Program: GN-2022A-Q-411

We propose to obtain spectroscopy of high-z (z>6) quasar candidates identified in wide-area surveys, as part of an effort to achieve a complete observations of all potential z>6 quasar candidates in the Pan-STARRS survey with y<20mag. The proposed band-4 GMOS optical spectroscopy will allow us to confirm the photometric classification of the sources, rejecting Galactic contaminants, and measure the redshift of newly discovered quasars.  In addition we will use GMOS imaging to investigate the close environment of z~6 quasars with ALMA and HST follow-up observations already in hands. This effort will pave the way for extensive GEMINI and JWST observations aimed at characterizing the build-up of the first quasars.