Quasar composite made from bright QSOs Virtual Observatory Resource

Authors
  1. Selsing J.
  2. Fynbo J. P. U
  3. Christensen L.
  4. Krogager J.-K.
  5. Published by
    CDS
Abstract

Quasi-stellar object (QSO) spectral templates are important both to QSO physics and for investigations that use QSOs as probes of intervening gas and dust. However, combinations of various QSO samples obtained at different times and with different instruments so as to expand a composite and to cover a wider rest frame wavelength region may create systematic effects, and the contribution from QSO hosts may contaminate the composite. We have constructed a composite spectrum from luminous blue QSOs at 1<z<2.1 selected from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS). The observations with X-shooter simultaneously cover ultraviolet (UV) to near-infrared (NIR) light, which ensures that the composite spectrum covers the full rest-frame range from Ly{beta} to 11350{AA} without any significant host contamination. Assuming a power-law continuum for the composite we find a spectral slope of {alpha}{lambda}=1.70+/-0.01, which is steeper than previously found in the literature. We attribute the differences to our broader spectral wavelength coverage, which allows us to effectively avoid fitting any regions that are affected either by strong QSO emissions lines (e.g., Balmer lines and complex [FeII] blends) or by intrinsic host galaxy emission. Finally, we demonstrate the application of the QSO composite spectrum for evaluating the reddening in other QSOs.

Keywords
  1. quasars
  2. spectroscopy
  3. ultraviolet-astronomy
  4. infrared-astronomy
Bibliographic source Bibcode
2016A&A...585A..87S
See also HTML
https://cdsarc.cds.unistra.fr/viz-bin/cat/J/A+A/585/A87
IVOA Identifier IVOID
ivo://CDS.VizieR/J/A+A/585/A87
Document Object Identifer DOI
doi:10.26093/cds/vizier.35850087

Access

Web browser access HTML
http://vizier.cds.unistra.fr/viz-bin/VizieR-2?-source=J/A+A/585/A87
https://vizier.iucaa.in/viz-bin/VizieR-2?-source=J/A+A/585/A87
http://vizieridia.saao.ac.za/viz-bin/VizieR-2?-source=J/A+A/585/A87
IVOA Table Access TAP
http://tapvizier.cds.unistra.fr/TAPVizieR/tap
Run SQL-like queries with TAP-enabled clients (e.g., TOPCAT).

History

2015-12-23T07:55:18Z
Resource record created
2015-12-23T07:55:18Z
Created
2017-07-10T06:22:03Z
Updated

Contact

Name
CDS support team
Postal Address
CDS, Observatoire de Strasbourg, 11 rue de l'Universite, F-67000 Strasbourg, France
E-Mail
cds-question@unistra.fr