Title: Hot dust and the near-infrared bump in the continuum spectra of quasars and active galactic nuclei
Abstract: view Abstract Citations (555) References (29) Co-Reads Similar Papers Volume Content Graphics Metrics Export Citation NASA/ADS Hot Dust and the Near-Infrared Bump in the Continuum Spectra of Quasars and Active Galactic Nuclei Barvainis, Richard Abstract Many quasars and active galactic nuclei show a bump or excess in the near-infrared continuum. In this paper, a model is developed to account for the bump in terms of thermal radiation from dust heated by the primary optical/ultraviolet continuum source. This model naturally explains the onset of the bump at about 2 μm, since this wavelength corresponds to the spectral peak for optically thin emission from graphite grains at their evaporation temperature (≡1500K). Infrared spectra are calculated for two cases, one in which the grains are smoothly distributed and another in which the dust is clumped into discrete clouds that are optically thick to the ultraviolet continuum. Continuum spectra of 3C 273 and the "infrared quasar" IRAS 13349+2438 are fitted between ≡0.1 and 100 μm with a multicomponent model. Publication: The Astrophysical Journal Pub Date: September 1987 DOI: 10.1086/165571 Bibcode: 1987ApJ...320..537B Keywords: Active Galactic Nuclei; Cosmic Dust; Infrared Spectra; Near Infrared Radiation; Quasars; Thermal Radiation; Black Body Radiation; Continuous Spectra; Graphite; Ultraviolet Radiation; Astrophysics; GALAXIES: NUCLEI; INTERSTELLAR: GRAINS; QUASARS; RADIATION MECHANISMS; SPECTROPHOTOMETRY full text sources ADS | data products SIMBAD (2) NED (2)
Publication Year: 1987
Publication Date: 1987-09-01
Language: en
Type: article
Indexed In: ['crossref']
Access and Citation
Cited By Count: 516
AI Researcher Chatbot
Get quick answers to your questions about the article from our AI researcher chatbot