The Infrared Medium-deep Survey. VII. Optimal selection for faint quasars at z ~ 5 and preliminary results

The universe has been ionized in the post-reionization by several photon contributors. The dominant source to produce the hydrogen ionizing photons is not revealed so far. Faint quasars have been expected to generate UV photon budgets required to maintain ionization state of universe. Observational limits, however, hinder to discover them despite their higher number density than bright one. Consequently, the influence of faint quasars on post-reionization are not considered sufficiently. Therefore, a survey to find faint quasars at z ~ 5 is crucial to determine the main ionizing source in the post-reionization era. Deep images from the Hyper Suprime-Cam Subaru Strategic Program (HSC SSP) allow us to search for quasar swith low luminosities in the ELAIS-N1 field. J band information are obtained by the Infrared Medium-deep Survey (IMS) and the UKIRT Infrared Deep Sky Survey (UKIDSS) - Deep ExtragalacticSurvey (DXS). Faint quasar candidates were selected from several multi-band color cut criteria based on simulated quasars on color-color diagram. To choose the reliable candidates with possible Lyman break, we have performed medium-bands observations. Whether a candidate is a quasar or a dwarf star contamination was decided by results from chi-square minimization of quasar/dwarf model fitting. Spectroscopic follow-up observations confirm three quasars at z ~ 5. 100% spectral confirmation success rate implies that the medium-band observations effectively select faint quasars with strong Lyman alpha emission.