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Abstract
We calculate the observable properties of the most massive high-redshift galaxies in the hierarchical formation scenario where stellar spheroid and supermassive black hole growth are fueled by gas-rich mergers. Combining high-resolution hydrodynamical simulations of the hierarchical formation of a z~6 quasar, stellar population synthesis models, template AGN spectra, prescriptions for interstellar and intergalactic absorption, and the response of modern telescopes, the photometric evolution of galaxies destined to host z~6 quasars are modeled at redshifts z~4-14. These massive galaxies, with enormous stellar masses of M_star ~10^11.5-10^12 M_sun. and star formation rates of SFR~10^3-10^4 M_sun yr^-1 at z>~7, satisfy a variety of photometric selection criteria based on Lyman-break techniques including V-band dropouts at z>~5, i-band dropouts at z>~6, and z-band dropouts at z>~7. The observability of the most massive high-redshift galaxies is assessed and compared with a wide range of existing and future photometric surveys including SDSS, GOODS/HUDF, NOAO WDFS, UKIDSS, the IRAC Shallow Survey, Pan-STARRS, LSST, and SNAP. Massive stellar spheroids descended from z~6 quasars will likely be detected at z~4 by existing surveys, but owing to their low number densities the discovery of quasar progenitor galaxies at z>7 will likely require future surveys of large portions of the sky (>~0.5%) at wavelengths lambda>1 micron. The detection of rare, star-bursting, massive galaxies at redshifts z>~6 would provide support for the hierarchical formation of the earliest quasars and characterize the primitive star-formation histories of the most luminous elliptical galaxies.
Highlights
Supermassive black holes (SMBHs) serve as the relativistic engines of quasars (Lynden-Bell 1969) and the existence of quasars at z ∼ 6 suggests the rapid formation of supermassive black hole (SMBH) with masses MBH ∼ 109M⊙ (e.g., Fan et al 2000, 2001a, 2003, 2004, 2006)
Massive stellar spheroids descended from z ∼ 6 quasars will likely be detected at z ∼ 4 by existing surveys, but owing to their low number densities the discovery of quasar progenitor galaxies at z > 7 will likely require future surveys of large portions of the sky ( 0.5%) at wavelengths λ 1μm
The calculations performed in this paper provide a detailed characterization of the observable ramifications of this scenario, the foremost being the possible detection of the star-bursting progenitors of z ∼ 6 quasars at higher redshifts (z 6) with massive stellar populations (M⋆ ∼ 1011.5−12.0) in wide-area, Lyman-break dropout samples or through widearea IR searches for systems with rest-frame optical breaks at z ∼ 9 and stellar masses of M⋆ ∼ 1011M⊙
Summary
Supermassive black holes (SMBHs) serve as the relativistic engines of quasars (Lynden-Bell 1969) and the existence of quasars at z ∼ 6 suggests the rapid formation of SMBHs with masses MBH ∼ 109M⊙ (e.g., Fan et al 2000, 2001a, 2003, 2004, 2006). These calculations show that simulated galaxies, typically with maximum star formation rates of SFR 100M⊙yr−1, can satisfy Lyman-break color selection techniques These simulated galaxy samples broadly agree with the observed properties of high-redshift galaxies, but given the simulated comoving volumes ( 0.001h−3Gpc3), the galaxies examined to date are orders of magnitudes less massive than z ∼ 6 quasar host halos that have comoving number densities of n ∼ 1Gpc−3 (Fan et al 2003). These cosmological simulations have not included prescriptions for energetic feedback from SMBH growth that have been demonstrated to influence the photometric properties of elliptical remnants formed in hydrodynamical simulations of isolated disk galaxy mergers (e.g., Springel et al 2005a).
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