Spitzer Space Telescope - Archive Research Proposal #3284


Optical-IR SEDs of SDSS Quasars in the Archival Spitzer-FLS Data

Principal Investigator: Gordon Richards
           Institution: Princeton University

Co-Investigators: 
Patrick Hall, Princeton University                                    
Sarah Gallagher, UCLA                                                 
Dean Hines, Space Science Institute                                   
Mark Lacy, SSC                                                        
Lisa Storrie-Lombardi, SSC                                            
Daniel Vanden Berk, Pittsburgh                                        
Sebastian Jester, Fermilab                                            
Scott Anderson, University of Washington                              
Xiaohui Fan, University of Arizona                                    
Michael Strauss, Princeton University                                 
Donald Schneider, Penn State                                          
Donald York, University of Chicago                                    

Science Category: AGN/quasars/radio galaxies 
Dollars Approved: 49894.0 

Abstract:
We propose to study the relationship between the optical/UV and mid-
to far-IR for normal quasars, dust reddened quasars, and broad
absorption line quasars.  This project builds on earlier quasar
spectral energy distribution (SED) work, mostly using the PG sample of
quasars, by extending our knowledge of the IR properties of quasars to
higher redshifts and lower luminosities.  Our sample will consist of
~40  spectroscopically confirmed quasars (with ~2 Angstrom resolution
optical spectra) and ~160  fainter photometrically selected quasars
(with accurate photometric redshifts) from the Sloan Digital Sky
Survey that are in the Spitzer First Look Survey area.  We will
extract the IRAC and MIPS photometry for all these spectroscopically
confirmed and photometrically selected quasars.  Such a sample will
contribute significantly to our knowledge of the UV to far-IR SEDs of
normal quasars, which will be useful as a basis for comparison with
unusual or obscured quasars.  In addition we will probe the nature of
the reprocessed dust emission through the detailed shape of the IR
bump and investigate the AGN-starburst connection with the aid of very
long-wavelength data where the starburst contribution is expected to
be greatest.