First detections of stellar light from quasar host galaxies at z > 6 by Xuheng Ding et al. on Tuesday 29 November

The existence of high-redshift supermassive black holes (SMBHs) -- shining

brightly as quasars during the first billion years of our universe -- presents

a conundrum in astrophysics. A broad variety of physical mechanisms have been

proposed for the formation and rapid growth of these early SMBHs. Promising

diagnostics are the relative properties of the black hole and its host galaxy.

However, up to now, the detection of stars in quasar host galaxies has been

elusive beyond $z>2$, even with deep HST observations. Here, we report the

first detections of the stellar component of the host galaxies of two

relatively low-luminosity quasars at $z>6$ observed with JWST using NIRCam.

After modeling and subtracting the glare from the quasar itself, we find that

the host galaxies are massive (stellar mass of $2.5\times$ and

$6.3\times10^{10}$ M$_{\odot}$), compact, and disk-like. Unlike most SMBHs in

the nearby universe, these quasars are displaced from the centers of their host

galaxies in the rest-frame optical, in one case by $0.9$ kpc. These first

positive detections of quasar hosts at $z>6$ are a pivotal milestone; we can

now assess the stellar environment along with star formation and black hole

accretion to determine the physical conditions that govern the formation and

evolution of the first SMBHs.

arXiv: http://arxiv.org/abs/http://arxiv.org/abs/2211.14329v1