Black hole mass estimates and emission-line properties of a sample of redshift z>6.5 quasars

We present the analysis of optical and near-infrared spectra of the only four $z>6.5$ quasars known to date, discovered in the UKIDSS-LAS and VISTA-VIKING surveys. Our data-set consists of new VLT/X-Shooter and Magellan/FIRE observations. These are the best optical/NIR spectroscopic data that are likely to be obtained for the $z>6.5$ sample using current $6$ - $10$ m facilities. We estimate the black hole mass, the Eddington ratio, and the SiIV/CIV, CIII]/CIV, and FeII/MgII emission-line flux ratios. We perform spectral modeling using a procedure that allows us to derive a probability distribution for the continuum components and to obtain the quasar properties weighted upon the underlying distribution of continuum models. The $z>6.5$ quasars show the same emission properties as their counterparts at lower redshifts. The $z>6.5$ quasars host black holes with masses of $\sim 10^9$ M$_{\odot}$ that are accreting close to the Eddington luminosity ($\langle{\rm log} (L_{\rm Bol}/L_{\rm Edd})\rangle= -0.4\pm0.2$), in agreement with what has been observed for a sample of $4.0

Keywords:

• Flux
• Eddington luminosity
• Emission spectrum
• Black hole
• Quasar
• Continuum (design consultancy)
• Spectral line
• Astrophysics
• Redshift
• Physics

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