A spectacular poststarburst quasar

M. S. Brotherton; Wil Van Breugel; S. A. Stanford; R. J. Smith; B. J. Boyle; Lance Miller; T. Shanks; S. M. Croom; Alexei V. Filippenko

doi:10.1086/312152

A spectacular poststarburst quasar

M. S. Brotherton^*, Wil Van Breugel, S. A. Stanford, R. J. Smith, B. J. Boyle, Lance Miller, T. Shanks, S. M. Croom, Alexei V. Filippenko

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

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Abstract

We report the discovery of a spectacular "poststarburst quasar" UN J1025-0040 (B = 19; z = 0.634). The optical spectrum is a chimera, displaying the broad Mg II λ2800 emission line and strong blue continuum characteristic of quasars, but is dominated in the red by a large Balmer jump and prominent high-order Balmer absorption lines indicative of a substantial young stellar population at similar redshift. Stellar synthesis population models show that the stellar component is consistent with a 400 Myr old instantaneous starburst with a mass of ≲ 10¹¹ M_⊙. A deep, K_s-band image taken in ∼0″.5 seeing shows a point source surrounded by asymmetric extended fuzz. Approximately 70% of the light is unresolved, the majority of which is expected to be emitted by the starburst. While starbursts and galaxy interactions have been previously associated with quasars, no quasar ever before has been seen with such an extremely luminous young stellar population.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	L87-L90
Journal	Astrophysical Journal
Volume	520
Issue number	2 PART 2
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1086/312152
Publication status	Published - 1 Aug 1999

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title = "A spectacular poststarburst quasar",

abstract = "We report the discovery of a spectacular {"}poststarburst quasar{"} UN J1025-0040 (B = 19; z = 0.634). The optical spectrum is a chimera, displaying the broad Mg II λ2800 emission line and strong blue continuum characteristic of quasars, but is dominated in the red by a large Balmer jump and prominent high-order Balmer absorption lines indicative of a substantial young stellar population at similar redshift. Stellar synthesis population models show that the stellar component is consistent with a 400 Myr old instantaneous starburst with a mass of ≲ 1011 M⊙. A deep, Ks-band image taken in ∼0″.5 seeing shows a point source surrounded by asymmetric extended fuzz. Approximately 70% of the light is unresolved, the majority of which is expected to be emitted by the starburst. While starbursts and galaxy interactions have been previously associated with quasars, no quasar ever before has been seen with such an extremely luminous young stellar population.",

keywords = "Galaxies: evolution, Galaxies: interactions, Galaxies: starburst, Quasars: emission lines, Quasars: general",

author = "Brotherton, {M. S.} and {Van Breugel}, Wil and Stanford, {S. A.} and Smith, {R. J.} and Boyle, {B. J.} and Lance Miller and T. Shanks and Croom, {S. M.} and Filippenko, {Alexei V.}",

year = "1999",

month = aug,

day = "1",

doi = "10.1086/312152",

language = "English",

volume = "520",

pages = "L87--L90",

journal = "Astrophysical Journal",

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TY - JOUR

T1 - A spectacular poststarburst quasar

AU - Brotherton, M. S.

AU - Van Breugel, Wil

AU - Stanford, S. A.

AU - Smith, R. J.

AU - Boyle, B. J.

AU - Miller, Lance

AU - Shanks, T.

AU - Croom, S. M.

AU - Filippenko, Alexei V.

PY - 1999/8/1

Y1 - 1999/8/1

N2 - We report the discovery of a spectacular "poststarburst quasar" UN J1025-0040 (B = 19; z = 0.634). The optical spectrum is a chimera, displaying the broad Mg II λ2800 emission line and strong blue continuum characteristic of quasars, but is dominated in the red by a large Balmer jump and prominent high-order Balmer absorption lines indicative of a substantial young stellar population at similar redshift. Stellar synthesis population models show that the stellar component is consistent with a 400 Myr old instantaneous starburst with a mass of ≲ 1011 M⊙. A deep, Ks-band image taken in ∼0″.5 seeing shows a point source surrounded by asymmetric extended fuzz. Approximately 70% of the light is unresolved, the majority of which is expected to be emitted by the starburst. While starbursts and galaxy interactions have been previously associated with quasars, no quasar ever before has been seen with such an extremely luminous young stellar population.

AB - We report the discovery of a spectacular "poststarburst quasar" UN J1025-0040 (B = 19; z = 0.634). The optical spectrum is a chimera, displaying the broad Mg II λ2800 emission line and strong blue continuum characteristic of quasars, but is dominated in the red by a large Balmer jump and prominent high-order Balmer absorption lines indicative of a substantial young stellar population at similar redshift. Stellar synthesis population models show that the stellar component is consistent with a 400 Myr old instantaneous starburst with a mass of ≲ 1011 M⊙. A deep, Ks-band image taken in ∼0″.5 seeing shows a point source surrounded by asymmetric extended fuzz. Approximately 70% of the light is unresolved, the majority of which is expected to be emitted by the starburst. While starbursts and galaxy interactions have been previously associated with quasars, no quasar ever before has been seen with such an extremely luminous young stellar population.

KW - Galaxies: evolution

KW - Galaxies: interactions

KW - Galaxies: starburst

KW - Quasars: emission lines

KW - Quasars: general

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=0033443340&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1086/312152

DO - 10.1086/312152

M3 - Article

SN - 0004-637X

VL - 520

SP - L87-L90

JO - Astrophysical Journal

JF - Astrophysical Journal

IS - 2 PART 2

ER -

A spectacular poststarburst quasar

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