Extreme star formation in the host galaxies of the fastest growing supermassive black holes AT z = 4.8

Abstract

We report new Herschel observations of 25 z 4.8 extremely luminous optically selected active galactic nuclei (AGNs). Five of the sources have extremely large star-forming (SF) luminosities, LSF, corresponding to SF rates (SFRs) of 2800–5600M yr−1 assuming a Salpeter initial mass function. The remaining sources have only upper limits on their SFRs, but stacking their Herschel images results in a mean SFR of 700 ± 150M yr−1. The higher SFRs in our sample are comparable to the highest observed values so far at any redshift. Our sample does not contain obscured AGNs, which enables us to investigate several evolutionary scenarios connecting supermassive black holes and SF activity in the early universe. The most probable scenario is that we are witnessing the peak of SF activity in some sources and the beginning of the post-starburst decline in others.We suggest that all 25 sources, which are at their peak AGN activity, are in large mergers. AGN feedback may be responsible for diminishing the SF activity in 20 of them, but is not operating efficiently in 5 others