http://arxiv.org/abs/1503.02235
We investigate the luminosity and redshift dependence of the quasar continuum by means of composite spectrum using a large non-BAL radio-quiet quasar sample drawn from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. Quasar continuum slopes in the UV-Opt band are measured at two different wavelength ranges, i.e., $\alpha_{\nu12}$ ($1000\sim 2000 \rm\AA$) and $\alpha_{\nu24}$ ($2000 \sim 4000 \rm\AA$) derived from power law fitting. Generally, the UV spectra slope becomes harder (higher $\alpha_{\nu}$) towards higher bolometric luminosity. On the other hand, when quasars are further grouped into luminosity bins, we find both $\alpha_{\nu12}$ and $\alpha_{\nu24}$ show significant anti-correlation with redshift (i.e., quasar continuum becomes redder towards higher redshift). We suggest that the cosmic dust extinction is very likely the cause of this observed $\alpha_\nu-z$ relation. We build a simple cosmic dust extinction model to quantify the observed reddening tendency and find an effective dust density $n\sigma_v \sim 10^{-5}h~\rm Mpc^{-1}$ at $z<1.5$. The other possibilities that could produce such a reddening effect have also been discussed.
X. Xie, S. Shen, Z. Shao, et. al.
Tue, 10 Mar 15
37/77
Comments: 6 pages, 5 figures; accepted by APJL
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