| Issue |
A&A
Volume 394, Number 3, November II 2002
|
|
|---|---|---|
| Page(s) | 863 - 872 | |
| Section | Cosmology (including clusters of galaxies) | |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361:20021246 | |
| Published online | 21 October 2002 | |
On-axis spatially resolved spectroscopy of low redshift quasar host
galaxies: HE 1503+0228, at 
*
1
Institut d'Astrophysique et de Géophysique, Université de Liège, Allée du 6 Août, 17 Sart Tilman (Bat. B5C), Liège 1, Belgium
2
Universidad Católica de Chile, Departamento de Astronomia y Astrofisica, Casilla 306, Santiago 22, Chile
3
Institut für Physik, Universität Potsdam, Am Neuen Palais 10, 14469 Potsdam, Germany
4
GEPI, Observatoire de Paris, Place Jules Janssen, 92915 Meudon Cedex, France
5
Hamburger Sternwarte, Universität Hamburg, Gojenbergsweg 112, 21029 Hamburg, Germany
6
European Southern Observatory, Casilla 19, Santiago, Chile
7
Space Telescope Science institute, 3700 San Martin Drive, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA
Corresponding author: G. Letawe, Frederic.Courbin@ulg.ac.be
Received:
14
May
2002
Accepted:
23
August
2002
We present the first result of a comprehensive spectroscopic
study of quasar host galaxies. On-axis, spatially resolved spectra of
low redshift quasars have been obtained with FORS1, mounted on the
8.2 m ESO Very Large Telescope, Antu. The spectra are spatially
deconvolved using a spectroscopic version of the “MCS deconvolution
algorithm”. The algorithm decomposes two dimensional spectra into the
individual spectra of the central point-like nucleus and of its host
galaxy. Applied to HE 1503+0228 at (MB=-23.0),
it provides us with the
spectrum of the host galaxy between 3600 Å and 8500 Å
(rest-frame), at a mean resolving power of 700. The data allow us to
measure several of the important Lick indices. The stellar populations
and gas ionization state of the host galaxy of HE 1503+0228 are very similar
to the ones measured for normal non-AGN galaxies. Dynamical
information is also available for the gas and stellar components of
the galaxy. Using deconvolution and a deprojection algorithm,
velocity curves are derived for emission lines, from the center up to
4´´ away from the nucleus of the galaxy.
Fitting a simple
three-components mass model (point mass, spherical halo of
dark matter, disk) to the
position-velocity diagram, we infer a mass of 
within the central kiloparsec of the galaxy, and a
mass integrated over 10 kpc of 
, with an additional 10% error due to the uncertainty on the
inclination of the galaxy. This, in combination with the analysis of
the stellar
populations indicates that the host galaxy of HE 1503+0228 is a normal
spiral galaxy.
Key words: galaxies: kinematics and dynamics / galaxies: stellar content / quasars: individual: HE 1503+0228 / techniques: image processing
© ESO, 2002
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