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Nanodiamond dust and the energy distribution of quasars
Author(s) -
Binette L.,
Andersen A. C.,
Mutschke H.,
HaroCorzo S.
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
astronomische nachrichten
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.394
H-Index - 63
eISSN - 1521-3994
pISSN - 0004-6337
DOI - 10.1002/asna.200510497
Subject(s) - nanodiamond , extinction (optical mineralogy) , quasar , astrophysics , spectral energy distribution , cosmic dust , physics , redshift , meteorite , diamond , absorption (acoustics) , presolar grains , carbonaceous chondrite , silicate , carbon fibers , astronomy , chondrite , materials science , galaxy , optics , composite number , composite material
Abstract The spectral energy distribution of quasars shows a sharp steepening of the continuum shortward of ≃1100 Å. The steepening could be a result of dust absorption. We present a dust extinction model which considers crystalline carbon grains and compare it with SMC‐like dust extinction consisting of a mixture of silicate grains with graphite or amorphous carbon grains. We show that the sharp break seen in individual quasar spectra of intermediate redshift ∼1–2 can be reproduced by dust absorption provided the extinction curve consists of nanodiamonds, composed of terrestial cubic diamonds or of diamonds similar to the presolar nanodiamonds found in primitive meteorites. (© 2006 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)