DES J0454–4448: Discovery of the first luminous z ≥ 6 quasar from the Dark Energy Survey
Abstract
In this report, we present the first results of a survey for high-redshift, z ≥ 6, quasars using izY multicolour photometric observations from the Dark Energy Survey (DES). Here we report the discovery and spectroscopic confirmation of the zAB, YAB = 20.2, 20.2 (M1450 = –26.5) quasar DES J0454–4448 with a redshift of z = 6.09±0.02 based on the onset of the Ly α forest and an H i near zone size of 4.1+1.1–1.2 proper Mpc. The quasar was selected as an i-band drop out with i–z = 2.46 and zAB < 21.5 from an area of ~300 deg2. It is the brightest of our 43 candidates and was identified for spectroscopic follow-up solely based on the DES i–z and z–Y colours. The quasar is detected by WISE and has W1AB = 19.68. The discovery of one spectroscopically confirmed quasar with 5.7 < z < 6.5 and zAB ≤ 20.2 is consistent with recent determinations of the luminosity function at z ~ 6. DES when completed will have imaged ~5000 deg2 to YAB = 23.0 (5σ point source) and we expect to discover 50–100 new quasars with z > 6 including 3–10 with z > 7 dramatically increasing the numbersmore »
- Authors:
-
- Univ. of Cambridge, Cambridge (United Kingdom). et al.
- Publication Date:
- Research Org.:
- Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (FNAL), Batavia, IL (United States); Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL), Upton, NY (United States)
- Sponsoring Org.:
- USDOE Office of Science (SC), High Energy Physics (HEP)
- Contributing Org.:
- DES
- OSTI Identifier:
- 1212748
- Alternate Identifier(s):
- OSTI ID: 1245385
- Report Number(s):
- FERMILAB-PUB-15-140-AE; BNL-111932-2016-JA
Journal ID: ISSN 0035-8711; arXiv eprint number arXiv:1504.03264
- Grant/Contract Number:
- AC02-07CH11359; SC00112704
- Resource Type:
- Accepted Manuscript
- Journal Name:
- Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
- Additional Journal Information:
- Journal Volume: 454; Journal Issue: 4; Journal ID: ISSN 0035-8711
- Publisher:
- Royal Astronomical Society
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
- Subject:
- 79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS; dark ages; reionization; first stars; galaxies: active; galaxies: formation; galaxies: high redshift; quasars: individual: DES J0454-4448; galaxies: high-redshift; reionizaion
Citation Formats
Reed, S. L. DES J0454–4448: Discovery of the first luminous z ≥ 6 quasar from the Dark Energy Survey. United States: N. p., 2015.
Web. doi:10.1093/mnras/stv2031.
Reed, S. L. DES J0454–4448: Discovery of the first luminous z ≥ 6 quasar from the Dark Energy Survey. United States. https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stv2031
Reed, S. L. Wed .
"DES J0454–4448: Discovery of the first luminous z ≥ 6 quasar from the Dark Energy Survey". United States. https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stv2031. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1212748.
@article{osti_1212748,
title = {DES J0454–4448: Discovery of the first luminous z ≥ 6 quasar from the Dark Energy Survey},
author = {Reed, S. L.},
abstractNote = {In this report, we present the first results of a survey for high-redshift, z ≥ 6, quasars using izY multicolour photometric observations from the Dark Energy Survey (DES). Here we report the discovery and spectroscopic confirmation of the zAB, YAB = 20.2, 20.2 (M1450 = –26.5) quasar DES J0454–4448 with a redshift of z = 6.09±0.02 based on the onset of the Ly α forest and an H i near zone size of 4.1+1.1–1.2 proper Mpc. The quasar was selected as an i-band drop out with i–z = 2.46 and zAB < 21.5 from an area of ~300 deg2. It is the brightest of our 43 candidates and was identified for spectroscopic follow-up solely based on the DES i–z and z–Y colours. The quasar is detected by WISE and has W1AB = 19.68. The discovery of one spectroscopically confirmed quasar with 5.7 < z < 6.5 and zAB ≤ 20.2 is consistent with recent determinations of the luminosity function at z ~ 6. DES when completed will have imaged ~5000 deg2 to YAB = 23.0 (5σ point source) and we expect to discover 50–100 new quasars with z > 6 including 3–10 with z > 7 dramatically increasing the numbers of quasars currently known that are suitable for detailed studies.},
doi = {10.1093/mnras/stv2031},
journal = {Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society},
number = 4,
volume = 454,
place = {United States},
year = {Wed Oct 28 00:00:00 EDT 2015},
month = {Wed Oct 28 00:00:00 EDT 2015}
}
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