N=ap=owaw=a`enakaulua: a close quasar pair at cosmic dawn in the Aether survey

We present the discovery and first characterization of Nāpōwawā`enakaulua: the most compact known quasar pair candidate in the Epoch of Reionization, with a projected separation of only 0.98 (about 5.56 pkpc at z about 6.08) and a velocity offset of Δv 15 km s-1. Using spectroscopy from JWST/NIRSpec IFU, as part of the Aether survey, Gemini/GNIRS and GMOS we characterize the continuum and emission line properties of the two quasars, enabling constraints on their black hole masses (M BH 1.5 times 10 9 and 4.0 times 10 8,M), accretion states (λ Edd 1.23 and 1.07), and systemic redshifts (z sys 6.0781 and 6.0785). We place this pair in the cosmological context by comparing the chance of occurrence to extrapolations of high- z quasar clustering measurements at larger scales, resulting in a about 2-3 order of magnitude excess with respect to expectations. This excess hints at an underlying population of merger-triggered quasar pairs at cosmic dawn or to a denser-than-average galactic environment. Nāpōwawā`enakaulua thus represents a crucial signpost to investigate the mass assembly of the first massive galaxies and black holes.