An X-Shooter composite of bright 1 < z < 2 quasars from UV to infrared
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 Lyβ to 11 350 Å without any significant host contamination. Assuming a power-law continuum for the composite we find a spectral slope of αλ = 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 [Fe II] blends) or by intrinsic host galaxy emission. Finally, we demonstrate the application of the QSO composite spectrum for evaluating the reddening in other QSOs.
Based on observations made with telescopes at the European Southern Observatory at La Silla/Paranal, Chile under program 090.A-0147(A).The quasar composite is only available at the CDS via anonymous ftp to http://cdsarc.u-strasbg.fr (ftp://130.79.128.5) or via http://cdsarc.u-strasbg.fr/viz-bin/qcat?J/A+A/585/A87 Source code and composite is also made public at https://github.com/jselsing/QuasarComposite- Publication:
-
Astronomy and Astrophysics
- Pub Date:
- January 2016
- DOI:
- 10.1051/0004-6361/201527096
- arXiv:
- arXiv:1510.08058
- Bibcode:
- 2016A&A...585A..87S
- Keywords:
-
- quasars: general;
- galaxies: ISM;
- methods: data analysis;
- techniques: spectroscopic;
- Astrophysics - Astrophysics of Galaxies;
- Astrophysics - Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics
- E-Print:
- 14 pages, 8 figures, accepted for publication in A&