Published September 1, 2011 | Version v1
Journal article

THE NEXT GENERATION ATLAS OF QUASAR SPECTRAL ENERGY DISTRIBUTIONS FROM RADIO TO X-RAYS

  • 1. Department of Physics, Tianjin Normal University, Tianjin 300387 (China)
  • 2. Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Wyoming, Laramie, WY 82071 (United States)
  • 3. Department of Astronomy, University of Texas at Austin, 1 University Station, C1400 Austin, TX 78712 (United States)
  • 4. Large Binocular Telescope Observatory, University of Arizona, 933 North Cherry Avenue, Tucson, AZ 85721 (United States)
  • 5. NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD 20771 (United States)
  • 6. Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Western Ontario, London, ON N6A 3K7 (Canada)
  • 7. Department of Computer Science, Engineering, and Physics, University of Michigan-Flint, 213 Murchie Science Building, 303 Kearsley Street, Flint, MI 48502 (United States)
  • 8. Space Science Institute, 4750 Walnut Street, Suite 205, Boulder, CO 80301 (United States)
  • 9. Space Telescope Science Institute, 3700 San Martin Drive, Baltimore, MD 21218 (United States)
  • 10. Department of Physics, 1245 Webster Hall, Washington State University, Pullman, WA 99164-2814 (United States)

Description

We have produced the next generation of quasar spectral energy distributions (SEDs), essentially updating the work of Elvis et al. by using high-quality data obtained with several space- and ground-based telescopes, including NASA's Great Observatories. We present an atlas of SEDs of 85 optically bright, non-blazar quasars over the electromagnetic spectrum from radio to X-rays. The heterogeneous sample includes 27 radio-quiet and 58 radio-loud quasars. Most objects have quasi-simultaneous ultraviolet-optical spectroscopic data, supplemented with some far-ultraviolet spectra, and more than half also have Spitzer mid-infrared Infrared Spectrograph spectra. The X-ray spectral parameters are collected from the literature where available. The radio, far-infrared, and near-infrared photometric data are also obtained from either the literature or new observations. We construct composite SEDs for radio-loud and radio-quiet objects and compare these to those of Elvis et al., finding that ours have similar overall shapes, but our improved spectral resolution reveals more detailed features, especially in the mid- and near-infrared.

Availability note (English)

Available from http://dx.doi.org/10.1088/0067-0049/196/1/2

Additional details

Identifiers

Publishing Information

Journal Title
Astrophysical Journal, Supplement Series
Journal Volume
196
Journal Issue
1
Journal Page Range
[23 p.]
ISSN
0067-0049
CODEN
APJSA2