Gamma-Ray Blazars within the First 2 Billion Years

dc.contributor.authorOjha, R.
dc.contributor.authorFerrara, E. C.
dc.contributor.authorHays, E.
dc.contributor.authorPerkins, J. S.
dc.contributor.authorRani, B.
dc.contributor.authorThompson, D. J.
dc.date.accessioned2020-04-13T13:14:47Z
dc.date.available2020-04-13T13:14:47Z
dc.date.issued2017-02-27
dc.description.abstractThe detection of high-redshift (z > 3) blazars enables the study of the evolution of the most luminous relativistic jets over cosmic time. More importantly, high-redshift blazars tend to host massive black holes and can be used to constrain the space density of heavy black holes in the early universe. Here, we report the first detection with the Fermi-Large Area Telescope of five γ-ray-emitting blazars beyond z = 3.1, more distant than any blazars previously detected in γ-rays. Among these five objects, NVSS J151002+570243 is now the most distant known γ-ray-emitting blazar at z = 4.31. These objects have steeply falling γ-ray spectral energy distributions (SEDs), and those that have been observed in X-rays have a very hard X-ray spectrum, both typical of powerful blazars. Their Compton dominance (ratio of the inverse Compton to synchrotron peak luminosities) is also very large (> 20). All of these properties place these objects among the most extreme members of the blazar population. Their optical spectra and the modeling of their optical-UV SEDs confirm that these objects harbor massive black holes (MBH ~10⁸⁻¹⁰,Mͼ). We find that, at z = 4, the space density of > 10⁹ Mͼ black holes hosted in radio-loud and radio-quiet active galactic nuclei are similar, implying that radio-loudness may play a key role in rapid black hole growth in the early universe.en_US
dc.description.sponsorshipWe are grateful to the referee for insightful comments. The Fermi-LAT Collaboration acknowledges support for LAT development, operation and data analysis from NASA and DOE (United States), CEA/Irfu and IN2P3/CNRS (France), ASI and INFN (Italy), MEXT, KEK, and JAXA (Japan), and the KA Wallenberg Foundation, the Swedish Research Council and the National Space Board (Sweden). Science analysis support in the operations phase from INAF (Italy) and CNES (France) is also gratefully acknowledged. Part of this work is based on archival data, software, or online services provided by the ASI Science Data Center (ASDC).en_US
dc.description.urihttps://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/2041-8213/aa5fffen_US
dc.format.extent8 pagesen_US
dc.genrejournal articlesen_US
dc.identifierdoi:10.13016/m2jovi-ej4w
dc.identifier.citationOjha R, Ferrara E. C, Hays E, Perkins J. S, Rani B, Thompson D. J, Gamma-Ray Blazars within the First 2 Billion Years, The Astrophysical Journal, 2017, https://doi.org/10.3847%2F2041-8213%2Faa5fffen_US
dc.identifier.urihttps://doi.org/10.3847%2F2041-8213%2Faa5fff
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/11603/18020
dc.identifier.urihttp://simbad.u-strasbg.fr/simbad/sim-ref?querymethod=bib&simbo=on&submit=submit+bibcode&bibcode=2017ApJ...837L...5A
dc.identifier.urihttps://ned.ipac.caltech.edu/cgi-bin/objsearch?search_type=Search&refcode=2017ApJ...837L...5A
dc.language.isoen_USen_US
dc.publisherIOPen_US
dc.relation.isAvailableAtThe University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC)
dc.relation.ispartofUMBC Physics Department Collection
dc.relation.ispartofUMBC Center for Space Sciences and Technology (CSST) / Center for Research and Exploration in Space Sciences & Technology II (CRSST II)
dc.relation.ispartofUMBC Joint Center for Earth Systems Technology (JCET)
dc.rightsThis item is likely protected under Title 17 of the U.S. Copyright Law. Unless on a Creative Commons license, for uses protected by Copyright Law, contact the copyright holder or the author.
dc.rightsPublic Domain Mark 1.0*
dc.rightsThis work was written as part of one of the author's official duties as an Employee of the United States Government and is therefore a work of the United States Government. In accordance with 17 U.S.C. 105, no copyright protection is available for such works under U.S. Law
dc.rights.urihttp://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/*
dc.titleGamma-Ray Blazars within the First 2 Billion Yearsen_US
dc.typeTexten_US

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