Ultraluminous infrared galaxies and the origin of quasars
Ultraluminous infrared galaxies and the origin of quasars
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DOI：
10.1086/165983
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发表时间：
1988-02
期刊：
影响因子：
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通讯作者：
D. Sanders;B. Soifer;J. Elias;B. Madore;K. Matthews;G. Neugebauer;N. Scoville
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
D. Sanders;B. Soifer;J. Elias;B. Madore;K. Matthews;G. Neugebauer;N. Scoville
通过对所有 10 个光度 L(8-1000 μm) ≥ 10^(12) L⊙ 的红外星系的观测，推导出超光红外星系和类星体之间的演化联系，这些星系取自红外亮星系的通量限制样本。红外星系的图像显示，几乎所有星系都是具有异常发光的核的强烈相互作用的合并系统。毫米波CO观测表明，这些天体通常含有0.5-2 x 10^(10) M⊙的H_2。光谱显示出星暴和活跃星系核（AGN）能源的混合，这两种能源显然都是由巨大的分子气体库提供燃料的。有人提出，这些超亮红外星系代表了类星体最初的、被尘埃笼罩的阶段。一旦这些核摆脱了它们模糊的尘埃，让活动星系核在视觉上主导了衰变的星暴，它们就变成了光学选择的类星体。类星体通过富含分子气体的螺旋星系合并而产生，可以解释当宇宙较小且气体供应较少耗尽时，大红移时高光度类星体数量的增加，以及观察到的类星体的“红移截止”，它代表星系形成后第一次碰撞发生时的时代。
An evolutionary connection between ultraluminous infrared galaxies and quasars is deduced from the observations of all 10 infrared galaxies with luminosities L(8-1000 μm) ≥ 10^(12) L⊙, taken from a flux-limited sample of infrared bright galaxies. Images of the infrared galaxies show that nearly all are strongly interacting merger systems with exceptionally luminous nuclei. Millimeter-wave CO observations show that these objects typically contain 0.5-2 x 10^(10) M⊙ of H_2. Optical spectra indicate a mixture of starburst and active galactic nucleus (AGN) energy sources, both of which are apparently fueled by the tremendous reservoir of molecular gas. It is proposed that these ultraluminous infrared galaxies represent the initial, dust-enshrouded stages of quasars. Once these nuclei shed their obscuring dust, allowing the AGN to visually dominate the decaying starburst, they become optically selected quasars. The origin of quasars through the merger of molecular gas-rich spiral galaxies can account for both the increased number of high-luminosity quasars at large redshift, when the universe was smaller and gas supplies less depleted, and the observed "redshift-cutoff" of quasars which represents the epoch after galaxy formation when the first collisions occur.