Biased galaxy formation in the fields of high-redshift AGN

Abstract

We discuss preliminary results from our programme to map the fields of high-redshift AGN. In the context of the hierarchical models such fields are predicted to contain an over-density of young, luminous galaxies destined to evolve into the core of a rich cluster by the present epoch. We have thus imaged from submillimetre to X-ray wavelengths the few-arcmin scale fields of a small sample of high-redshift QSOs. We find that submillimetre wavelength data from SCUBA show striking over-densities of luminous star-forming galaxies over scales of ~500 kpc. Whilst many of these galaxies are undetected even in deep near-IR imaging almost all of them are detected by Spitzer at 4.5, 8.0 and 24 um, showing that they have extremely red colours. However, they are not detected in our XMM-Newton observations suggesting that any AGN must be highly obscured. Optical-through-mid-IR SEDs show the redshifted 1.6 um bump from star-light giving preliminary evidence that the galaxies lie at the same redshift, and thus in the same structure, as the QSO although this finding must be confirmed with photometric and/or spectroscopic redshifts.