SHELLQs-JWST Unveils the Host Galaxies of 12 Quasars at <i>z</i> &gt; 6

Abstract The advent of the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has opened new horizons in the study of quasar host galaxies during the reionization epoch ( z &gt; 6). Building upon our previous initial measurements of stellar light from two quasar host galaxies at these redshifts, we now report the detection of the stellar light from the full Cycle 1 sample of 12 distant moderate-luminosity quasar ( M 1450 &gt; −24 mag) host galaxies at z &gt; 6 from the Hyper Suprime-Cam Subaru Strategic Program. Using JWST/NIRCam observations at 1.5 and 3.6 μ m combined with 2D image decomposition analysis, we successfully detect the host galaxies in 11 of the 12 targets, underscoring the high detection rates achievable with moderate-luminosity quasars. Based on two-band photometry and spectral energy distribution fitting, we find that our host galaxies are massive, with log M * / M ⊙ = 9.5–11.0. The effective radii range from 0.6 to 3.2 kpc, comparable to the sizes of inactive galaxies with similar masses at z ∼ 6 as measured with imaging from COSMOS-Web. Intriguingly, the two quasar hosts with post-starburst features, which reside at the high-mass end of our sample and exhibit relatively compact morphologies, have similar size and stellar mass surface densities to quiescent galaxies at z ∼ 4–5. These findings suggest that the so-called galaxy compaction scenario is already in place at the reionization epoch, in which gas inflows during starburst phases drive centrally concentrated star formation followed by rapid quenching, bridging the structural transition of massive galaxies from relatively extended star-forming disks to compact quiescent systems.

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Publication Details

Journal
The Astrophysical Journal
Published
2025-10-28
DOI
https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ae045b
Citations
4
Primary Topic
Galaxies: Formation, Evolution, Phenomena
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
4.62

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article

SHELLQs-JWST Unveils the Host Galaxies of 12 Quasars at z > 6

Takuma Izumi, Seiji Fujimoto, Camryn L. Phillips, Xuheng Ding et al.
4 citations
The Astrophysical Journal
Galaxies: Formation, Evolution, Phenomena
4.62
article

SHELLQs-JWST Unveils the Host Galaxies of 12 Quasars at z > 6

Takuma Izumi, Seiji Fujimoto, Camryn L. Phillips, Xuheng Ding, Kentaro Aoki, Alessandro Lupi, Toshihiro Kawaguchi, Lilan Yang, Masafusa Onoue, Marko Shuntov, Jan–Torge Schindler, Shunsuke Baba, Nobunari Kashikawa, Chien‐Hsiu Lee, J. D. Silverman, Jinyi Yang, Michael A. Strauss, Tommaso Treu, Yoshiki Toba, Kazuhiro Shimasaku, M. Vestergaard, Feige Wang, Benny Trakhtenbrot, Kohei Inayoshi, Yoshiki Matsuoka, K. Jahnkę, Masatoshi Imanishi, Junyao Li, Anna–Christina Eilers, Hideki Umehata, Malte Schramm, Sarah E. I. Bosman, I.T Andika, Zoltán Haiman, Jeyhan S. Kartaltepe, Takumi S. Tanaka, Junya Arita, K. Iwasawa
article en
4 citations

Abstract

Abstract The advent of the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has opened new horizons in the study of quasar host galaxies during the reionization epoch ( z &gt; 6). Building upon our previous initial measurements of stellar light from two quasar host galaxies at these redshifts, we now report the detection of the stellar light from the full Cycle 1 sample of 12 distant moderate-luminosity quasar ( M 1450 &gt; −24 mag) host galaxies at z &gt; 6 from the Hyper Suprime-Cam Subaru Strategic Program. Using JWST/NIRCam observations at 1.5 and 3.6 μ m combined with 2D image decomposition analysis, we successfully detect the host galaxies in 11 of the 12 targets, underscoring the high detection rates achievable with moderate-luminosity quasars. Based on two-band photometry and spectral energy distribution fitting, we find that our host galaxies are massive, with log M * / M ⊙ = 9.5–11.0. The effective radii range from 0.6 to 3.2 kpc, comparable to the sizes of inactive galaxies with similar masses at z ∼ 6 as measured with imaging from COSMOS-Web. Intriguingly, the two quasar hosts with post-starburst features, which reside at the high-mass end of our sample and exhibit relatively compact morphologies, have similar size and stellar mass surface densities to quiescent galaxies at z ∼ 4–5. These findings suggest that the so-called galaxy compaction scenario is already in place at the reionization epoch, in which gas inflows during starburst phases drive centrally concentrated star formation followed by rapid quenching, bridging the structural transition of massive galaxies from relatively extended star-forming disks to compact quiescent systems.

The Astrophysical JournalVol. 993(1)
National Science Foundation, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Space Telescope Science Institute, Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, National Natural Science Foundation of China, Wuhan University, Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, Agencia Estatal de Investigación
Openalex Percentile: Top 5%
Galaxies: Formation, Evolution, Phenomena
4.62
DOIOpen Access PDFOpenAlex
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