Research Note

The far-infrared emission of the radio-loud quasar 3C 318

Kapteyn Astronomical Institute, University of Groningen, 9747 AD Groningen, The Netherlands
e-mail: podigachoski@astro.rug.nl

Received: 18 September 2015
Accepted: 12 November 2015

Abstract

3C 318, a radio-loud quasar at z = 1.574, is a subgalactic-sized radio source, and a good test-bed for the interplay between black hole and galaxy growth in the high-z Universe. Based on its IRAS, ISO, and SCUBA detections, it has long been considered as one of the most intrinsically luminous (L_IR > 10¹³ L_⊙) infrared sources in the Universe. Recent far-infrared data from the Herschel Space Observatory reveal that most of the flux associated with 3C 318, measured with earlier instruments, in fact comes from a bright nearby source. Optical imaging and spectroscopy show that this infrared-bright source is a strongly star-forming pair of interacting galaxies at z = 0.35. Adding existing Spitzer and SDSS photometry, we perform a spectral energy distribution analysis of the pair, and find that it has a combined infrared luminosity of L_IR = 1.5 × 10¹² L_⊙, comparable to other intermediate-redshift ultra-luminous infrared galaxies studied with Herschel. Isolating the emission from 3C 318’s host, we robustly constrain the level of star formation to a value a factor of three lower than that published earlier, which is more in line with the star formation activity found in other Herschel-detected 3CR objects at similar redshift.