THE FIRST HIGH-REDSHIFT QUASAR FROM Pan-STARRS

Journal Article · Fri Jun 15 00:00:00 EDT 2012 · Astronomical Journal (New York, N.Y. Online)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1088/0004-6256/143/6/142· OSTI ID:22034444

Morganson, Eric; De Rosa, Gisella; Decarli, Roberto; Walter, Fabian; Rix, Hans-Walter ^[1]; Chambers, Ken; Burgett, William; Flewelling, Heather; Hodapp, Klaus; Kaiser, Nick; Magnier, Eugene; Sweeney, Bill; Waters, Christopher ^[2]; McGreer, Ian; Fan, Xiaohui ^[3]; Greiner, Jochen ^[4]; Price, Paul ^[5]

---

1. Max-Planck-Institut fuer Astronomie, Koenigstuhl 17, 69117 Heidelberg (Germany)
2. Institute for Astronomy, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Honolulu, HI 96822 (United States)
3. Steward Observatory, University of Arizona, 933 N Cherry Ave., Tucson, AZ 85721 (United States)
4. Max-Planck-Institut fuer extraterrestrische Physik, Giessenbachstrasse 1, 85748 Garching (Germany)
5. Princeton University Observatory, 4 Ivy Lane, Peyton Hall, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08544 (United States)

We present the discovery of the first high-redshift (z > 5.7) quasar from the Panoramic Survey Telescope and Rapid Response System 1 (Pan-STARRS1 or PS1). This quasar was initially detected as an i{sub P1} dropout in PS1, confirmed photometrically with the SAO Wide-field InfraRed Camera at Arizona's Multiple Mirror Telescope (MMT) and the Gamma-Ray Burst Optical/Near-Infrared Detector at the MPG 2.2 m telescope in La Silla. The quasar was verified spectroscopically with the MMT Spectrograph, Red Channel and the Cassegrain Twin Spectrograph at the Calar Alto 3.5 m telescope. Its near-infrared spectrum was taken at the Large Binocular Telescope Observatory (LBT) with the LBT Near-Infrared Spectroscopic Utility with Camera and Integral Field Unit for Extragalactic Research. It has a redshift of 5.73, an AB z{sub P1} magnitude of 19.4, a luminosity of 3.8 Multiplication-Sign 10{sup 47} erg s{sup -1}, and a black hole mass of 6.9 Multiplication-Sign 10{sup 9} M{sub Sun }. It is a broad absorption line quasar with a prominent Ly{beta} peak and a very blue continuum spectrum. This quasar is the first result from the PS1 high-redshift quasar search that is projected to discover more than 100 i{sub P1} dropout quasars and could potentially find more than 10 z{sub P1} dropout (z > 6.8) quasars.

• OSTI ID: 22034444
• Journal Information: Astronomical Journal (New York, N.Y. Online), Journal Name: Astronomical Journal (New York, N.Y. Online) Journal Issue: 6 Vol. 143; ISSN 1538-3881
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS
ABSORPTION
ASTRONOMY
ASTROPHYSICS
BLACK HOLES
CAMERAS
COSMIC GAMMA BURSTS
INFRARED SPECTRA
LUMINOSITY
MIRRORS
NEAR INFRARED RADIATION
QUASARS
RED SHIFT
TELESCOPES
UNIVERSE