A Quasar-Galaxy Mixing Diagram: Quasar Spectral Energy Distribution Shapes in the Optical to Near-Infrared

Abstract

We define a quasar-galaxy mixing diagram using the slopes of their spectral energy distributions (SEDs) from 1μm to 3000Å and from 1μm to 3μm in the rest frame. The mixing diagram can easily distinguish among quasar-dominated, galaxy-dominated and reddening-dominated SED shapes. By studying the position of the 413 XMM selected Type 1 AGN in the wide-field "Cosmic Evolution Survey" (COSMOS) in the mixing diagram, we find that a combination of the Elvis et al. (1994, hereafter E94) quasar SED with various contributions from galaxy emission and some dust reddening is remarkably effective in describing the SED shape from 0.3-3μm for large ranges of redshift, luminosity, black hole mass and Eddington ratio of type 1 AGN. In particular, the location in the mixing diagram of the highest luminosity AGN is very close (within 1σ) to that of the E94 SED. The mixing diagram can also be used to estimate the host galaxy fraction and reddening in quasar. We also show examples of some outliers which might be AGN in different evolutionary stages compared to the majority of AGN in the quasar-host galaxy co-evolution cycle.

19 pages, 13 figures, 2 tables, accepted by MNRAS

References in corpus (28)

• Five-Year Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) Observations: Cosmological Interpretation
• The Host Galaxies and Classification of Active Galactic Nuclei
• The Cosmic Evolution Survey (COSMOS) -- Overview
• Some Aspects of Measurement Error in Linear Regression of Astronomical Data
• COSMOS Photometric Redshifts with 30-bands for 2-deg2
• An Observational Determination of the Bolometric Quasar Luminosity Function
• zCOSMOS: A Large VLT/VIMOS redshift survey covering 0 < z < 3 in the COSMOS field
• Radio-Loudness of Active Galactic Nuclei: Observational Facts and Theoretical Implications
• The Sloan Digital Sky Survey Quasar Catalog IV. Fifth Data Release
• The bulk of the black hole growth since z~1 occurs in a secular universe: No major merger-AGN connection
• Photometric redshift and classification for the XMM-COSMOS sources
• The XMM-Newton wide-field survey in the COSMOS field: I. Survey description
• Formation of z ~ 6 quasars from hierarchical galaxy mergers
• The XMM-Newton wide-field survey in the COSMOS field. The point-like X-ray source catalogue
• Accreting SMBHs in the COSMOS field and the connection to their host galaxies
• The evolution of the near-IR galaxy Luminosity Function and colour bimodality up to z ~ 2 from the UKIDSS Ultra Deep Survey Early Data Release
• FIRST-2MASS Red Quasars: Transitional Objects Emerging from the Dust
• The XMM-Newton wide-field survey in the COSMOS field II: X-ray data and the logN-logS
• The effect of radiation pressure on dusty absorbing gas around AGN
• The VVDS type-1 AGN sample: The faint end of the luminosity function
• A hybrid model for the evolution of galaxies and Active Galactic Nuclei in the infrared
• The black hole - bulge mass relation of Active Galactic Nuclei in the Extended Chandra Deep Field - South Survey
• Dust-free quasars in the early Universe
• The XMM-Newton wide-field survey in the COSMOS field. IV: X-ray spectral properties of Active Galactic Nuclei
• Radiation pressure and absorption in AGN: results from a complete unbiased sample from Swift
• Spectral Energy Distributions of Type 1 AGN in the COSMOS Survey I - The XMM-COSMOS Sample
• Spectral Energy Distributions of Type 1 AGN in XMM-COSMOS Survey II - Shape Evolution
• The Reddest DR3 SDSS/XMM Quasars

Cited by in corpus (23)

• The incidence of obscuration in active galactic nuclei
• Quasars as standard candles III. Validation of a new sample for cosmological studies
• The Obscured Fraction of AGN in the XMM-COSMOS Survey: A Spectral Energy Distribution Perspective
• Extremely Red Quasars in BOSS
• Multi-wavelength properties of Type 1 and Type 2 AGN Host Galaxies in the Chandra-COSMOS Legacy Survey
• Polar dust obscuration in broad-line active galaxies from the XMM-XXL field
• Quasar Rain: the Broad Emission Line Region as Condensations in the Warm Accretion Disk Wind
• Type 2 AGN host galaxies in the Chandra-COSMOS Legacy Survey: No Evidence of AGN-driven Quenching
• Spectral Energy Distributions of Type 1 AGN in XMM-COSMOS Survey II - Shape Evolution
• A comparative analysis of virial black-hole mass estimates of moderate-luminosity active galactic nuclei using Subaru/FMOS
• The AKARI 2.5-5.0 Micron Spectral Atlas of Type-1 Active Galactic Nuclei: Black Hole Mass Estimator, Line Ratio, and Hot Dust Temperature
• Exploring the link between C IV outflow kinematics and sublimation-temperature dust in quasars
• Herschel observed Stripe 82 quasars and their host galaxies: connections between the AGN activity and the host galaxy star formation
• Physical Properties of Luminous Dust Poor Quasars
• The most luminous blue quasars at 3.0<z<3.3. II. CIV/X-ray emission and accretion disc physics
• Quasars as standard candles VI: spectroscopic validation of the cosmological sample
• AGN torus emission for a homogeneous sample of bright FSRQs
• Searching for Super-Eddington Quasars using a Photon Trapping Accretion Disc Model
• Testing the Completeness of the SDSS Colour Selection for Ultramassive, Slowly Spinning Black Holes
• The nature of massive black hole binary candidates: II. Spectral energy distribution atlas
• The near-infrared SED of blue quasars: what drives the evolution of the dusty torus?
• "Zombie" or active? An alternative explanation to the properties of star-forming galaxies at high redshift
• The disk-torus system in active galactic nuclei: possible evidence of highly spinning black holes