A New Technique for Identifying Very Highly-Obscured Quasar Sightlines

Details A New Technique for Identifying Very Highly-Obscured Quasar Sightlines A New Technique for Identifying Very Highly-Obscured Quasar Sightlines

May 2011

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2011sptz.prop80070s&link_type=abstract

Spitzer Proposal ID #80070

Physics

Scientific paper

We propose to obtain two-color IRAC snapshot images of radio-loud quasars to pre-select prime candidates for observing high-redshift molecular absorption. Obscured quasars are extremely rare objects, with only five currently known despite over 1000 sources observed. Such targets offer unique opportunities to determine the physical conditions in star-forming clouds, measure the molecular gas fraction as a function of cosmic time, and explore whether fundamental constants (such as the fine-structure constant) have changed over the history of the Universe. 'Blind searches' for obscured quasars in the radio, however, are highly inefficient due to absorption of the optical/UV continuum, radio-frequency interference close to redshifted lines, and lack of abundance of molecular gas. A steep near-IR index identified by IRAC colors can pre-select highly obscured objects and establish a new technique for efficiently identifying candidate absorbers. Our sample consists of radio-loud AGN associated with spiral and irregular galaxies, as well as targets without optical counterparts that have been detected in the near-IR. We will use IRAC colors in conjunction with ground-based K-band images (already obtained) to immediately begin deep optical and radio observations of the most highly-obscured targets. We propose to take 'snapshots' of 91 strong (> 300 mJy) radio sources, requiring a total Spitzer observing time of 15.6 hours.

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