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We present the first observational measurements of the Lyman-α (Ly α) forest flux autocorrelation functions in ten redshift bins from 5.1 ≤ z ≤ 6.0. We use a sample of 35 quasar sightlines at z > 5.7 from the extended XQR-30 data set; these data have signal-to-noise ratios of >20 per spectral pixel. We carefully account for systematic errors in continuum reconstruction, instrumentation, and contamination by damped Ly α systems. With these measurements, we introduce software tools to generate autocorrelation function measurements from any simulation. Our measurements of the smallest bin of the autocorrelation function increase with redshift when normalizing by the mean flux, 〈 F 〉. This increase may come from decreasing 〈 F 〉 or increasing mean free path of hydrogen-ionizing photons, λmfp. Recent work has shown that the autocorrelation function from simulations at z > 5 is sensitive to λmfp, a quantity that contains vital information on the ending of reionization. For an initial comparison, we show our autocorrelation measurements with simulation models for recently measured λmfp values and find good agreements. Further work in modelling and understanding the covariance matrices of the data is necessary to get robust measurements of λmfp from this data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Intervening metal absorbers in quasar spectra at z > 6 can be used as probes to study the chemical enrichment of the Universe during the Epoch of Reionization. This work presents the comoving line densities (d n /d X) of low-ionization absorbers, namely, Mg  ii (2796 Å), C  ii (1334 Å), and O   i (1302 Å) across 2 < z < 6 using the E-XQR-30 metal absorber catalogue prepared from 42 XSHOOTER quasar spectra at 5.8 < z < 6.6. Here, we analyse 280 Mg  ii (1.9 < z < 6.4), 22 C  ii (5.2 < z < 6.4), and 10 O  i (5.3 < z < 6.4) intervening absorbers, thereby building up on previous studies with improved sensitivity of 50 per cent completeness at an equivalent width of W > 0.03 Å. For the first time, we present the comoving line densities of 131 weak (W < 0.3 Å) intervening Mg  ii absorbers at 1.9 < z < 6.4 which exhibit constant evolution with redshift similar to medium (0.3 < W < 1.0 Å) absorbers. However, the cosmic mass density of Mg  ii – dominated by strong Mg  ii systems – traces the evolution of global star formation history from redshift 1.9 to 5.5. E-XQR-30 also increases the absorption path-length by a factor of 50 per cent for C  ii and O  i whose line densities show a rising trend towards z > 5, in agreement with previous works. In the context of a decline in the metal enrichment of the Universe at z > 5, the overall evolution in the incidence rates of absorption systems can be explained by a weak – possibly soft fluctuating – ultraviolet background. Our results, thereby, provide evidence for a late reionization continuing to occur in metal-enriched and therefore, biased regions in the Universe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Luminous quasars are powerful targets to investigate the role of feedback from supermassive black holes (BHs) in regulating the growth phases of BHs themselves and of their host galaxies, up to the highest redshifts. Here we investigate the cosmic evolution of the occurrence and kinematics of BH-driven outflows, as traced by broad absorption line (BAL) features, due to the C iv ionic transition. We exploit a sample of 1935 quasars at z = 2.1–6.6 with bolometric luminosity log(L bol/erg s−1) ≳ 46.5, drawn from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey and from the X-Shooter legacy survey of Quasars at the Reionization Epoch (XQR-30). We consider rest-frame optical bright quasars to minimize observational biases due to quasar selection criteria. We apply a homogeneous BAL-identification analysis, based on employing composite template spectra to estimate the quasar intrinsic emission. We find a BAL quasar fraction close to 20% at z ∼ 2–4, while it increases to almost 50% at z ∼ 6. The velocity and width of the BAL features also increase at z ≳ 4.5. We exclude the possibility that the redshift evolution of the BAL properties is due to differences in terms of quasar luminosity and accretion rate. These results suggest significant BH feedback occurring in the 1 Gyr old universe, likely affecting the growth of BHs and, possibly, of their host galaxies, as supported by models of early BH and galaxy evolution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Proximity zones of high-redshift quasars are unique probes of their central supermassive black holes as well as the intergalactic medium (IGM) in the last stages of reionization. We present 22 new measurements of proximity zones of quasars with redshifts between 5.8 and 6.6, using the enlarged XQR-30 sample of high-resolution, high-SNR quasar spectra. The quasars in our sample have ultraviolet magnitudes of M 1450 ∼ −27 and black hole masses of 109–1010 M⊙. Our inferred proximity zone sizes are 2–7 physical Mpc, with a typical uncertainty of less than 0.5 physical Mpc, which, for the first time, also includes uncertainty in the quasar continuum. We find that the correlation between proximity zone sizes and the quasar redshift, luminosity, or black hole mass, indicates a large diversity of quasar lifetimes. Two of our proximity zone sizes are exceptionally small. The spectrum of one of these quasars, with z  = 6.02, displays, unusually for this redshift, damping wing absorption without any detectable metal lines, which could potentially originate from the IGM. The other quasar has a high-ionization absorber ∼0.5 pMpc from the edge of the proximity zone. This work increases the number of proximity zone measurements available in the last stages of cosmic reionization to 87. This data will lead to better constraints on quasar lifetimes and obscuration fractions at high redshift, that in turn will help probe the seed mass and formation redshift of supermassive black holes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present measurements of black hole masses and Eddington ratios (λ Edd) for a sample of 38 bright (M 1450 < −24.4 mag) quasars at 5.8 ≲ z ≲ 7.5, derived from Very Large Telescope/X–shooter near–IR spectroscopy of their broad C iv and Mg ii emission lines. The black hole masses (on average, M BH ∼ 4.6 × 109 M ⊙) and accretion rates (0.1 ≲ λ Edd ≲ 1.0) are broadly consistent with that of similarly luminous 0.3 ≲ z ≲ 2.3 quasars, but there is evidence for a mild increase in the Eddington ratio above z ≳ 6. Combined with deep Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) observations of the [C II ] 158 μ m line from the host galaxies and VLT/MUSE investigations of the extended Ly α halos, this study provides fundamental clues to models of the formation and growth of the first massive galaxies and black holes. Compared to local scaling relations, z ≳ 5.7 black holes appear to be over-massive relative to their hosts, with accretion properties that do not change with host galaxy morphologies. Assuming that the kinematics of the T ∼ 104 K gas, traced by the extended Ly α halos, are dominated by the gravitational potential of the dark matter halo, we observe a similar relation between black hole mass and circular velocity as reported for z ∼ 0 galaxies. These results paint a picture where the first supermassive black holes reside in massive halos at z ≳ 6 and lead the first stages of galaxy formation by rapidly growing in mass with a duty cycle of order unity. The duty cycle needs to drastically drop toward lower redshifts, while the host galaxies continue forming stars at a rate of hundreds of solar masses per year, sustained by the large reservoirs of cool gas surrounding them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The presence of excess scatter in the Ly-α forest at z  ∼ 5.5, together with the existence of sporadic extended opaque Gunn-Peterson troughs, has started to provide robust evidence for a late end of hydrogen reionization. However, low data quality and systematic uncertainties complicate the use of Ly-α transmission as a precision probe of reionization's end stages. In this paper, we assemble a sample of 67 quasar sightlines at z > 5.5 with high signal-to-noise ratios of >10 per ≤15 km s−1 spectral pixel, relying largely on the new XQR-30 quasar sample. XQR-30 is a large program on VLT/X-Shooter which obtained deep (SNR > 20 per pixel) spectra of 30 quasars at z > 5.7. We carefully account for systematics in continuum reconstruction, instrumentation, and contamination by damped Ly-α systems. We present improved measurements of the mean Ly-α transmission over 4.9 < z < 6.1. Using all known systematics in a forward modelling analysis, we find excellent agreement between the observed Ly-α transmission distributions and the homogeneous-UVB simulations Sherwood and Nyx up to z ≤ 5.2 (<1σ), and mild tension (∼2.5σ) at z = 5.3. Homogeneous UVB models are ruled out by excess Ly-α transmission scatter at z ≥ 5.4 with high confidence (>3.5σ). Our results indicate that reionization-related fluctuations, whether in the UVB, residual neutral hydrogen fraction, and/or IGM temperature, persist in the intergalactic medium until at least z = 5.3 (t = 1.1 Gyr after the big bang). This is further evidence for a late end to reionization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The elemental abundances in the broad-line regions of high-redshift quasars trace the chemical evolution in the nuclear regions of massive galaxies in the early Universe. In this work, we study metallicity-sensitive broad emission-line flux ratios in rest-frame UV spectra of 25 high-redshift (5.8 < z < 7.5) quasars observed with the VLT/X-shooter and Gemini/GNIRS instruments, ranging over |$\log \left({{M}_{\rm {BH}}/\rm {M}_{\odot }}\right) = 8.4-9.8$| in black hole mass and |$\log \left(\rm {L}_{\rm {bol}}/\rm {erg \, s}^{-1}\right) = 46.7-47.7$| in bolometric luminosity. We fit individual spectra and composites generated by binning across quasar properties: bolometric luminosity, black hole mass, and blueshift of the C  iv line, finding no redshift evolution in the emission-line ratios by comparing our high-redshift quasars to lower redshift (2.0 < z < 5.0) results presented in the literature. Using cloudy -based locally optimally emitting cloud photoionization model relations between metallicity and emission-line flux ratios, we find the observable properties of the broad emission lines to be consistent with emission from gas clouds with metallicity that are at least 2–4 times solar. Our high-redshift measurements also confirm that the blueshift of the C  iv emission line is correlated with its equivalent width, which influences line ratios normalized against C  iv. When accounting for the C  iv blueshift, we find that the rest-frame UV emission-line flux ratios do not correlate appreciably with the black hole mass or bolometric luminosity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present 0.″035 resolution (∼200 pc) imaging of the 158 ÎĽ m [C ii ] line and the underlying dust continuum of the z = 6.9 quasar J234833.34â€"305410.0. The 18 hour Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array observations reveal extremely compact emission (diameter ∼1 kpc) that is consistent with a simple, almost face-on, rotationâ€"supported disk with a significant velocity dispersion of ∼160 km sâˆ'1. The gas mass in just the central 200 pc is ∼4 Ă— 109 M ⊙, about a factor of two higher than that of the central supermassive black hole. Consequently we do not resolve the black hole’s sphere of influence, and find no kinematic signature of the central supermassive black hole. Kinematic modeling of the [C ii ] line shows that the dynamical mass at large radii is consistent with the gas mass, leaving little room for a significant mass contribution by stars and/or dark matter. The Toomreâ€"Q parameter is less than unity throughout the disk, and thus is conducive to star formation, consistent with the high-infrared luminosity of the system. The dust in the central region is optically thick, at a temperature >132 K. Using standard scaling relations of dust heating by star formation, this implies an unprecedented high star formation rate density of >104 M ⊙ yrâˆ'1 kpcâˆ'2. Such a high number can still be explained with the Eddington limit for star formation under certain assumptions, but could also imply that the central supermassive black hole contributes to the heating of the dust in the central 200 pc. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reconstruction techniques for intrinsic quasar continua are crucial for the precision study of Lyman α (Ly α) and Lyman β (Ly β) transmission at z > 5.5, where the λ < 1215 Å emission of quasars is nearly completely absorbed. While the number and quality of spectroscopic observations have become theoretically sufficient to quantify Ly α transmission at 5.0 < z < 6.0 to better than |$1{{\ \rm per\ cent}}$|⁠ , the biases and uncertainties arising from predicting the unabsorbed continuum are not known to the same level. In this paper, we systematically evaluate eight reconstruction techniques on a unified testing sample of 2.7 < z < 3.5 quasars drawn from the Extended Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey. The methods include power-law extrapolation, stacking of neighbours, and six variants of principal component analysis (PCA) using direct projection, fitting of components, or neural networks to perform weight mapping. We find that power-law reconstructions and the PCA with fewest components and smallest training sample display the largest biases in the Ly α forest (⁠|${-}9.58{{\ \rm per\ cent}}/{+}8.22{{\ \rm per\ cent}}$|⁠ , respectively). Power-law extrapolations have larger scatters than previously assumed of |${+}13.1{{\ \rm per\ cent}}/{-}13.2{{\ \rm per\ cent}}$| over Ly α and |${+}19.9{{\ \rm per\ cent}}/{-}20.1{{\ \rm per\ cent}}$| over Ly β. We present two new PCAs that achieve the best current accuracies of |$9{{\ \rm per\ cent}}$| for Ly α and |$17{{\ \rm per\ cent}}$| for Ly β. We apply the eight techniques after accounting for wavelength-dependent biases and scatter to a sample of 19 quasars at z > 5.7 with IR X-Shooter spectroscopy, obtaining well-characterized measurements for the mean flux transmission at 4.7 < z < 6.3. Our results demonstrate the importance of testing and, when relevant, training, continuum reconstruction techniques in a systematic way. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present a computationally efficient and fast semi-numerical technique for simulating the Lyman  α (Ly  α) absorption optical depth in presence of neutral hydrogen 'islands' left over from reionization at redshifts 5 ≲ z ≲ 6. The main inputs to the analysis are (i) a semi-numerical photon-conserving model of ionized regions during reionization (named script) along with a prescription for simulating the shadowing by neutral islands and (ii) the fluctuating Gunn–Peterson approximation to model the Ly  α absorption. Our model is then used for simulating the large-scale fluctuations in the effective optical depth as observed along sightlines towards high- z quasars. Our model is fully described by five parameters. By setting two of them to default values and varying the other three, we obtain the constraints on reionization history at 5 ≲ z ≲ 6 as allowed by the data. We confirm that reionization is not complete before z ∼ 5.6 at ≳2 σ confidence, with the exact confidence limits depending on how the non-detections of the flux in the data are treated. We also confirm that the completion of reionization can be as late as z ∼ 5.2. With further improvements in the model and with more sightlines at z ∼ 6, we can take advantage of the computational efficiency of our analysis to obtain more stringent constraints on the ionization fraction at the tail end of reionization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Quasar proximity zones at correspond to overdense and overionized environments. Galaxies found inside proximity zones can therefore display features that would otherwise be masked by absorption in the intergalactic medium. We demonstrate the utility of this quasar-galaxy synergy by reporting the discovery of the first three "proximate Lyα emitters" (LAEs) within the proximity zone of quasar J0836+0054 at z = 5.795 (Aerith A, B, and C). Aerith A, located behind the quasar with an impact parameter pkpc, provides the first detection of an Lyα transverse proximity effect. We model the transmission and show that it constrains the onset of J0836's quasar phase to in the past. The second object, Aerith B at a distance pkpc from the quasar, displays a bright and broad double-peaked Lyα emission line. The peak separation implies a low ionizing. We fit the Lyα line with an outflowing shell model, finding a typical central density , outflow velocity km s−1, and gas temperature compared to analog LAEs. We detect object Aerith C via an Lyα emission line at z = 5.726. This corresponds with the edge of the quasar's proximity zone (), suggesting that the proximity zone is truncated by a density fluctuation. Via the analyses conducted here, we illustrate how proximate LAEs offer unique insight into the ionizing properties of both quasars and galaxies during hydrogen reionization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present improved results of the measurement of the correlation between galaxies and the intergalactic medium transmission at the end of reionization. We have gathered a sample of 13 spectroscopically confirmed Lyman-break galaxies (LBGs) and 21 Lyman- α emitters (LAEs) at angular separations 20 arcsec ≲ θ ≲ 10 arcmin (∼0.1–4 pMpc at z ∼ 6) from the sightlines to eight background z ≳ 6 quasars. We report for the first time the detection of an excess of Lyman- α transmission spikes at ∼10–60 cMpc from LAEs (3.2 σ) and LBGs (1.9 σ). We interpret the data with an improved model of the galaxy–Lyman- α transmission and two-point cross-correlations, which includes the enhanced photoionization due to clustered faint sources, enhanced gas densities around the central bright objects and spatial variations of the mean free path. The observed LAE(LBG)–Lyman- α transmission spike two-point cross-correlation function (2PCCF) constrains the luminosity-averaged escape fraction of all galaxies contributing to reionization to |$\langle f_{\rm esc} \rangle _{M_{\rm UV}\lt -12} = 0.14_{-0.05}^{+0.28}\, (0.23_{-0.12}^{+0.46})$|⁠. We investigate if the 2PCCF measurement can determine whether bright or faint galaxies are the dominant contributors to reionization. Our results show that a contribution from faint galaxies (⁠|$M_{\rm UV} \gt -20 \, (2\sigma)$|⁠) is necessary to reproduce the observed 2PCCF and that reionization might be driven by different sub-populations around LBGs and LAEs at z ∼ 6. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Observations of the early Universe suggest that reionization was complete by z  ∼ 6, however, the exact history of this process is still unknown. One method for measuring the evolution of the neutral fraction throughout this epoch is via observing the Lyα damping wings of high-redshift quasars. In order to constrain the neutral fraction from quasar observations, one needs an accurate model of the quasar spectrum around Lyα, after the spectrum has been processed by its host galaxy but before it is altered by absorption and damping in the intervening intergalactic medium (IGM). In this paper, we present a novel machine learning approach, using artificial neural networks, to reconstruct quasar continua around Lyα. Our Quasar Spectra from Artificial Neural Network based predictive Regression Algorithm (QSANNdRA) improves the error in this reconstruction compared to the state-of-the-art principal component analysis (PCA) based model in the literature by 14.2 per cent on average, and provides an improvement of 6.1 per cent on average when compared to an extension thereof. In comparison with the extended PCA model, QSANNdRA further achieves an improvement of 22.1 per cent and 16.8 per cent when evaluated on low-redshift quasars most similar to the two high-redshift quasars under consideration, ULAS J1120+0641 at z = 7.0851 and ULAS J1342+0928 at z = 7.5413, respectively. Using our more accurate reconstructions of these two z > 7 quasars, we estimate the neutral fraction of the IGM using a homogeneous reionization model and find |$\bar{x}_\mathrm{H\, \small{I}} = 0.25^{+0.05}_{-0.05}$| at z = 7.0851 and |$\bar{x}_\mathrm{H\, \small{I}} = 0.60^{+0.11}_{-0.11}$| at z = 7.5413. Our results are consistent with the literature and favour a rapid end to reionization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present the results of a model-independent investigation of the rest-frame UV spectra from a comprehensive sample of 394 quasars in the redshift range 1.5 ≤ z ≤ 7.5. We fit the main broad emission lines (BELs) in the rest-frame range 1280 Å ≤ λ ≤ 3000 Å (O  i , C  ii , Si  iv , C  iii ], C  iv , and Mg  ii) with a lightly supervised spline fitting technique. Redshifts are derived from the peaks of each fitted BEL and used to compute relative velocity shifts. We show that our method gives unbiased velocity shifts and is insensitive to spectral resolution and instrumental parameters. It is found that the average blueshift of the C  iv line with respect to several low-ionization lines in luminosity-matched samples does not significantly evolve over 1.5 ≤ z ≤ 6. However, the average blueshift increases significantly by a factor of ∼2.5 at z ≳ 6. We propose that this redshift evolution can be explained by C  iv winds launched perpendicularly to an accretion disc with increased torus opacity at high redshift, coupled with a potential orientation-driven selection bias. Our results open new exciting avenues of investigation into young quasars in the reionization epoch. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present a new method to study the contribution of faint sources to the ultraviolet background using the 1D correlation of metal absorbers with the intergalactic medium transmission in a quasi-stellar object (QSO) sightline. We take advantage of a sample of 25 high signal-to-noise ratio QSO spectra to retrieve 150 triply-ionized carbon (C  iv) absorbers at 4.5 ≲ |$z$| ≲ 6.2, of which 37 systems whose expected H  i absorption lie in the Lyman-α forest. We derive improved constraints on the cosmic density of C  iv at 4.3 < |$z$| < 6.2 and infer from abundance matching that C  iv absorbers trace M UV ≲ −16 galaxies. Correlation with the Lyman-α forest of the QSOs indicates that these objects are surrounded by a highly opaque region at r ≲ 5 cMpc  h −1 followed by an excess of transmission at r ≳ 10 cMpc  h −1 detected at 2.7σ. This is in contrast to equivalent measurements at lower redshifts where only the opaque trough is detected. We interpret this excess as a statistical enhancement of the local photoionization rate due to clustered faint galaxies around the C  iv absorbers. Using the analytical framework described in Paper I of this series, we derive a constraint on the average product of the escape fraction and the Lyman continuum photon production efficiency of the galaxy population clustered around the C  iv absorbers, |$\log \langle f_{\text{esc}}\xi _{\text{ion}}\rangle /[{\rm erg^{-1} Hz}] = 25.01^{+0.30}_{-0.19}$|⁠. This implies that faint galaxies beyond the reach of current facilities may have harder radiation fields and/or larger escape fractions than currently detected objects at the end of the reionization epoch. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Signs of damping-wing absorption attenuating the Lyman a emission line of the first known z ~ 7 quasar, ULAS J1120+0641, recently provided exciting evidence of a significantly neutral intergalactic medium (IGM). This long-awaited signature of reionization was inferred, in part, from a deficit of flux in the quasar's Lyman α emission line based on predictions from a composite of lower redshift quasars. The composite sample was chosen based on its C IV emission line properties; however, as the original study by Mortlock et al. noted, the composite contained a slight velocity offset in C IV compared to ULAS J1120+0641. Here we test whether this offset may be related to the predicted strength of the Lyman a emission line. We confirm the significant (~10 per cent at rms) scatter in Lyman a flux for quasars of a given C IV velocity and equivalent width found by Mortlock et al. We further find that among lower redshift objects chosen to more closely match the C IV properties of ULAS J1120+0641, its Lyman a emission falls within the observed distribution of fluxes. Among lower redshift quasars chosen to more closely match in C IV velocity and equivalent width, we find that ULAS J1120+0641 falls within the observed distribution of Lyman α emission line strengths. This suggests that damping-wing absorption may not be present, potentially weakening the case for neutral gas around this object. Larger samples of z > 7 quasars may therefore be needed to establish a clearer picture of the IGM neutral fraction at these redshifts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the laws of nature using the numerical values of the fundamental constants, for which increasingly precise and ever-distant measurements are accessible using quasar absorption spectra; and mentions the relative wavelengths of absorption lines imprinted on the spectra of background quasars are sensitive to the fine-structure constant.