The pattern of extreme star formation events in SDSS quasar hosts in Herschel fields
Abstract
Using a sample of ~500 quasars up to redshifts of ~4 detected by the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) and the Spectral and Photometric Imaging Receiver (SPIRE) instrument of Herschel, we describe the behavior of intense starbursts in luminous quasars and how it correlates with the properties of the active galactic nuclei (AGN). We select our objects in the Herschel Stripe 82 Survey (HerS) and in the largest fields of the Herschel Multi-tiered Extragalactic Survey (HerMES), including the HerMES Large Mode Survey (HeLMS).The far-infrared (FIR) emission of our objects is quantified using a spectral energy distribution (SED) fitting technique. As our sources are individually detected in the SPIRE bands, they are bright in the FIR, exhibiting typical star formation rates (SFRs) of order of 1000 M⊙yr-1. We find the SFR to increase by a factor of nearly ten from z~0.5 to z~3, in line with the increasing comoving SFR density over a similar redshift range. The SFR, however, is shown to remain constant with increasing quasar luminosity for quasars with IR luminosities above 1012L⊙, indicating a self-regulating star formation process rather than a suppression effect due to the presence of powerful AGN. We find no further proof of a causal relation between star formation and accretion onto the central black hole, as the SFR and the Eddington ratio, λEdd, are found to be uncorrelated.We then compare the broad absorption line (BAL) quasars to the rest of the quasar population, as they are candidates for outflows in action from which shorter-term feedback effects could be sought. We find the accretion luminosities and λEdd values of BAL quasars to be drawn from the same population as those of the non-BAL quasars; further, the host SFRs are statistically similar among the two populations, all of which argue against feedback effects. These similarities also oppose an evolutionary scenario, as a different evolutionary stage would imply differences in either the accretion state, the star formation, or both. Thus, to explain the presence of BALs in the spectra of a random fraction of the quasar population, our results favor an orientation effect.
- Publication:
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American Astronomical Society Meeting Abstracts #227
- Pub Date:
- January 2016
- Bibcode:
- 2016AAS...22743804P