High Redshift QUASAR HOST Galaxies (Growing Galaxies with Monstrous Middles) Jill Bechtold, University of Arizona Kim K. McLeod, Wellesley College Undergraduates: Frannie D’Arcangelo Melissa Rice Rebecca Stoll Angela Bivens (Thanks to K. Luhman, E. Olszewski, M. Mateo for telescope time and observing)

QUASAR EVOLUTION Quasar activity peaked about 10 – 12 billion years ago

Black hole v. Spheroid Mass The “Kormendy Relation” M bh = M Gal Kormendy & Richstone 1995 Magorrian et al 1998 Haring & Rix 2004

QUASAR EVOLUTION Kormendy Relation only feasible for the very closest quasars

Hubble Space Telescope NICMOS images Quasar host galaxies McLeod et al

QUASAR EVOLUTION Quasar host galaxies studied out to z~1

QUASAR EVOLUTION What about these guys? What about these guys?

Taking the big step to high-z: PANIC! (Persson’s Auxilliary Nasmyth Infrared Camera) Bechtold and McLeod have been using Magellan (6.5m) to image z=4 quasars in the near-IR Also used Magellan + Classicam; Gemini-N + NIRI

Why PANIC at Magellan? Observing Strategy: Require deep observations large sample (10’s of quasars minimum; radio loud/radio quiet etc) near-IR or longward to sample rest frame optical for host galaxy excellent image quality well-defined PSF for PSF subtraction (1) What observing band? > For z=5-6, Ks is short of the 4000A break in the host galaxy  Need space telescope to observe longward of Ks, but Spitzer is too small (IRAC: 1.2 arcsec/pixel) > For z=4, Ks and H straddle the 4000A break K-H  photo-z of candidate hosts

Observing Strategy, continued (2)Why not use NICMOS on HST? At K-band PANIC beats NICMOS on HST, with better image quality PANIC: arcsec/pixel NICMOS: arcsec/pixel PANIC has bigger FOV  comparison PSF stars simultaneously 6.5m telescope  deeper faster HST time oversubscribed; hard to get big sample e.g. Ridgeway ApJ 550, z~2-3 hosts Kukula MNRAS 326, z~2 hosts Suggested result: hosts of radio-quiet quasars are 2-4 times less massive at z=2 than z= 0.2

Observing Strategy, continued (3)Why not use AO? e.g. Croom ApJ 606, quasars observed with Gemini-N, z~2 FWHM ~ 0.12 – 0.25 arcsec; PANIC: FWHM at Ks, routine Z=4 quasars are rare; hard to find ones near natural guide stars FOV small, variable PSF across the field

Z=4 quasars are all very luminous, so have huge black holes compared to black holes studied locally. If they follow the Kormendy Relation, then the host galaxies should be HUGE, and easy to see.

Growing up with a monster in the middle Kauffmann & Haehnelt 2000 Hierarchical structure formation: black holes are fueled, and galaxies grow, through mergers Z=0.4 Z=3

How do we know the black hole mass? Observed spectrum depends on M bh and m accretion (1)FWHM of emission lines (assume Keplerian velocity; radius scaled from reverberation mapping ) + L(UV continuum) (2) Fit IR to X-ray continuum spectral energy distributions from Sobolewska ApJ,

from Bechtold ApJ, 588, 119

PANIC Observations 1024^2 Rockwell Near-IR HgCdTe Camera So far, 23 Quasars observed with z=4 at Ks ½ night per image follow up H band on 3 host candidates More time end of January Extend to quasar environment study

PANIC at z=4: Stay tuned

For now… The End