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arXiv 1006.4463astro-ph.CO
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高红移处的消光定律及其意义

The extinction law at high redshift and its implications

S. Gallerani, R. Maiolino, Y. Juarez, T. Nagao, A. Marconi, S. Bianchi, R. Schneider, F. Mannucci, T. Oliva, C. J. Willott, L. Jiang, X. Fan

摘要:

我们分析了33个红移为3.9<z<6.4的类星体的光学近红外光谱,以研究这些宇宙时期尘埃消光的性质。SMC消光曲线已被证明再现了大多数类星体在z<2.2时的尘埃红化;我们研究了这条曲线是否也能很好地描述更高红移时的尘埃消光。我们拟合观测到的光谱与合成吸收类星体模板通过改变固有斜率(α),绝对消光(A3000),并通过使用网格的经验和理论消光曲线。我们发现在我们的样本中有七个类星体受到了大灭绝的影响(A3000 >0.8),并且具有非常陡峭的内禀斜率(α <-2.3)。所有单个类星体的消光曲线都需要偏离SMC的消光曲线,在λ <2000 A(在源的静止坐标系中)时趋于平坦。我们得到了一个平均消光曲线在z>4,通过执行所有类星体的同时拟合和平均消光曲线推断个别类星体。在宽吸收线类星体的情况下,平均消光曲线偏离SMC的置信水平> 95%。z>4的类星体和较低红移的类星体的消光曲线之间的差异表明,在高红移时有不同的尘埃产生机制,或者有不同的机制将尘埃处理成ISM。我们认为,同样的转变也可能适用于z>4的正常恒星形成星系。特别是,在z>4时观测到的星系平均光谱斜率的变化可能部分归因于消光曲线的变化,而不是在高红移时较低的尘埃含量。在这种情况下,在z>4处推断的灭绝曲线意味着宇宙恒星形成经过尘埃衰减校正,比过去估计的高出~2倍。

英文摘要:

We analyze the optical-near infrared spectra of 33 quasars with redshifts 3.9<z<6.4 to investigate the properties of dust extinction at these cosmic epochs. The SMC extinction curve has been shown to reproduce the dust reddening of most quasars at z<2.2; we investigate whether this curve also provides a good description of dust extinction at higher redshifts. We fit the observed spectra with synthetic absorbed quasar templates obtained by varying the intrinsic slope (alpha), the absolute extinction (A3000), and by using a grid of empirical and theoretical extinction curves. We find that seven quasars in our sample are affected by substantial extinction (A3000 >0.8), and characterized by very steep intrinsic slopes (alpha<-2.3). All of the individual quasars require extinction curve deviating from that of the SMC, with a tendency to flatten at lambda<2000 A (in the rest frame of the source). We obtain a mean extinction curve at z>4, both by performing a simultaneous fit of all quasars and by averaging the extinction curves inferred for individual quasars. In the case of broad absorption line quasars the mean extinction curve deviates from the SMC at a confidence level >95%. The difference between extinction curves in quasars at z>4 and in quasars at lower redshift is indicative of either a different dust production mechanism at high redshift, or a different mechanism for processing dust into the ISM. We suggest that the same transitions may also apply to normal, star-forming galaxies at z>4. In particular, the observed change in the average spectral slope of galaxies at z>4 may be partially ascribed to a variation in the extinction curve, rather than a lower dust content at high redshift. In this scenario, the extinction curve inferred at z>4 would imply a cosmic star-formation corrected for dust attenuation a factor of ~2 higher than estimated in the past.

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