Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• Xie, Yanxia
• Ho, Luis C.
• Zhuang, Ming-Yang
• Shangguan, Jinyi

Titel

The Infrared Emission and Vigorous Star Formation of Low-redshift Quasars

Ist Teil von

• The Astrophysical journal, 2021-04, Vol.910 (2), p.124

Ort / Verlag

Philadelphia: IOP Publishing

Erscheinungsjahr

2021

Link zum Volltext

Quelle

EZB*

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• Abstract The star formation activity of the host galaxies of active galactic nuclei provides valuable insights into the complex interconnections between black hole growth and galaxy evolution. A major obstacle arises from the difficulty of estimating accurate star formation rates (SFRs) in the presence of a strong active galactic nucleus. Analyzing the 1–500 μ m spectral energy distributions and high-resolution mid-infrared spectra of low-redshift ( z < 0.5) Palomar–Green quasars with bolometric luminosity of ∼10 44.5 –10 47.5 erg s −1 , we find, from comparison with an independent SFR indicator based on [Ne II ] 12.81 μ m and [Ne III ] 15.56 μ m, that the torus-subtracted, total infrared (8–1000 μ m) emission yields robust SFRs in the range of ∼1–250 M ⊙ yr −1 . Combined with available stellar mass estimates, the vast majority (∼75%–90%) of the quasars lie on or above the main sequence of local star-forming galaxies, including a significant fraction (∼50%–70%) that would qualify as starburst systems. This is further supported by the high star formation efficiencies derived from the gas content inferred from the dust masses. Inspection of high-resolution Hubble Space Telescope images reveals a wide diversity of morphological types, including a number of starbursting hosts that have not experienced significant recent dynamical perturbations. The origin of the high star formation efficiency is unknown.