic observations at 2.5–5 μm, with the aim of understanding the mass evolution of ~200 quasars at 3.4 < z < 6.5 from their rest-frame optical spectra. The program also studies the rest-frame NIR spectra of 99 well-studied quasars at low redshift (z < 0.5) and 10 red quasars. With the high-redshift QSONG observations, we detect and resolve redshifted optical lines such as Hα for the first time at this redshift, allowing us to measure the supermassive black hole (SMBH) masses at high redshift using the well-calibrated optical mass estimators and provide an independent assessment of UV line-based mass measurements whose reliability has been controversial. Until the launch of JWST, AKARI will be the only facility in the world capable of studying the rest-frame optical spectra of high-redshift objects out to z ~ 6. Our initial QSONG result indicates a lack of very massive SMBHs at z > 5.5, suggesting that we are possibly witnessing the cosmic growth history of the most massive SMBHs (~ 1010M⊙) in the early universe. Ultimately, an extensive study of the rest-frame optical spectra of high-redshift QSOs will help us understand the evolution and the growth of SMBHs in the early universe.

Keywords

early universegalaxies: activegalaxies: high redshiftquasars: emission lines
Type
Contributed Papers
Information
Proceedings of the International Astronomical Union , Volume 5 , Symposium S267: Co-Evolution of Central Black Holes and Galaxies , August 2009 , pp. 40 - 45
Copyright
Copyright © International Astronomical Union 2010

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