EVIDENCE THAT MOST TYPE-1 AGNs ARE REDDENED BY DUST IN THE HOST ISM

The typical optical-UV continuum slopes observed in many type-1 active galactic nuclei (AGNs) are redder than expected from thin accretion disk (AD) models. A possible resolution to this conundrum is that many AGNs are reddened by dust along the line of sight. To explore this possibility, we stack 5000 SDSS AGNs with luminosity L approximate to 10(45) erg s(-1) and redshift z similar to 0.4 in bins of optical continuum slope alpha(opt) and width of the broad H beta emission line. We measure the equivalent width (EW) of the NaID absorption feature in each stacked spectrum. We find a linear relation between aopt and EW(NaID), such that EW(NaID) increases as aopt becomes redder. In the bin with the smallest H beta width, objects with the bluest slopes, which are similar to AD predictions, are found to have EW(NaID) = 0, supporting the line of sight dust hypothesis. This conclusion is also supported by the dependence of the H alpha/H beta line ratio on aopt. The implied relationship between continuum slope and dust reddening is given by EB-V approximate to 0.2 . (- 0.1- alpha(opt)), and the implied reddening of a typical type-1 AGN with alpha(opt) = - 0.5 is EB- V approximate to 0.08 mag. Photoionization calculations show that the line of sight dusty gas responsible for reddening is too ionized to produce the observed sodium features. Therefore, we argue that the sodium absorption arises in regions of the host ISM that are shielded from the AGN radiation along lines of sight to the stars, and the correlation with alpha(opt) arises since ISM columns along shielded and non-shielded sightlines are correlated. This scenario is supported by the similarity of the relation between EB- V and the Na I column implied by our results with the relation in the Milky Way found by previous studies.