The Host Galaxies of Very High Redshift Quasars

Physics – Optics

Scientific paper

Rate now

  [ 0.00 ] – not rated yet Voters 0   Comments 0

Details

Scientific paper

Understanding the formation and evolution of both galaxies and quasars are among the premier goals of extragalactic research. The current expectation is that the evolutionary histories of these two classes of objects are somehow intimately related; that is the (proto- )galaxy interactions that arise during hierarchical structure formation first created and then fueled the quasars. All of the empirical evidence supporting this belief, however, is for quasar systems at low redshift (z < 0.5) where we may be seeing special end-cases due to the evolved nature of the host galaxy. At the higher redshifts corresponding to the time when quasars were most abundant (z ~ 2), there have been no conclusive measurements. Yet this is the regime where the most compelling physical commonalities between quasars and their host galaxies arise. We, therefore, propose to remedy this situation by obtaining adaptive optics H-band observations using the Gemini North telescope with the Hokupa'a/QUIRC camera of two intrinsically luminous, high redshift quasars (z ~ 2) to both identify the morphologies of the proto-galaxies fueling the quasar and to also quantify their evolution with redshift by comparison to published, low redshift results. With this exploratory survey (which can currently only be done with Gemini Adaptive Optics), we will be able to, for the first time, uncover quasar host galaxies at the peak of the quasar era.

No associations

LandOfFree

Say what you really think

Search LandOfFree.com for scientists and scientific papers. Rate them and share your experience with other people.

Rating

The Host Galaxies of Very High Redshift Quasars does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this scientific paper.

If you have personal experience with The Host Galaxies of Very High Redshift Quasars, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and The Host Galaxies of Very High Redshift Quasars will most certainly appreciate the feedback.

Rate now

     

Profile ID: LFWR-SCP-O-1215577

  Search
All data on this website is collected from public sources. Our data reflects the most accurate information available at the time of publication.