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Reionization-era galaxies often display intense nebular emission lines, both in rest-frame optical ([O  iii ] + H β) and ultraviolet (UV; C  iii ], C  iv). How such strong nebular emission is powered remains unclear, with both active galactic nuclei (AGNs) and hot stars considered equally viable. The UV continuum slopes of these early systems tend to be very blue (β < −2), reflecting minimal dust obscuration, young ages, and low metallicities. This contrasts with narrow-lined AGNs at |$z$| ∼ 2−3, whose UV slopes are significantly redder (β > −1) than typical star-forming systems in the reionization era. To investigate the properties of AGNs in the reionization era, we have conducted a search for potential examples of rare analogues with blue continua at intermediate redshift (⁠|$z$| ∼ 2−3). Our goals are to determine whether AGNs with intense line emission and blue continua exist and thereby to establish the range of rest-frame UV and optical line ratios in this population. In this paper, we report the detection of an X-ray luminous AGN at |$z$|  = 3.21 (UDS-24561) with extreme [O  iii ] + H β line emission (equivalent width = 1300 Å) and a blue UV continuum slope (β = −2.34). MMT/Binospec and Keck/MOSFIRE spectra indicate rest-frame UV line ratios consistent with AGN photoionization models and rest-frame optical lines with both a narrow component [full width at half-maximum (FWHM) |$=154\, {\rm km\, s}^{-1}$| ] and extended broad wings (FWHM |$=977\, {\rm km\, s}^{-1}$|⁠), consistent with outflowing gas. We describe how such objects can be identified in future James Webb Space Telescope emission line surveys in the reionization era, thereby providing a valuable census of AGN activity at |$z$| > 6 and understanding their contribution to cosmic reionization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present X-shooter at Very Large Telescope observations of a sample of 10 luminous, X-ray obscured quasi-stellar objects (QSOs) at z ~ 1.5 from the XMM-COSMOS survey, expected to be caught in the transitioning phase from starburst to active galactic nucleus (AGN)-dominated systems. The main selection criterion is X-ray detection at bright fluxes (LX 1044 erg s-1) coupled to red optical-to-near-infrared-to-mid-infrared colours. Thanks to its large wavelength coverage, X-shooter allowed us to determine accurate redshifts from the presence of multiple emission lines for five out of six targets for which we had only a photometric redshift estimate, with an 80 per cent success rate, significantly larger than what is observed in similar programs of spectroscopic follow-up of red QSOs. We report the detection of broad and shifted components in the [OIII] ƛƛ5007, 4959 complexes for six out of eight sources with these lines observable in regions free from strong atmospheric absorptions. The full width at half-maximum (FWHM) associated with the broad components are in the range FWHM ~ 900-1600 km s-1, larger than the average value observed in Sloan Digital Sky Survey type 2 AGN samples at similar observed [OIII] luminosity, but comparable to those observed for QSO/ultraluminous infrared galaxies systems for which the presence of kpc scale outflows has been revealed through integral field unit spectroscopy. Although the total outflow energetics (inferred under reasonable assumptions) may be consistent with winds accelerated by stellar processes, we favour an AGN origin for the outflows given the high outflow velocities observed (v > 1000 km s-1) and the presence of strong winds also in objects undetected in the far-infrared. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]