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We present infrared (IR) galaxy luminosity functions (LFs) in the AKARI North Ecliptic Pole (NEP) deep field using recently-obtained, wider Canada–France–Hawaii Telescope (CFHT) optical/near-IR images. AKARI has obtained deep images in the mid-infrared (IR), covering 0.6 deg² of the NEP deep field. However, our previous work was limited to the central area of 0.25 deg² due to the lack of optical coverage of the full AKARI NEP survey. To rectify the situation, we recently obtained CFHT optical and near-IR images over the entire AKARI NEP deep field. These new CFHT images are used to derive accurate photometric redshifts, allowing us to fully exploit the whole AKARI NEP deep field. AKARI's deep, continuous filter coverage in the mid-IR wavelengths (2.4, 3.2, 4.1, 7, 9, 11, 15, 18, and 24 μm) exists nowhere else, due to filter gaps of other space telescopes. It allows us to estimate rest-frame 8 and 12 μm luminosities without using a large extrapolation based on spectral energy distribution fitting, which was the largest uncertainty in previous studies. Total infrared (TIR) luminosity is also obtained more reliably due to the superior filter coverage. The resulting rest-frame 8 and 12 μm, and TIR LFs at 0.15 < z < 2.2 are consistent with previous works, but with reduced uncertainties, especially at the high-luminosity end, thanks to the wide-field coverage. In terms of cosmic infrared luminosity density (ΩIR), we found that the ΩIR evolves as  ∝ (1 + z)4.2 ± 0.4. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Investigating the Gunn–Peterson (GP) trough of high-redshift quasars (QSOs) is a powerful way to reveal the cosmic reionization. As one of such attempts, we perform a series of analyses to examine the absorption lines observed with one of the highest-redshift QSOs, PSO J006.1240+39.2219, which we previously discovered at z = 6.62. Using the Subaru telescope, we obtained medium-resolution spectrum with a total exposure time of 7.5 hr. We calculate the Lyα transmission in different redshift bins to determine the near zone radius and the optical depth at 5.6 < z < 6.5. We find a sudden change in the Lyα transmission at 5.75 < z < 5.86, which is consistent with the result from the literature. The near zone radius of the QSO is 5.79 ± 0.09 pMpc, within the scatter of the near zone radii of other QSOs measured in previous studies. We also analyze the dark gap distribution to probe the neutral hydrogen fractions beyond the saturation limit of the GP trough. We extend the measurement of the dark gaps to 5.7 < z < 6.3. We find that the gap widths increase with increasing redshifts, suggesting more neutral universe at higher redshifts. However, these measurements strongly depend on the continuum modeling. As a continuum model-free attempt, we also perform the dark pixel counting analysis to find the upper limit of (0.8) at z < 5.8 (z > 5.8). All three analyses based on this QSO show increasingly neutral hydrogen toward higher redshifts, adding precious measurements up to z ∼ 6.5. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]