University of Hertfordshire

A SCUBA-2 survey of FeLoBAL QSOs: Are FeLoBALs in a transition phase' between ULIRGs and QSOs?

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Original language English 1371-1384 14 Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society 457 4 Feb 2016 https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stv2937 Published - 1 Apr 2016

Abstract

It is thought that a class of broad absorption line (BAL) QSOs, characterised by Fe absorption features in their UV spectra (called FeLoBALs'), could mark a transition stage between the end of an obscured starburst event and a youthful QSO beginning to shed its dust cocoon, where Fe has been injected into the interstellar medium by the starburst. To test this hypothesis we have undertaken deep SCUBA-2 850 $\mu$m observations of a sample of 17 FeLoBAL QSOs with 0.89 $\leq$ z $\leq$ 2.78 and -23.31 $\leq$ M$_{B}$ $\leq$-28.50 to directly detect an excess in the thermal emission of the dust which would probe enhanced star-formation activity. We find that FeLoBALs are not luminous sources in the submillimetre, none of them are individually detected at 850 $\mu$m, nor as a population through stacking ($F_{s}=1.14\pm0.58$ mJy). Statistical and survival analyses reveal that FeLoBALs have sub-mm properties consistent with BAL and non-BAL QSOs with matched redshifts and magnitudes. An SED fitting analysis shows that the FIR emission is dominated by AGN activity, and a starburst component is required only in 6/17 sources of our sample; moreover the integrated total luminosity of 16/17 sources is L$\geq$10$^{12}$L$_{\odot}$, high enough to classify FeLoBALs as infrared luminous. In conclusion, we do not find any evidence in support of FeLoBAL QSOs being a transition population between a ULIRG and an unobscured QSO; in particular, FeLoBALs are not characterized by a cold starburst which would support this hypothesis.

• Hertfordshire Astronomy 2015-18

Project: Research

• The Fuelling of Star Formation in primordial Galaxies

Project: Research

ID: 9701541