ULAS J1120 0641
J112001.48 064124.3 ULAS, often abbreviated ULAS J1120 0641 is a quasar with a redshift of 7.085. He is the most distant known quasar, while the first known quasar with a redshift larger 7
Various reports from the news, including those from the Associated Press, have indicated that it is the brightest object yet discovered. However, this is not correct, because quasars are known to have higher luminosity at least 100 times.
Discovery
ULAS J1120 0641 has been cataloged by the UKIRT Infra Red Deep Sky Survey ( UKIDSS ) from the UK Infrared Telescope on Mauna Kea in Hawaii. The name of the quasar is derived from UKIDSS Large Area Survey ( ULAS ) and the position in the sky: Right Ascension 11h 20min and declination 06 ° 41 '. The quasar located in the constellation Leo near σ Leonis. The quasar was discovered by an infrared telescope, although the light was originally emitted as UV radiation from the quasar. Infrared light has a longer wavelength and a lower energy than UV light. This change of energy and wavelength come about by the expansion of the universe, creating a redshift similar to the Doppler effect for sound waves takes place. The team of scientists spent years looking for a quasar with a redshift greater than 6.5. The discovery of J1120 0641 ULAS was announced on 29 June 2011 and the object is at a redshift of 7.085 even further away than we had hoped. UKIDSS is a photometric investigation in the near infrared range, the original discovery was only a photometric redshift zphot > 6.5. Before the team announced the discovery is led by a spectroscopy on the Gemini North Telescope and the Very Large Telescope to determine the redshift with a value of 7.085 ± 0.003.
Description
ULAS J1120 0641 has a measured redshift of z = 7.085, corresponding to a comoving distance of 28.85 billion light years. Since June 2011, it is the most distant quasar ever watch. The light emitted from the quasar light, which is now observed was less than 770 million years after the Big Bang, that was about 13 billion years. This is 100 million years earlier than the previously most distant quasar. The estimated luminosity of the quasar is 6.3 × 1012 times the luminosity of the sun.
The power output is generated by a supermassive black hole, which has 2 ± 0.7 × 109 solar masses. While the black hole powers the quasar energy, the light comes not from the black hole itself Daniel Mortlock, the lead author of the publication of the discovery of ULAS J1120 0641, explained that the supermassive black hole itself does not radiate, but via a gas - or dust disk has to be so hot that it outshines a galaxy full of stars.
Importance
The light from ULAS J1120 0641 was issued during a period of time before the theoretically predicted transition of the interstellar medium was terminated by an electrically neutral to an ionized state. Quasars could have been an important source of energy in this process, which is known as Reionisierungsepoche.
A quasar from the period before this transition is of considerable theoretical interest. Because of their high luminosity in the UV region are quasars one of the best sources for the study of Reionisationsepoche.
For the first time, scientists have observed a quasar with such a large proportion of neutral, non- ionsiertem hydrogen in its spectrum. Mortlock assumes that 10-50 % of the hydrogen of ULAS J1120 0641 are neutral. The proportion of neutral hydrogen in all other observed quasars - even those who are only 100 million years younger - is typically 1 % or less.
The supermassive black hole in J1120 0641 ULAS has a higher mass than originally expected. The Eddington limit sets a maximum limit up to which can grow a black hole. The existence of such a massive black hole so soon after the Big Bang assumes that it had either a very high initial mass or created by the merger of thousands of smaller black holes.