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Jetted active galactic nuclei (AGNs) are the principal extragalactic$\gamma$-ray sources. Fermi-detected high-redshift ($z>3$) blazars are jettedAGNs thought to be powered by massive, rapidly spinning supermassive blackholes (SMBHs) in the early universe ($<2$ Gyr). They provide a laboratory tostudy early black hole (BH) growth and super-Eddington accretion -- possiblyresponsible for the more rapid formation of jetted BHs. However, previousvirial BH masses of $z>3$ blazars were based on C IV in the observed optical,but C IV is known to be biased by strong outflows. We present new Gemini/GNIRSnear-IR spectroscopy for a sample of nine $z>3$ Fermi $\gamma$-ray blazars withavailable multi-wavelength observations that maximally sample the spectralenergy distributions (SEDs). We estimate virial BH masses based on the bettercalibrated broad H$\beta$ and/or Mg II . We compare the new virial BH massesagainst independent mass estimates from SED modeling. Our work represents thefirst step in campaigning for more robust virial BH masses and Eddington ratiosfor high-redshift Fermi blazars. Our new results confirm that high-redshiftFermi blazars indeed host overly massive SMBHs as suggested by previous work,which may pose a theoretical challenge for models of the rapid early growth ofjetted SMBHs.

Gemini Near-infrared Spectroscopy of High-Redshift Fermi Blazars: Jetted Black Holes in the Early Universe Were Overly Massive