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Issue A&A
Volume 372, Number 1, June II 2001
Page(s) L5 - L8
Section Letters
DOI http://dx.doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361:20010523



A&A 372, L5-L8 (2001)
DOI: 10.1051/0004-6361:20010523

Discovery of strong CIV absorption in the highest redshift quasar

R. Maiolino1, F. Mannucci2, C. Baffa1, S. Gennari1 and E. Oliva1, 3

1  Osservatorio Astrofisico di Arcetri, Largo E. Fermi 5, 50125 Firenze, Italy
2  CAISMI-CNR, Largo E. Fermi 5, 50125 Firenze, Italy
3  Centro Galileo Galilei & Telescopio Nazionale Galileo, PO Box 565, 38700 S. Cruz de La Palma, Spain

(Received 16 March 2001 / Accepted 6 April 2001 )

Abstract
We report the near-IR detection of a prominent CIV absorption in the rest-frame UV spectrum of the most distant known QSO, SDSS J104433.04-012502.2, at z=5.80. This QSO was recently observed with XMM-Newton and it was found to be notably X-ray weak. The equivalent width of the CIV absorption feature (~10 Å) strongly supports the idea that the X-ray faintness of this QSO is due to heavy absorption by gas with a column density $N_{\rm H} > 10^{24}$ cm-2. The shape of the CIV feature suggests that this is a Broad Absorption Line QSO. Although absorbed by a huge column of gas, the observed continuum in the 0.9-2.4 $\mu$m range (~1300-3500 Årest frame) exactly matches the template of unabsorbed QSOs without invoking any reddening ( EB-V< 0.08 mag), indicating that dust in the absorbing gas is either absent or composed of large grains.


Key words: infrared: galaxies -- quasars: general -- quasars: absorption lines

Offprint request: R. Maiolino, maiolino@arcetri.astro.it

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© ESO 2001


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