Library Of Spectral Energy Distributions Research Articles

Polar Dust, Nuclear Obscuration, and IR SED Diversity in Type-1 AGNs*

Abstract Despite the hypothesized similar face-on viewing angles, the infrared emission of type-1 active galactic nuclei (AGNs) has diverse spectral energy distribution (SED) shapes that deviate substantially from the well-characterized quasar templates. Motivated by the commonly seen UV-optical obscuration and the discovery of parsec-scale mid-IR polar dust emission in some nearby AGNs, we develop semi-empirical SED libraries for reddened type-1 AGNs built on quasar intrinsic templates, assuming low-level extinction caused by an extended distribution of large dust grains. We demonstrate that this model can reproduce the nuclear UV to IR SED and the strong mid-IR polar dust emission of NGC 3783, the type-1 AGN with the most relevant and robust observational constraints. In addition, we compile 64 low-z Seyfert-1 nuclei with negligible mid-IR star formation contamination and satisfactorily fit the individual IR SEDs as well as the composite UV to mid-IR composite SEDs. Given the success of these fits, we characterize the possible infrared SED of AGN polar dust emission and utilize a simple but effective strategy to infer its prevalence among type-1 AGNs. The SEDs of high-z peculiar AGNs, including the extremely red quasars, mid-IR warm-excess AGNs, and hot dust-obscured galaxies, can be also reproduced by our model. These results indicate that the IR SEDs of most AGNs, regardless of redshift or luminosity, arise from similar circumnuclear torus properties but differ mainly due to the optical depths of extended obscuring dust components.

Self-consistent two-phase AGN torus models

We assume that dust near active galactic nuclei (AGN) is distributed in a torus-like geometry, which may be described by a clumpy medium or a homogeneous disk or as a combination of the two (i.e. a 2-phase medium). The dust particles considered are fluffy and have higher submillimeter emissivities than grains in the diffuse ISM. The dust-photon interaction is treated in a fully self-consistent three dimensional radiative transfer code. We provide an AGN library of spectral energy distributions (SEDs). Its purpose is to quickly obtain estimates of the basic parameters of the AGN, such as the intrinsic luminosity of the central source, the viewing angle, the inner radius, the volume filling factor and optical depth of the clouds, and the optical depth of the disk midplane, and to predict the flux at yet unobserved wavelengths. The procedure is simple and consists of finding an element in the library that matches the observations. We discuss the general properties of the models and in particular the 10mic. silicate band. The AGN library accounts well for the observed scatter of the feature strengths and wavelengths of the peak emission. AGN extinction curves are discussed and we find that there is no direct one-to-one link between the observed extinction and the wavelength dependence of the dust cross sections. We show that objects of the library cover the observed range of mid IR colors of known AGN. The validity of the approach is demonstrated by matching the SEDs of a number of representative objects: Four Seyferts and two quasars for which we present new Herschel photometry, two radio galaxies, and one hyperluminous infrared galaxy. Strikingly, for the five luminous objects we find pure AGN models fit the SED without a need to postulate starburst activity.

The ALHAMBRA survey: Discovery of a faint QSO atz= 5.41

We aim to illustrate the potentiality of the Advanced Large, Homogeneous Area, Medium-Band Redshift Astronomical (ALHAMBRA) survey to investigate the high redshift universe through the detection of quasi stellar objects (QSOs) at redshifts larger than 5. The search for z>5 QSOs candidates was done by fitting an extensive library of spectral energy distributions --including active and non-active galaxy templates as well as stars-- to the photometric database of the ALHAMBRA survey (composed of 20 optical medium-band plus the 3 broad-band JHKs filters). Our selection over ~1 square degree of ALHAMBRA data (~1/4 of the total area covered by the survey), combined with GTC/OSIRIS spectroscopy, has yielded the identification of an optically faint QSO at very high redshift (z = 5.41). The QSO has an absolute magnitude of ~-24 at the 1450{\AA} continuum, a bolometric luminosity of ~2x10^46 erg/s and an estimated black hole mass of ~10^8 Msolar. This QSO adds itself to a reduced number of known UV faint sources at these redshifts. The preliminary derived space density is compatible with the most recent determinations of the high-z QSO luminosity functions (QLF). This new detection shows how ALHAMBRA, as well as forthcoming well designed photometric surveys, can provide a wealth of information on the origin and early evolution of this kind of objects.

Genesis of the dusty Universe: modelling submillimetre source counts

We model the evolution of infrared galaxies using a phenomenological approach to match the observed source counts at different infrared wavelengths. In order to do that, we introduce a new algorithm for reproducing source counts which is based on direct integration of probability distributions rather than using Monte Carlo sampling. We also construct a simple model for the evolution of the luminosity function and the colour distribution of infrared galaxies which utilizes a minimum number of free parameters; we analyse how each of these parameters is constrained by observational data. The model is based on pure luminosity evolution, adopts the Dale & Helou spectral energy distribution (SED) templates, allowing for evolution in the infrared luminosity–colour relation, but does not consider active galactic nuclei as a separately evolving population. We find that the 850-m source counts and redshift distribution depend strongly on the shape of the luminosity evolution function, but only weakly on the details of the SEDs. Based on this observation, we derive the best-fit evolutionary model using the 850-m counts and redshift distribution as constraints. Because of the strong negative K-correction combined with the strong luminosity evolution, the fit has considerable sensitivity to the sub-L★ population at high redshift, and our best fit shows a flattening of the faint end of the luminosity function towards high redshifts. Furthermore, our best-fit model requires a colour evolution which implies the typical dust temperatures of objects with the same luminosities to decrease with redshift. We then compare our best-fit model to observed source counts at shorter and longer wavelengths, which indicates our model reproduces the 70- and 1100-m source counts remarkably well, but underproduces the counts at intermediate wavelengths. Analysis reveals that the discrepancy arises at low redshifts, indicating that revision of the adopted SED library towards lower dust temperatures (at a fixed infrared luminosity) is required. This modification is equivalent to a population of cold galaxies existing at low redshifts, as also indicated by recent Herschel results, which are under-represented in the IRAS sample. We show that the modified model successfully reproduces the source counts in a wide range of infrared and submillimetre wavelengths.

Population synthesis modelling of luminous infrared galaxies at intermediate redshift

Luminous InfraRed Galaxies (LIRGs) are particularly important for studying the build-up of the stellar mass from z=1 to z=0. We perform a multiwavelength study of an LIRGs sample in the Extended Chandra Deep Field South at z=0.7, selected at 24 \mu\m by MIPS onboard Spitzer Space Telescope and detected in 17 filters. Data go from the near-ultraviolet to the mid-infrared. This multiwavelengths dataset allows us to place strong constraints on the spectral energy distributions (SEDs) of galaxies, and thus to efficiently derive physical parameters such as the SFR, the total infrared luminosity, attenuation parameters, and star formation history. An important part of this work is elaboration of a mock catalogue that allows us to have a reliability criterion for the derived parameters. We studied LIRGs by means of an SED-fitting code CIGALE. At first, this code creates synthetic spectra from the Maraston stellar population models. The stellar population spectra are attenuated by using a synthetic Calzetti-based attenuation law before adding the dust emission as given by the infrared SED library. The originality of CIGALE is that it allows us to perform consistent fits of the dust-affected ultaviolet-to-infrared wavelength range. This technique appears to be a very powerful tool in the case where we can have access to a dataset that is well-sampled over a wide range of wavelengths. We are able to derive a star formation history and to estimate the fraction of infrared luminosity reprocessed by an active galactic nucleus. We study the dust temperatures of our galaxies detected at 70 \mu\m and find them colder than predicted by models. We also study the relation between the SFR and the stellar mass and do not find a tight correlation between either of them, but instead a flat distribution and a large scatter, which is interpreted in terms of variations in star formation history.

Ultraviolet dust attenuation in star-forming galaxies – II. Calibrating the A(UV) versus LTIR/LUVrelation

We investigate the dependence of the total-infrared (TIR) to UV luminosity ratio method for calculating the UV dust attenuation A(UV) from the age of the underlying stellar populations by using a library of spectral energy distributions for galaxies with different star formation histories. Our analysis confirms that the TIR/UV vs. A(UV) relation varies significantly with the age of the underlying stellar population: i.e. for the same TIR/UV ratio, systems with low specific star formation rate (SSFR) suffer a lower UV attenuation than starbursts. Using a sample of nearby field and cluster spiral galaxies we show that the use of a standard (i.e. age independent) TIR/UV vs. A(UV) relation leads to a systematic overestimate up to 2 magnitudes of the amount of UV dust attenuation suffered by objects with low SSFR and in particular HI-deficient star forming cluster galaxies. This result points out that the age independent $TIR/UV$ vs. $A(UV)$ relation cannot be used to study the UV properties of large samples of galaxies including low star-forming systems and passive spirals. Therefore we give some simple empirical relations from which the UV attenuation can be estimated taking into account its dependence on the age of the stellar populations, providing a less biased view of UV properties of galaxies.

Mid infrared properties of distant infrared luminous galaxies

We present evidence that the mid infrared (MIR) is a good tracer of the total infrared luminosity, L(IR), and star formation rate (SFR), of galaxies up to z 1.3. We use deep MIR images from the Infrared Space Observatory (ISO) and the Spitzer Space Telescope in the Northern field of the Great Observatories Origins Deep Survey (GOODS-N) together with VLA radio data to compute three independant estimates of L(IR). The L(IR,MIR) derived from the observed 15 and/or 24 um flux densities using a library of template SEDs, and L(IR,radio), derived from the radio (1.4 and/or 8.5 GHz) using the radio-far infrared correlation, agree with a 1-sigma dispersion of 40 %. We use the k-correction as a tool to probe different parts of the MIR spectral energy distribution (SED) of galaxies as a function of their redshift and find that on average distant galaxies present MIR SEDs very similar to local ones. However, in the redshift range z= 0.4-1.2, L(IR,24um) is in better agreement with L(IR,radio) than L(IR,15 um) by 20 %, suggesting that the warm dust continuum is a better tracer of the SFR than the broad emission features due to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). We find marginal evidence for an evolution with redshift of the MIR SEDs: two thirds of the distant galaxies exhibit rest-frame MIR colors (L(12 um)/L(7 um) and L(10 um)/L(15 um) luminosity ratios) below the median value measured for local galaxies. Possible explanations are examined but these results are not sufficient to constrain the physics of the emitting regions. We compare three commonly used SED libraries which reproduce the color-luminosity correlations of local galaxies with our data and discuss possible refinements to the relative intensities of PAHs, warm dust continuum and silicate absorption.

Models for Multiband Infrared Surveys

Empirical backward galaxy evolution models for IR bright galaxies are constrained using multiband IR surveys. A new Monte Carlo algorithm is developed for this task. It exploits a large library of realistic spectral energy distributions (SEDs) of 837 local IR galaxies (IRAS 25 ?m selected) from the UV (1000 ?) to the radio (20 cm), including Infrared Space Observatory (ISO) measured 3-13 ?m unidentified broad features (UIBs). The basic assumption is that the local correlation between SEDs and mid-infrared (MIR) luminosities can be applied to earlier epochs of the universe, an assumption that will be strongly tested by SIRTF. By attaching an SED appropriately drawn from the SED library to every source predicted by a given model, the algorithm enables simultaneous comparisons with multiple surveys in a wide range of wave bands. Three populations of IR sources are considered in the evolution models. These include (1) starburst galaxies, (2) normal late-type galaxies, and (3) galaxies with active galactic nuclei (AGNs). Constrained by data from the literature, our best-fit model (peak model) predicts that since z = 1.5 the population of starburst galaxies undergoes a very strong luminosity evolution [L = L0(1 + z)4.2] and also strong density evolution [? = ?0(1 + z)2], the normal late-type galaxy population undergoes a passive luminosity evolution [L = L0(1 + z)1.5], and the galaxies with an AGN undergo a pure luminosity evolution similar to that of optical QSOs [L = L0(1 + z)3.5]. Prior at z ? 1.5 all evolution rates drop as (1 + z)-3. The luminosity evolution results in evolution of SEDs of IR bright sources because of the luminosity dependence of the SEDs. Predictions for number counts, confusion limits, redshift distributions, and color-color diagrams are made for multiband surveys using the upcoming SIRTF satellite. A ? cosmology (?? = 0.7, ?m = 0.3, H0 = 75 km s-1 Mpc-1) is assumed throughout the paper.

A Calibration Method for Wide‐Field Multicolor Photometric Systems11The work is supported partly by the National Sciences Foundation under contracts 19833020 and 19503003.

ABSTRACTThe purpose of this paper is to present a method to self‐calibrate the spectral energy distribution (SED) of objects in a survey based on the fitting of a SED library to observed multicolor photometry. We adopt, for illustrative purposes, the Vilnius and Gunn & Stryker SED libraries. The self‐calibration technique can improve the quality of observations which are not taken under perfectly photometric conditions. The more passbands used for the photometry, the better the results. This technique has been applied to the BATC 15 passband CCD survey.