Widespread, strong outflows in XQR-30 quasars at the Reionisation epoch

Abstract

Luminous quasars powered by accretion onto billion solar mass black holes already exist at the epoch of Reionisation, when the Universe was 0.5-1 Gyr old. These objects likely reside in over-dense regions of the Universe, and will grow to form today's giant galaxies. How their huge black holes formed in such short times is debated, particularly as they lie above the local black hole mass-galaxy dynamical mass correlation, thus following the black hole-dominance growth path. It is unknown what slowed down the black hole growth, leading towards the symbiotic growth observed in the local Universe, and when this process started, although black hole feedback is a likely driver. This deadlock is due to the lack of large, homogeneous samples of high-redshift quasars with high-quality, broad-band spectroscopic information. Here we report results from a VLT/X-shooter survey of 30 quasars at redshift 5.8$\le$z$\le$6.6 (XQR-30). About 50% of their spectra reveal broad blue-shifted absorption line (BAL) throughs, tracing powerful ionised winds. The BAL fraction in z$\gtrsim$6 quasars is 2-3 times higher than in quasars at z~2-4.5. XQR-30 BAL quasars exhibit extreme outflow velocities, up to 17% of the light speed, rarely observed at lower redshift. These outflows inject large amounts of energy into the galaxy interstellar medium, which can contrast nuclear gas accretion, slowing down the black-hole growth. The star-formation rate in high-z quasar hosts is generally $>$100 M${}_{\odot }$/yr, so these galaxies are growing at a fast rate. The BAL phase may then mark the beginning of significant feedback, acting first on black hole growth and possibly later on galaxy growth. The red optical colors of BAL quasars at z$\gtrsim$6 indeed suggest that these systems are dusty and may be caught during an initial quenching phase of obscured accretion.

This preprint has not undergone peer review or any post-submission improvements or corrections. The Version of Record of this article is published in Nature, and is available online at https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-022-04608-1

References in corpus (15)

• The UKIRT Infrared Deep Sky Survey (UKIDSS)
• A Catalog of Quasar Properties from SDSS DR7
• A Luminous Quasar at Redshift 7.642
• A Catalog of Broad Absorption Line Quasars in Sloan Digital Sky Survey Data Release 5
• The Pan-STARRS1 distant z>5.6 quasar survey: more than 100 quasars within the first Gyr of the universe
• Physical properties of 15 quasars at $z\gtrsim 6.5$
• The VISTA Science Archive
• Correcting CIV-Based Virial Black Hole Masses
• The Intrinsic Fraction of Broad Absorption Line Quasars
• The Kinematics of z ~ 6 Quasar Host Galaxies
• XQ-100: A legacy survey of one hundred 3.5 < z < 4.5 quasars observed with VLT/XSHOOTER
• Luminous K-band Selected Quasars from UKIDSS
• Discovery of Eight z ~ 6 Quasars in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Overlap Regions
• On the absorption of X-ray bright broad absorption line quasars
• Survey of Extremely High-velocity Outflows in Sloan Digital Sky Survey Quasars

Cited by in corpus (41)

• The X-shooter/ALMA Sample of Quasars in the Epoch of Reionization. II. Black Hole Masses, Eddington Ratios, and the Formation of the First Quasars
• XQR-30: the ultimate XSHOOTER quasar sample at the reionization epoch
• GA-NIFS: Black hole and host galaxy properties of two z$\simeq$6.8 quasars from the NIRSpec IFU
• AGN-driven outflows and the formation of Ly$\alpha$ nebulae around high-z quasars
• The Pan-STARRS1 z>5.6 quasar survey II: Discovery of 55 Quasars at 5.6<z<6.5
• XQR-30: Black Hole Masses and Accretion Rates of 42 z>6 Quasars
• HYPerluminous quasars at the Epoch of ReionizatION (HYPERION). A new regime for the X-ray nuclear properties of the first quasars
• The XQR-30 Metal Absorber Catalog: 778 Absorption Systems Spanning 2 < z < 6.5
• The Pan-STARRS1 $\mathbf{z}>5.6$ Quasar Survey: III. The $\mathbf{z}\approx 6$ Quasar Luminosity Function
• A quasar-galaxy merger at $z\sim 6.2$: black hole mass and quasar properties from the NIRSpec spectrum
• The fraction and kinematics of broad absorption line quasars across cosmic time
• The interstellar medium distribution, gas kinematics, and system dynamics of the far-infrared luminous quasar SDSS J2310+1855 at $z=6.0$
• Examining the Decline in the C IV Content of the Universe over 4.3 < z < 6.3 using the E-XQR-30 Sample
• Multi-phase black-hole feedback and a bright [CII] halo in a Lo-BAL quasar at $z\sim 6.6$
• The THESAN project: connecting ionized bubble sizes to their local environments during the Epoch of Reionization
• The WISSH quasars project XI. The mean Spectral Energy Distribution and Bolometric Corrections of the most luminous quasars
• The black hole and host galaxy growth in an isolated $z\sim 6$ QSO observed with ALMA
• New quasar proximity zone size measurements at $z\sim 6$ using the enlarged XQR-30 sample
• Accurate dust temperature and star formation rate in the most luminous $z>6$ quasar in the HYPerluminous quasars at the Epoch of ReionizatION (HYPERION) sample
• Dust-driven wind as a model of Broad Absorption Line quasars
• HYPERION. Coevolution of supermassive black holes and galaxies at $z>6$ and the build-up of massive galaxies
• Evidence of Pop~III stars' chemical signature in neutral gas at z~6. A study based on the E-XQR-30 spectroscopic sample
• Molecular Outflows in z > 6 QSO Hosts Driven by Star Formation
• JWST ERS Program Q3D: The pitfalls of virial BH mass constraints shown in a z = 3 quasar with an ultramassive host
• Supermassive black hole formation via collisions in black hole clusters
• No redshift evolution in the rest-frame UV emission line properties of quasars from z=1.5 to z=4.0
• The ALPINE-ALMA [CII] survey: double stellar population and AGN activity in a galaxy at $z\sim 5.5$
• MOSEL Survey: Extremely weak outflows in EoR analogues at z=3-4
• Connection between Emission and Absorption Outflows through the Study of Quasars with Extremely-High Velocity Outflows
• Dynamical signature of a stellar bulge in a quasar host galaxy at $z\simeq 6$
• GA-NIFS: Mapping $z\simeq 3.5$ AGN-driven ionized outflows in the COSMOS field
• Discovery and characterization of 25 new quasars at 4.6 < z < 6.9 from wide-field multi-band surveys
• Optical and near-infrared spectroscopy of quasars at $z>6.5$: public data release and composite spectrum
• Coordinated X-ray and UV absorption within the accretion disk wind of the active galactic nucleus PG 1126-041
• HYPERION: broad-band X-ray-to-near-infrared emission of Quasars in the first billion years of the Universe
• Black hole-galaxy co-evolution and the role of feedback
• Euclid: The potential of slitless infrared spectroscopy: A z=5.4 quasar and new ultracool dwarfs
• UNIONS Optical Identifications for VLASS Radio Sources in the Euclid Sky (UNVEIL) I. A Catalog of ~146,000 Radio Galaxies up to z~5
• Extreme Galaxy-scale Outflows Are Frequent among Luminous Early Quasars
• Multi-phase investigation of outflows in the circumgalactic and interstellar media of luminous quasars at z~5
• The clustering of C IV and Si IV at the end of reionisation: A perspective from the E-XQR-30 survey