Observational Constraints on Sunyaev-Zeldovich Effect Halos Around High-z Quasars

Abstract

We present continuum observations from the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) of 10 high-redshift ($2.2 \le z \le 2.7$) ultraluminous quasars (QSOs) and constrain the presence of hot, ionized, circum-galactic gas in a stacking analysis. We measure a Compton-y parameter profile with a peak value of $(1.7 \pm 1.1) \times 10^{-6}$ at a radius of $\sim50$ kpc. We compare our stacked observations to active galactic nucleus (AGN) feedback wind models and generalized Navarro-Frenk-White (gNFW) pressure profile models to constrain the wind luminosity and halo mass of the stacked QSOs. Our observations constrain the observed stack's halo mass to $<1\times 10^{13}M_{\odot}$ and the stack's feedback wind power $<1\times 10^{12}L_{\odot}$, which is $<1$% of the bolometric luminosity of the quasar.