1. Host galaxies of high-redshift extremely red and obscured quasars
- Author
-
Rachael M. Alexandroff, Nadia L. Zakamska, W. N. Brandt, Serena Perrotta, Jenny E. Greene, Michael A. Strauss, Guilin Liu, Fred Hamann, Nicholas P. Ross, Ai-Lei Sun, Dominika Wylezalek, and Marco Chiaberge
- Subjects
Physics ,010308 nuclear & particles physics ,Astrophysics::High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena ,FOS: Physical sciences ,Astronomy and Astrophysics ,Quasar ,Astrophysics::Cosmology and Extragalactic Astrophysics ,Astrophysics ,Astrophysics - Astrophysics of Galaxies ,01 natural sciences ,Redshift ,Accretion (astrophysics) ,Galaxy ,Luminosity ,Black hole ,Space and Planetary Science ,Astrophysics of Galaxies (astro-ph.GA) ,Hubble space telescope ,0103 physical sciences ,Galaxy formation and evolution ,Astrophysics::Solar and Stellar Astrophysics ,010303 astronomy & astrophysics ,Astrophysics::Galaxy Astrophysics - Abstract
We present Hubble Space Telescope 1.4-1.6 micron images of the hosts of ten extremely red quasars (ERQs) and six type 2 quasar candidates at z=2-3. ERQs, whose bolometric luminosities range between 10^47 and 10^48 erg/sec, show spectroscopic signs of powerful ionized winds, whereas type 2 quasar candidates are less luminous and show only mild outflows. After performing careful subtraction of the quasar light, we clearly detect almost all host galaxies. The median rest-frame B-band luminosity of the ERQ hosts in our sample is 10^11.2 L_Sun, or 4 L* at this redshift. Two of the ten hosts of ERQs are in ongoing mergers. The hosts of the type 2 quasar candidates are 0.6 dex less luminous, with 2/6 in likely ongoing mergers. Intriguingly, despite some signs of interaction and presence of low-mass companions, our objects do not show nearly as much major merger activity as do high-redshift radio-loud galaxies and quasars. In the absence of an overt connection to major ongoing gas-rich merger activity, our observations are consistent with a model in which the near-Eddington accretion and strong feedback of ERQs are associated with relatively late stages of mergers resulting in early-type remnants. These results are in some tension with theoretical expectations of galaxy formation models, in which rapid black hole growth occurs within a short time of a major merger. Type 2 quasar candidates are less luminous, so they may instead be powered by internal galactic processes., Accepted to MNRAS; 23 pages, including 9 figures and 2 tables
- Published
- 2019
- Full Text
- View/download PDF