Discovery of a z~6 Quasar, from New Limited Gemini Partner Korea

Spectrum from GMOS on Gemini South confirms the identification of a newly-discovered z~6 quasar.

The discovery of a faint quasar at redshift z~6 helps to constrain the role of such objects as the sources of reionization in the early Universe, suggesting that they did not contribute significantly. Data from GMOS-South confirm the redshift and identity spectroscopically of the discovery which also included data from the Canada-France-Hawai‘i and United Kingdom Infrared telescopes on Maunakea. This single source and six additional candidates from the same survey are consistent with limited contributions to reionization from the faint end of the quasar luminosity function. This is the first Korean publication as part of the Gemini partnership, and was led by Principal Investigator Myungshin Im and lead author Yongjung Kim (both Seoul National University) with collaborators. The English version of a Korean press release is posted at the Gemini website; a preprint and the publication in The Astrophysical Journal Letters present the full results.