1 research outputs found
The WISSH quasars project XI. The mean Spectral Energy Distribution and Bolometric Corrections of the most luminous quasars
Hyper-luminous Quasi-Stellar Objects (QSOs) represent the ideal laboratory to
investigate Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN) feedback mechanism since their
formidable energy release causes powerful winds at all scales and thus the
maximum feedback is expected.
We aim at deriving the mean Spectral Energy Distribution (SED) of a sample of
85 WISE-SDSS Selected Hyper-luminous (WISSH) quasars. Since the SED provides a
direct way to investigate the AGN structure, our goal is to understand if
quasars at the bright end of the luminosity function have peculiar properties
compared to the bulk of the population. We built a mean intrinsic SED after
correcting for the dust extinction, absorption and emission lines and
intergalactic medium absorption. We also derived bolometric, IR band and
monochromatic luminosities together with bolometric corrections at lambda =
5100 A and 3 micron. We define a new relation for the 3 micron bolometric
correction. We find that the mean SED of hyper-luminous WISSH QSOs is different
from that of less luminous sources, i.e. a relatively lower X-ray emission and
a near and mid IR excess which can be explained assuming a larger dust
contribution. WISSH QSOs have stronger emission from both warm and very hot
dust, the latter being responsible for shifting the typical dip of the AGN SED
from 1.3 to 1.1 micron. We also derived the mean SEDs of two sub-samples
created according to the presence of Broad Absorption Lines and equivalent
width of CIV line. We confirm that BALs are X-ray weak and that they have a
reddened UV-optical continuum. We also find that BALs tend to have stronger
emission from the hot dust component. This analysis suggests that
hyper-luminous QSOs have a peculiar SED compared to less luminous objects. It
is therefore critical to use SED templates constructed exclusively from very
bright quasars samples when dealing with particularly luminous sources.Comment: Accepted for publication in A&A. 20 pages, 15 figure