Reaching the peak of the quasar spectral energy distribution - I. Observations and models

Collinson, J.S.; Ward, M.J.; Done, C.; Landt, H.; Elvis, M.; McDowell, J.C.

Abstract

We perform a spectral analysis of a sample of 11 medium redshift (1.5 ≲ z ≲ 2.2) quasars. Our sample all have optical spectra from the SDSS, infrared spectra from GNIRS and TripleSpec, and X-ray spectra from XMM–Newton. We first analyse the Balmer broad emission line profiles which are shifted into the IR spectra to constrain black hole masses. Then we fit an energy-conserving, three component accretion model of the broad-band spectral energy distribution (SED) to our multiwavelength data. 5 out of the 11 quasars show evidence of an SED peak, allowing us to constrain their bolometric luminosity from these models and estimate their mass accretion rates. Based on our limited sample, we suggest that estimating bolometric luminosities from L5100A˚L5100A˚ and L2-10 keV may be unreliable, as has been also noted for a low-redshift, X-ray selected active galactic nucleus sample.

Citation

Collinson, J., Ward, M., Done, C., Landt, H., Elvis, M., & McDowell, J. (2015). Reaching the peak of the quasar spectral energy distribution - I. Observations and models. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 449(2), 2174-2193. https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stv362

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Feb 17, 2015
• Online Publication Date: Mar 30, 2015
• Publication Date: May 11, 2015
• Deposit Date: Mar 16, 2016
• Publicly Available Date: Mar 17, 2016
• Journal: Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
• Print ISSN: 0035-8711
• Electronic ISSN: 1365-2966
• Publisher: Royal Astronomical Society
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 449
• Issue: 2
• Pages: 2174-2193
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stv362
• Public URL: https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1408973
• Related Public URLs: http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2015MNRAS.449.2174C