paper

Infrared photometry of z~1 3C quasars

arXiv:astro-ph/0005570 · doi:10.1046/j.1365-8711.2000.03752.x

Abstract

We present JHKL' photometry of a complete sample of steep-spectrum radio-loud quasars from the revised 3CR catalogue in the redshift range 0.65 < z < 1.20. After correcting for contributions from emission lines and the host galaxies, we investigate their spectral energy distributions (SEDs) around 1 micron. About 75% of the quasars are tightly grouped in the plane of optical spectral index, alpha_lo, versus near-infrared spectral index, alpha_hi, with the median value of alpha_lo close to the canonical value, and the median alpha_hi slightly flatter. We conclude that the fraction of moderately-obscured, red quasars decreases with increasing radio power, in accordance with the `receding torus' model which can also explain the relatively flat median near-infrared spectra of the 3CR quasars. Two of the red quasars have inverted infrared spectral indices, and we suggest that their unusual SEDs might result from a combination of dust-scattered and transmitted quasar light.

6 pages, 3 figures, accepted by MNRAS Letters

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