HYPERION. Shedding light on the first luminous quasars: A correlation between UV disc winds and X-ray continuum
One of the main open questions in the field of luminous ( L bol > 10 47 erg s −1 ) quasars (QSOs) at z ≳ 6 is the rapid formation (< 1 Gyr) of their supermassive black holes (SMBHs). For this work we analysed the relation between the X-ray properties and other properties describing the physics and growth of both the accretion disc and the SMBH in QSOs at the Epoch of Reionization (EoR). The sample consists of 21 z > 6 QSOs, which includes 16 sources from the rapidly grown QSOs from the HYPERION sample and five other luminous QSOs with available high-quality archival X-ray data. We discovered a strong and statistically significant (> 3 σ ) relation between the X-ray continuum photon index (Γ) and the C IV disc wind velocity ( v C․ IV ) in z > 6 luminous QSOs, whereby the higher the v C․ IV , the steeper the Γ. This relation suggests a link between the disc–corona configuration and the kinematics of disc winds. Furthermore, we find evidence at > 2 − 3 σ level that Γ and v C․ IV are correlated to the growth rate history of the SMBH. Although additional data are needed to confirm it, this result may suggest that, in luminous z > 6 QSOs, the SMBH predominantly grows via fast accretion rather than via initial high seed BH mass.
Authors
- Chris Done (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1065-7239)
- Raffaella Schneider (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9317-2888)
- M. Brusa
- G. Miniutti (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0707-4531)
- E. Piconcelli (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9095-2782)
- M. Bischetti
- A. Tortosa (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3450-6483)
- S. Gallerani (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7200-8293)
- A. Grazian (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5688-0663)
- R. Maiolino (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4985-3819)
- A. Bongiorno (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0101-6624)
- Igor Chilingarian (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7924-3253)
- S. Cristiani (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2115-5234)
- F. Haardt
- F. La Franca (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1239-2721)
- G. Vietri (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9155-8875)
- M. Volonteri
- C. Feruglio (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4227-6035)
- Francesco Tombesi (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6562-8654)
- E. Vanzella
- A. Luminari
- F. Fiore (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4031-4157)
- F. Nicastro (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6896-1364)
- M. Guainazzi (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1094-3147)
- N. Menci
- V. Testa (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1033-1340)
- A. Vasylenko
- E. Giallongo (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0734-1273)
- L. Vallini (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3258-3672)
- Francesco Salvestrini (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4751-7421)
- S. Puccetti
- C. Vignali
- R. Gilli (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8121-6177)
- L. Zappacosta (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4205-6884)
- Rosa Valiante (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3050-1765)
- V. D’Odorico (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3693-3091)
- I. Saccheo (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1174-6978)
- Xi-Long Fan (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8174-0128)
- S. Carniani
- F. Vito
- F. Civano
- M. Elvis
- P. O. Petrucci
- R. Tripodi
Institutions
- University of Insubria (IT)
- University of Rome Tor Vergata (IT)
- Roma Tre University (IT)
- Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (FR)
- Goddard Space Flight Center (US)
- University of Arizona (US)
- University of Ljubljana (SI)
- Scuola Normale Superiore (IT)
- Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare (IT)
- Durham University (GB)
- University of Cambridge (GB)
- Astronomical Observatory of Rome (IT)
- Agenzia Spaziale Italiana (IT)
- Istituto Universitario di Studi Superiori di Pavia (IT)
- Trieste Astronomical Observatory (IT)
- Institut d'Astrophysique de Paris (FR)
- Brera Astronomical Observatory (IT)
- Sorbonne Université (FR)
- Istituto di Astrofisica Spaziale e Fisica Cosmica di Bologna (IT)
- Institute for Space Astrophysics and Planetology (IT)
- Istituto di Astrofisica Spaziale e Fisica Cosmica di Milano (IT)
- Institut de Planétologie et d'Astrophysique de Grenoble (FR)
- Center for Astrophysics Harvard & Smithsonian (US)
- Centro de Astrobiología (ES)
- Bologna Research Area (IT)
- Main Astronomical Observatory (UA)
- Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Sezione di Milano Bicocca (IT)
- Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Sezione di Trieste (IT)
- Institute for Fundamental Physics of the Universe (IT)
- Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Sezione di Roma I (IT)
- Osservatorio Astronomico di Padova (IT)
- European Space Research and Technology Centre (NL)
- University College London (GB)
- University of Maryland, College Park (US)
- Sapienza University of Rome (IT)
- National Institute for Astrophysics (IT)
- Université Grenoble Alpes (FR)
- University of Bologna (IT)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Astronomy and Astrophysics
- Published
- 2024-10-02
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/202449662
- Citations
- 5
- Primary Topic
- Astrophysical Phenomena and Observations
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 1.66
Funders
- National Aeronautics and Space Administration
- European Commission
- Centre National d’Etudes Spatiales
- Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique
- Science and Technology Facilities Council
- Agencia Estatal de Investigación