Beneath the Surface: >85% of z>5.9 QSOs in Massive Host Galaxies are UV-Faint
astro-ph.GA
Submitted: 2025-06-30
Updated: 2026-10-13
Comments: 13 pages, 6 figures, 4 tables, accepted in A&A, updated to match the version in press
License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
The gist: We use [CII] observations of a large quasi-stellar object (QSO) sample to segregate sources by host galaxy mass, aiming to identify those in the most massive hosts.
Terminology
Abstract
We use [CII] observations of a large quasi-stellar object (QSO) sample to segregate sources by host galaxy mass, aiming to identify those in the most massive hosts. [CII] luminosity, a known tracer of molecular gas, is taken as a proxy for host mass and used to rank 190 QSOs at z>5.9, spanning a 6-mag UV luminosity range (-22<Muv<-28). Particularly valuable are Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA) data from a cycle-10 program, providing [CII] coverage for 46 UV-faint (M UV,AB>-24.5) and 25 especially UV-faint (Muv>-23.5) QSOs, improving statistics by 5x and 6x, respectively. Taking massive host galaxies to be those where L[CII]>1.8x10 9 Lsol (median L[CII] of UV-bright QSOs), we identify 61 QSOs, including 13 which are UV-faint and 7 especially UV-faint. Using these selections and recent QSO luminosity functions (LFs), we present the first characterization of UV luminosity distribution for QSOs in massive host galaxies and quantify [CII] LFs for both UV-bright and UV-faint QSOs. While 3% of massive-host QSOs are UV-bright (Muv<-26), > 85% are UV-faint (Muv>-24.5). This wide dispersion in UV luminosities reflects variations in dust obscuration, accretion efficiency, and black hole mass. Though spectroscopy is needed for definitive conclusions, black hole mass appears to be the dominant factor driving variations in the UV luminosity, based on 34 [CII]-luminous (L[CII]>1.8x10 9 Lsol) QSOs distributed across a 3-mag baseline in UV luminosity and with measured MBH. At Muv-23, the median extrapolated log10 (MBH/Msol) is 8.1+/-0.4, consistent with the local relation. Supermassive black holes (SMBHs) in UV-bright QSOs thus appear to be 15(-9)(+25)x more massive than typical for massive host galaxies at z 6.
Sources
- COSMOS-Web: The over-abundance and physical nature of "little red dots"--Implications for early galaxy and SMBH assembly
- An upper limit of 10$^6$ M$_\odot$ in dust from ALMA observations in 60 Little Red Dots
- UNCOVER: Candidate Red Active Galactic Nuclei at 3<z<7 with JWST and ALMA
- A Post-Starburst Pathway for the Formation of Massive Galaxies and Black Holes at z>6
- A confirmed deficit of hot and cold dust emission in the most luminous Little Red Dots
- No [CII] or dust detection in two Little Red Dots at z$_{\rm spec}$ > 7
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