ALMA Large Program | 2022.1.01077.L | Cycle 9

PI: Feige Wang (University of Michigan)

Figure 1. The 1.2 mm continuum images of 25 quasar fields obtained by the ASPIRE–ALMA Cycle-9 large program (Sun et al. 2025).

 

1. Program Abstract

 

The ALMA ASPIRE Large Program aims to study the host galaxies, large-scale environments, and dark matter halos of the most distant quasars. ASPIRE targets the 25 most luminous quasars at z~7 using deep ALMA 1.2 mm mosaic observations. These quasar fields are also covered by multi-band JWST imaging and 3-4 um slitless spectroscopy to identify star-forming galaxies at 1<z<7. The ALMA observations detect dust and gas emission from these UV-bright galaxies, uncover faint dusty continuum sources, and reveal new [C II] emitters at the quasar redshifts. This enables us to measure the Mpc-scale clustering of [C II] emitters around distant quasars and ultimately determine whether the earliest supermassive black holes reside in the most massive dark matter halos.   

Combined with the extensive multi-wavelength observations already in hand, the ASPIRE team investigates black hole fueling mechanisms across multiple scales and phases, assesses whether quasar environments are dust-rich, and examines how strong quasar radiation influences galaxy formation across different mass ranges. The program will further construct a ~45 arcmin² redshift survey covered by ALMA, JWST, HST, VLA, Chandra, and ground-based imaging and spectroscopy, enabling a comprehensive study of galaxies and the cosmic star-formation history from z∼7 to z∼1. This survey will also connect the circumgalactic medium to its host galaxies and constrain cosmic reionization by combining quasar absorption spectra with the galaxies along the quasar lines of sight.

 

2. Project Codes

 

Project Code	Title	PI
2022.1.01077.L	A SPectroscopic survey of biased halos In the Reionization Era (ASPIRE): A Quasar Legacy Redshift Survey	Feige Wang (University of Michigan) Co-PIs: Jinyi Yang, Bram Venemans, Roberto Decarli,Xiaohui Fan, Banados Eduardo

 

3. Team Members

 

Name	Affiliation	Country
Feige Wang (PI)	University of Michigan	US
Jinyi Yang (co-PI)	University of Michigan	US
Bram Venemans (co-PI)	Leiden University	The Netherlands
Roberto Decarli (co-PI)	INAF - Osservatorio di Astrofisica e Scienza dello Spazio	Italy
Xiaohui Fan (co-PI)	University of Arizona	US
Banados Eduardo (co-PI)	Max Planck Institute for Astronomy, Heidelberg	Germany
Jaclyn Champagne	University of Arizona	US
Eiichi Egami	University of Arizona	US
Emanuele Paolo Farina	Gemini Observatory	US
Joseph Hennawi	UC Santa Barbara	US
Weizhe Liu	University of Arizona	US
Chiara Mazzucchelli	Universidad Diego Portales	Chile
Romain Meyer	University of Geneva	Switzerland
Fengwu Sun	University of Arizona	US
Fabian Walter	Max Planck Institute for Astronomy, Heidelberg	Germany
Minghao Yue	University of Arizona	US

 

4. List of Publications

 

Title	Lead Author	Reference	DOI
ASPIRE: The Environments and Dark Matter Halos of Luminous Quasars in the Epoch of Reionization	Wang, Feige	2026 submitted	10.48550/arXiv.2602.04979	This is an ASPIRE key paper for the main science goal of quasar environment, it also contains an overview of the ASPIRE program
A SPectroscopic Survey of Biased Halos in the Reionization Era (ASPIRE): Spectroscopically Complete Census of Obscured Cosmic Star Formation Rate Density at z = 4─6	Sun, Fengwu	2025 ApJ 980 12	10.3847/1538-4357/ad9d0e 10.48550/arXiv.2412.06894	This is an ASPIRE key paper on studying the obscured cosmic star formation rate desntiy at high redshifts
The Identification of Two JWST/NIRCam-Dark Starburst Galaxies at z=6.6 with ALMA	Sun, Fengwu	2026 submitted	10.48550/arXiv.2506.06418	The Identification of Two JWST/NIRCam-Dark Starburst Galaxies at z = 6.6  with ALMA
Disturbed Cold Gas in Galaxy and Structure Formation	Zou, Siwei	2025 ApJ 994 53	10.3847/2041-8213/ae1234	This is a paper studying the connection between CGM absorbers and ALMA detected galaxies

 

5. Main Deliveries

A set of complete and calibrated mosaic data cubes and continuum images are available to the community upon request. The sub-mm continuum source catalog is available in the paper by Sun et al. (2025), the [CII] line emitter catalog is available in Wang et al. (2026), and a more complete ALMA line emitter catalog will be available in Decarli et al. in prep.

 

6. Links to Other Resources

 

A more detailed information about the ASPIRE program can be found in the following link:

https://aspire-quasar.github.io/index.html

This webpage provides information about the multi-wavelength dataset we have already collected for the ASPIRE program.