A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal
Star formation in luminous LoBAL quasars at 2.0 < z < 2.5
Authors: Clare F Wethers, Jari Kotilainen, Malte Schramm, Andreas Schulze
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Publication year: 2020
Journal: Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Journal name in source: MONTHLY NOTICES OF THE ROYAL ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY
Journal acronym: MON NOT R ASTRON SOC
Volume: 498
Issue: 1
First page : 1469
Last page: 1479
Number of pages: 11
ISSN: 0035-8711
eISSN: 1365-2966
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/staa2017
Self-archived copy’s web address: https://research.utu.fi/converis/portal/detail/Publication/51120789
Low-ionization broad absorption line quasars (LoBALs) mark an important, yet poorly understood, population of quasars showing direct evidence for energetic mass outflows. We outline a sample of 12 luminous (L-bol > 10(46) ergs(-1)) LoBALs at 2.0 < z < 2.5 - a key epoch in both star formation and black hole accretion, which have been imaged as part of a targeted program with the Herschel Spectral and Photometric Imaging REceiver (SPIRE). We present K-band NOTCam spectra for three of these targets, calculating their spectroscopic redshifts, black hole masses, and bolometric luminosities, and increasing the total number of LoBAL targets in our sample with spectral information from five to eight. Based on FIR observations from Herschel SPIRE, we derive prolific star formation rates (SFRs) ranging 740-2380 M-circle dot yr(-1) for the detected targets, consistent with LoBALs existing in an evolutionary phase associated with starburst activity. Furthermore, an upper limit of <440M(circle dot) yr(-1) is derived for the non-detections, meaning moderate-to-high SFRs cannot be ruled out, even among the undetected targets. Indeed, we detect an enhancement in both the SFRs and FIR fluxes of LoBALs compared to HiBAL and non-BAL quasars, further supporting the evolutionary LoBAL paradigm. Despite this enhancement in SFR, however, the environments of LoBALs appear entirely consistent with the general galaxy population at 2.0 < z < 2.5.
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