Updating quasar bolometric luminosity corrections. III. [O III] bolometric corrections

Alison Pennell; Jessie C. Runnoe; Michael Brotherton

doi:10.1093/mnras/stx556

paper

Updating quasar bolometric luminosity corrections. III. [O III] bolometric corrections

arXiv:1703.03431 · doi:10.1093/mnras/stx556

Abstract

We present quasar bolometric corrections using the [O III] $λ 5007$ narrow emission line luminosity based on the detailed spectral energy distributions of 53 bright quasars at low to moderate redshift ( $0.0345 < z < 1.0002$ ). We adopted two functional forms to calculate $L_{iso}$ , the bolometric luminosity determined under the assumption of isotropy: $L_{iso} = A L_{[O I I I]}$ for comparison with the literature and log $(L_{i so}) = B + C$ log $(L_{[O I I I]})$ , which better characterizes the data. We also explored whether "Eigenvector 1", which describes the range of quasar spectral properties and quantifies their diversity, introduces scatter into the $L_{[O I I I]} - L_{i so}$ relationship. We found that the [O III] bolometric correction can be significantly improved by adding a term including the equivalent width ratio $R_{F e I I} \equiv E W_{F e I I} / E W_{H β}$ , which is an Eigenvector 1 indicator. Inclusion of $R_{F e I I}$ in predicting $L_{i so}$ is significant at nearly the $3 σ$ level and reduces the scatter and systematic offset of the luminosity residuals. Typically, [O III] bolometric corrections are adopted for Type 2 sources where the quasar continuum is not observed and in these cases, $R_{F e I I}$ cannot be measured. We searched for an alternative measure of Eigenvector 1 that could be measured in the optical spectra of Type 2 sources but were unable to identify one. Thus, the main contribution of this work is to present an improved [O III] bolometric correction based on measured bolometric luminosities and highlight the Eigenvector 1 dependence of the correction in Type 1 sources.

Accepted for publication in MNRAS

Updating quasar bolometric luminosity corrections. III. [O III] bolometric corrections

Abstract

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