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The Discovery of a Luminous z = 5.80 Quasar from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey*

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Xiaohui Fan1, Richard L. White2, Marc Davis3, Robert H. Becker4,5, Michael A. Strauss1, Zoltan Haiman1, Donald P. Schneider6, Michael D. Gregg4,5, James E. Gunn1, G. R. Knapp1, Robert H. Lupton1, John E. Anderson, Jr.7, Scott F. Anderson8, James Annis7, Neta A. Bahcall1, William N. Boroski7, Robert J. Brunner9, Bing Chen10, Andrew J. Connolly11, István Csabai10, Mamoru Doi12, Masataka Fukugita13,14, G. S. Hennessy15, Robert B. Hindsley16, Takashi Ichikawa17, Željko Ivezić1, Jon Loveday18, Avery Meiksin19, Timothy A. McKay20, Jeffrey A. Munn21, Heidi Jo Newberg22, Robert Nichol23, Sadanori Okamura12, Jeffrey R. Pier21, Maki Sekiguchi13, Kazuhiro Shimasaku12, Chris Stoughton7, Alexander S. Szalay10, Gyula P. Szokoly24, Aniruddha R. Thakar10, Michael S. Vogeley25 and Donald G. York26

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We present observations of SDSSp J104433.04-012502.2, a luminous quasar at z = 5.80 discovered from Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) multicolor imaging data. This object was selected as an i'-band dropout object, with i* = 21.8 ± 0.2 and z* = 19.2 ± 0.1. It has an absolute magnitude M1450 = -27.2 (H0 = 50 km s-1 Mpc-1, q0 = 0.5). The spectrum shows a strong and broad Lyα emission line, strong Lyα forest absorption lines with a mean continuum decrement DA = 0.91 and a Lyman limit system at z = 5.72. The spectrum also shows strong O I and Si IV emission lines similar to those of quasars at z lesssim 5, suggesting that these metals were produced at a redshift beyond 6. The lack of a Gunn-Peterson trough in the spectrum indicates that the universe is already highly ionized at z ~ 5.8. Using a high-resolution spectrum in the Lyα forest region, we place a conservative upper limit on the optical depth because of the Gunn-Peterson effect of τ < 0.5 in regions of minimum absorption. The Lyα forest absorption in this object is much stronger than that in quasars at z lesssim 5. The object is unresolved in a deep image with excellent seeing, implying that it is unlensed. The black hole mass of this quasar is ~3 × 109 Modot if we assume no lensing amplification and that it is radiating at the Eddington luminosity, implying that it resides in a very massive dark matter halo. The discovery of one quasar at M1450 < -27 in a survey area of 600 deg2 is consistent with an extrapolation of the observed luminosity function at lower redshifts. The abundance and evolution of such quasars can provide sensitive tests for models of quasar and galaxy formation.


Footnote
*  Based on observations obtained with the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, which is owned and operated by the Astrophysical Research Consortium, and at the W. M. Keck Observatory, which is operated as a scientific partnership among the California Institute of Technology, the University of California, and NASA, and was made possible by the generous financial support of the W. M. Keck Foundation.
Keywords

intergalactic medium; quasars: absorption lines; quasars: emission lines; quasars: individual (SDSSp J104433.04-012502.2)


Dates

Issue 3 (2000 September)

Received 2000 May 23, accepted for publication 2000 June 8



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