GA-NIFS and EIGER: A merging quasar host at z=7 with an overmassive black hole

Abstract

The James Webb Space Telescope is revolutionising our ability to understand the host galaxies and local environments of high-z quasars. Here we obtain a comprehensive understanding of the host galaxy of the z=7.08 quasar J1120+0641 by combining NIRSpec integral field spectroscopy with NIRCam photometry of the host continuum emission. Our emission-line maps reveal that this quasar host is undergoing a merger with a bright companion galaxy. The quasar host and the companion have similar dynamical masses of $\sim 10^{10}{M}_{\odot }$, suggesting that this is a major galaxy interaction. Through detailed quasar subtraction and SED fitting using the NIRCam data, we obtained an estimate of the host stellar mass of $M_{\ast }=(3.0_{-1.4}^{+2.5})\times 10^9{M}_{\odot }$, with $M_{\ast }=(2.7_{-0.5}^{+0.5})\times 10^9{M}_{\odot }$ for the companion galaxy. Using the H$\beta$ Balmer line we estimated a virial black hole mass of $M_{\mathrm{BH}}=(1.9_{-1.1}^{+2.9})\times 10^9{M}_{\odot }$. Thus, J1120+0641 has an extreme black hole-stellar mass ratio of $M_{\mathrm{BH}}/M_{\ast }=0.63_{-0.31}^{+0.54}$, which is ~3 dex larger than expected by the local scaling relations between black hole and stellar mass. J1120+0641 is powered by an overmassive black hole with the highest reported black hole-stellar mass ratio in a quasar host that is currently undergoing a major merger. These new insights highlight the power of JWST for measuring and understanding these extreme first quasars.

Accepted for publication in A&A

References in corpus (71)

• The UKIRT Infrared Deep Sky Survey (UKIDSS)
• A Catalog of Quasar Properties from SDSS DR7
• A luminous quasar at a redshift of z = 7.085
• Stellar Population Inference with Prospector
• The Near-Infrared Spectrograph (NIRSpec) on the James Webb Space Telescope I. Overview of the instrument and its capabilities
• Biases in Virial Black Hole Masses: An SDSS Perspective
• The James Webb Space Telescope Mission
• A Luminous Quasar at Redshift 7.642
• The Pan-STARRS1 distant z>5.6 quasar survey: more than 100 quasars within the first Gyr of the universe
• NIRCam Performance on JWST In Flight
• A CEERS Discovery of an Accreting Supermassive Black Hole 570 Myr after the Big Bang: Identifying a Progenitor of Massive z > 6 Quasars
• JADES. The diverse population of infant Black Holes at 4<z<11: merging, tiny, poor, but mighty
• Pōniuā'ena: A Luminous $z=7.5$ Quasar Hosting a 1.5 Billion Solar Mass Black Hole
• The Main Sequence of star-forming galaxies across cosmic times
• Physical properties of 15 quasars at $z\gtrsim 6.5$
• GA-NIFS: A massive black hole in a low-metallicity AGN at $z\sim 5.55$ revealed by JWST/NIRSpec IFS
• A Kiloparsec-Scale Hyper-Starburst in a Quasar Host Less than 1 Gigayear after the Big Bang
• Blowin' in the wind: both `negative' and `positive' feedback in an obscured high-z Quasar
• An Over-Massive Black Hole in the Compact Lenticular Galaxy NGC1277
• Rapidly star-forming galaxies adjacent to quasars at redshifts exceeding 6
• JWST CEERS & JADES Active Galaxies at z = 4-7 Violate the Local $M_{\bullet }-M_{\star }$ Relation at $>3\sigma$: Implications for Low-Mass Black Holes and Seeding Models
• The Near-Infrared Spectrograph (NIRSpec) on the James Webb Space Telescope III. Integral-field spectroscopy
• In-orbit Performance of the Near-Infrared Spectrograph NIRSpec on the James Webb Space Telescope
• The Structures of Distant Galaxies - III: The Merger History of over 20,000 Massive Galaxies at z < 1.2
• JADES: Probing interstellar medium conditions at $z\sim 5.5-9.5$ with ultra-deep JWST/NIRSpec spectroscopy
• EIGER II. first spectroscopic characterisation of the young stars and ionised gas associated with strong H$\beta$ and [OIII] line-emission in galaxies at z=5-7 with JWST
• Kiloparsec-scale ALMA Imaging of [CII] and Dust Continuum Emission of 27 Quasar Host Galaxies at z~6
• A 3D Drizzle Algorithm for JWST and Practical Application to the MIRI Medium Resolution Spectrometer
• Star formation rate and dynamical mass of 10^8 solar mass black hole host galaxies at redshift 6
• EIGER I. a large sample of [OIII]-emitting galaxies at $5.3<z<6.9$ and direct evidence for local reionization by galaxies
• ALMA Observations Show Major Mergers Among the Host Galaxies of Fast-growing, High-redshift Supermassive Black Holes
• Detection of stellar light from quasar host galaxies at redshifts above 6
• The Kinematics of z ~ 6 Quasar Host Galaxies
• The James Webb Space Telescope Mission: Optical Telescope Element Design, Development, and Performance
• Six more quasars at redshift 6 discovered by the Canada-France High-z Quasar Survey
• The compact, ~1 kpc host galaxy of a quasar at z=7.1
• The ultra-dense, interacting environment of a dual AGN at z $\sim$ 3.3 revealed by JWST/NIRSpec IFS
• 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
• The Subaru high-z quasar survey: discovery of faint z~6 quasars
• EIGER V. Characterizing the Host Galaxies of Luminous Quasars at $z\gtrsim 6$
• Integral field spectroscopy of nearby QSOs: I. ENLR size-luminosity relation, ongoing star formation & resolved gas-phase metallicities
• A wide dispersion in star formation rate and dynamical mass of 10^8 solar mass black hole host galaxies at redshift 6
• A dormant, overmassive black hole in the early Universe
• The ALMA view of the high-redshift relation between supermassive black holes and their host galaxies
• JADES: A large population of obscured, narrow line AGN at high redshift
• A SPectroscopic survey of biased halos In the Reionization Era (ASPIRE): A First Look at the Rest-frame Optical Spectra of $z>6.5$ Quasars Using JWST
• GA-NIFS: Black hole and host galaxy properties of two z$\simeq$6.8 quasars from the NIRSpec IFU
• Bright [CII] 158$\mu$m emission in a quasar host galaxy at $z=6.54$
• A dynamical measure of the black hole mass in a quasar 11 billion years ago
• Near-Infrared Imaging of a z=6.42 Quasar Host Galaxy With the Hubble Space Telescope Wide Field Camera 3
• Overmassive black holes in dwarf galaxies out to z$\sim$0.9 in the VIPERS survey
• The Pan-STARRS1 z>5.6 quasar survey II: Discovery of 55 Quasars at 5.6<z<6.5
• EIGER III. JWST/NIRCam observations of the ultra-luminous high-redshift quasar J0100+2802
• Improved Reference Sampling and Subtraction: A Technique for Reducing the Read Noise of Near-infrared Detector Systems
• The Mass Scale of High-Redshift Galaxies: Virial Mass Estimates Calibrated with Stellar Dynamical Models from LEGA-C
• DESI z >~ 5 Quasar Survey. I. A First Sample of 400 New Quasars at z ~ 4.7-6.6
• A New Iron Emission Template for Active Galactic Nuclei. I. Optical Template for the H$\beta$ region
• CIV and CIII] reverberation mapping of the luminous quasar PG 1247+267
• GA-NIFS: High number of dual active galactic nuclei at z~3
• A quasar-galaxy merger at $z\sim 6.2$: black hole mass and quasar properties from the NIRSpec spectrum
• Limits to Rest-Frame Ultraviolet Emission From Far-Infrared-Luminous z~6 Quasar Hosts
• Close companions to two high-redshift quasars
• A quasar-galaxy merger at $z\sim 6.2$: rapid host growth via accretion of two massive satellite galaxies
• No evidence for a significant evolution of $M_{\bullet }$-$M_{\ast }$ relation in massive galaxies up to z$\sim$4
• GA-NIFS: JWST/NIRSpec IFS view of the z~3.5 galaxy GS5001 and its close environment at the core of a large-scale overdensity
• Molecular gas and dust properties in $z>7$ quasar hosts
• The host galaxies of radio-loud quasars at z>5 with ALMA
• An interacting galaxy pair at the origin of a light echo
• SDSS-IV MaNGA: The Nature of an Off-galaxy H$\alpha$ Blob -- A Multi-wavelength View of Offset Cooling in a Merging Galaxy Group
• SDSS-IV MaNGA: the physical origin of off-galaxy H$\alpha$ blobs in the local Universe
• A unique window into the Epoch of Reionisation: A double-peaked Lyman-$\alpha$ emitter in the proximity zone of a quasar at $z\sim 6.6$

Cited by in corpus (8)

• JADES reveals a large population of low mass black holes at high redshift
• Exploring Spatially-Resolved Metallicities, Dynamics and Outflows in Low-Mass Galaxies at $z\sim 7.6$
• The properties of primordially-seeded black holes and their hosts in the first billion years: implications for JWST
• JWST's PEARLS: A z=6 quasar in a train-wreck galaxy merger system
• Shedding the envelope: JWST reveals a kiloparsec-scale [OIII]-weak Balmer shell around a z=7.64 quasar
• General relativistic quasi-spherical accretion in a dark matter halo
• Identification of Candidate Halos Hosting Massive Black Hole Seeds in the $\text{Renaissance}$ Simulations with Support Vector Machines
• A Super-Eddington, Lensing-Magnified Quasar at $z=5.07$ observed with JWST