Discovery of a 12 billion solar mass black hole at redshift 6.3 and its challenge to the black hole/galaxy coevolution at cosmic dawn. Issue Volume 11:Issue S319(2015) (17th August 2016)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Wu, Xue-Bing; Wang, Feige; Fan, Xiaohui; Yi, Weimin; Zuo, Wenwen; Bian, Fuyan; Jiang, Linhua; McGreer, Ian D.; Wang, Ran; Yang, Jinyi; Yang, Qian; Thompson, David; Beletsky, Yuri
• Editors: Kaviraj, S.
• Is Part Of: Proceedings of the International Astronomical Union. Volume 11:Issue S319(2015)
• Page Start: 80
• Page End: 83
• Publication Date: 2016-08-17
• Subjects: black hole physics, -- galaxies: active, -- galaxies: nuclei, -- galaxies: evolution, -- quasars: general, -- quasars: emission lines, -- early universe; Astronomy -- Congresses; Astronomy -- Periodicals; 520
• DOI: 10.1017/S1743921315010066
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1743-9213

Abstract

Abstract: The existence of black holes with masses of about one billion solar masses in quasars at redshifts z > 6 presents significant challenges to theories of the formation and growth of black holes and the black hole/galaxy co-evolution in the early Universe. Here we report a recent discovery of an ultra-luminous quasar at redshift z = 6.30, which has an observed optical and near-infrared luminosity a few times greater than those of previously known z > 6 quasars. With near-infrared spectroscopy, we obtain a black hole mass of about 12 billion solar masses, which is well consistent with the mass derived by assuming an Eddington-limited accretion. This ultra-luminous quasar with at z > 6 provides a unique laboratory to the study of the mass assembly and galaxy formation around the most massive black holes at cosmic dawn. It raises further challenges to the black hole/galaxy co-evolution in the epoch of cosmic reionization because the black hole needs to grow much faster than the host galaxy.