Near-infrared adaptive optics imaging of high redshift quasars

Abstract

The properties of high redshift quasar host galaxies are studied, in order to investigate the connection between galaxy evolution, nuclear activity, and the formation of supermassive black holes. We combine new near-infrared observations of three high redshift quasars (2 < z < 3), obtained at the ESO Very Large Telescope equipped with adaptive optics, with selected data from the literature. For the three new objects we were able to detect and characterize the properties of the host galaxy, found to be consistent with those of massive elliptical galaxies of M(R) ~ -24.7 for the one radio loud quasar, and M(R) ~ -23.8 for the two radio quiet quasars. When combined with existing data at lower redshift, these new observations depict a scenario where the host galaxies of radio loud quasars are seen to follow the expected trend of luminous (~5L*) elliptical galaxies undergoing passive evolution. This trend is remarkably similar to that followed by radio galaxies at z > 1.5. Radio quiet quasars hosts also follow a similar trend but at a lower average luminosity (~0.5 mag dimmer). The data indicate that quasar host galaxies are already fully formed at epochs as early as ~2 Gyr after the Big Bang and then passively fade in luminosity to the present epoch.

arXiv commentAccepted for publication in ApJ, 24 pages, 10 figures

References in corpus (44)

• The broken hierarchy of galaxy formation
• A Unified Model for the Evolution of Galaxies and Quasars
• The formation history of elliptical galaxies
• A Physical Model for the Co-evolution of QSOs and of their Spheroidal Hosts
• Passively Evolving Early-type Galaxies at 1.4<z<2.5 in the Hubble Ultra Deep Field
• A Survey of z>5.7 Quasars in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey II: Discovery of Three Additional Quasars at z>6
• Hubble Space Telescope Images of a Sample of Twenty Nearby Luminous Quasars
• Quasars, their host galaxies, and their central black holes
• Old Galaxies in the Young Universe
• Probing the Coevolution of Supermassive Black Holes and Galaxies Using Gravitationally Lensed Quasar Hosts
• High-Redshift Quasars Found in Sloan Digital Sky Survey Commissioning Data IV: Luminosity Function from the Fall Equatorial Stripe Sampl
• Dust emission from the most distant quasars
• Spitzer Observations of Massive Red Galaxies at High Redshift
• The black-hole masses of Seyfert galaxies and quasars
• Near-infrared template spectra of normal galaxies: k-corrections, galaxy models and stellar populations
• Near-infrared imaging and the K-z relation for radio galaxies in the 7C Redshift Survey
• The Deep X-ray Radio Blazar Survey (DXRBS). I. Methods and First Results
• The 2dF QSO Redshift Survey - V. The 10k catalogue
• Evolved Galaxies at z > 1.5 from the Gemini Deep Deep Survey: The Formation Epoch of Massive Stellar Systems
• The Sloan Digital Sky Survey Quasar Catalog II. First Data Release
• NICMOS Imaging of DRGs in the HDF-S: A Relation Between Star-Formation and Size at z ~ 2.5
• Cosmic Evolution of Black Holes and Spheroids. II: Scaling Relations at z=0.36
• A wide-field K-band survey. The luminosity function of galaxies
• The Kormendy relation of massive elliptical galaxies at z~1.5. Evidence for size evolution ?
• NICMOS observations of high redshift radio galaxies: witnessing the formation of bright elliptical galaxies?
• Iron Emission in z~6 QSOs
• Erratum - The many lives of AGN: cooling flows, black holes and the luminosities and colours of galaxies
• The ages of quasar host galaxies
• The Luminosity Function of QSO Host Galaxies
• HST Imaging of z > 0.4 Quasar Host Galaxies Selected by Quasar Radio and Optical Properties
• The Fundamental Plane of Radio Galaxies
• The BH mass of nearby QSOs: a comparison of the bulge luminosity and virial methods
• The cosmic evolution of quasar host galaxies
• QSO hosts and environments at z=0.9 to 4.2: JHK images with adaptive optics
• Gemini imaging of QSO host galaxies at z~2
• Host Galaxies of low z Radio-loud Quasars: A search of HST archives
• VLT adaptive optics imaging of QSO host galaxies and close environment at z ~2.5: results from a pilot program
• Adaptive optics imaging of low and intermediate redshift quasars
• QSO HOST GALAXIES AT Z=2.3
• Accounting for anisoplanatic point spread function in deep wide-field adaptive optics images
• High-redshift quasar host galaxies with adaptive optics
• The host galaxies of radio-quiet quasars at 0.5<z<1.0
• Observations of quasar hosts with adaptive optics at Lick Observatory
• HST and UKIRT imaging observations of z~1 6C radio galaxies - II. Galaxy morphologies and the alignment effect

Cited by in corpus (26)

• Modeling the color evolution of luminous red galaxies - improvements with empirical stellar spectra
• A Pilot Survey for KX QSOs in the UKIDSS Ultra Deep Survey Field
• Subaru Telescope adaptive optics observations of gravitationally lensed quasars in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey
• The quasar M_bh - M_host relation through Cosmic Time I - Dataset and black hole masses
• Low redshift quasars in the SDSS Stripe 82. The host galaxies
• The extent of the MgII absorbing circum-galactic medium of quasars
• A glance at the host galaxy of high-redshift quasars using strong damped Lyman-alpha systems as coronagraphs
• Cosmic Evolution of Star Formation In SDSS Quasar Hosts Since z=1
• A QSO host galaxy and its Lyalpha emission at z=6.43
• The properties of quasar hosts at the peak of the quasar activity
• Downsizing of supermassive black holes from the SDSS quasar survey
• Host Galaxies of z=4 Quasars
• Low redshift quasars in the SDSS Stripe 82. Host galaxy colors and close environment
• The Origins of a Rich Absorption Line Complex in a Quasar at Redshift 3.45
• The redshift and the host galaxy of the neutrino candidate 4FGL J0955.1+3551 (3HSP J095507.9+355101)
• Large-Scale Gas Dynamics in the Adhesion Model: Implications for the Two-Phase Massive Galaxy Formation Scenario
• The Contribution from Scattered Light to Quasar Galaxy Hosts
• Overdensity of galaxies in the environment of quasar pairs
• The changing ISM of massive elliptical galaxies and cosmic evolution of radio galaxies and quasars
• Quasar Host Galaxies in the FORS Deep Field
• Low redshift quasars in the SDSS Stripe 82: Associated companion galaxies and signature of star formation
• MAD Adaptive Optics Imaging of High Luminosity Quasars: A Pilot Project
• Low-redshift quasars in the SDSS Stripe 82 II: associated companion galaxies and signature of star formation
• High resolution deep imaging of a bright radio quiet QSO at z~3
• Re-classification of the alleged quasar Q0045-3337
• Off-axis point spread function characterisation in laser-guide star adaptive optics systems