Euclid quick data release (q1) Xix. First study of red quasars selection

Abstract

Red quasars constitute an important but elusive phase in the evolution of supermassive black holes, where dust obscuration can significantly alter their observed properties. They have broad emission lines, like other quasars, but their optical continuum emission is significantly reddened, which is why they were traditionally identified based on near- and mid-infrared selection criteria. This work showcases the capability of the Euclid space telescope to find a large sample of red quasars, using Euclid near infrared (NIR) photometry. We first conduct a forecast analysis, comparing a synthetic catalogue of red quasars with COSMOS2020. Using template fitting, we reconstruct Euclid-like photometry for the COSMOS sources and identify a sample of candidates in a multi-dimensional colour-colour space achieving 98% completeness for mock red quasars with 30% contaminants. To refine our selection function, we implement a probabilistic Random Forest classifier, and use UMAP visualisation to disentangle non-linear features in colour-space, reaching 98% completeness and 88% purity. A preliminary analysis of the candidates in the Euclid Deep Field Fornax (EDF-F) shows that, compared to VISTA+DECam-based colour selection criteria, Euclid’s superior depth, resolution, and optical-to-NIR coverage improves the identification of the reddest, most obscured sources. Notably, the Euclid exquisite resolution in the IE filter unveils the presence of a candidate dual quasar system, highlighting the potential for this mission to contribute to future studies on the population of dual AGN. The resulting catalogue of candidates, including more the 150 000 sources, provides a first census of red quasars in Euclid Q1 and sets the groundwork for future studies in the Euclid Wide Survey (EWS), including spectral follow-up analyses and host morphology characterisation