2009MNRAS.393.1408C

For this paper, we collected almost all of the type II quasars so far discovered. Among them, 485 sources have photometric data at JHK bands, mainly from Two-Micron All-Sky Survey observations, 65 sources have IRAS photometric data in at least one of the three IRAS bands at 25, 60 and 100µm and 15 sources have IRAS photometric data in all three IRAS bands. We find that in nearly half of all type II quasars, both the near- and far-infrared radiations are dominated by starlight or thermal reprocessing of starlight by dust in the underlying galaxy. The infrared radiation of the other group (slightly over half) is dominated by a non-thermal radiation in the near-infrared, and mostly in the far-infrared also (although there is a mixture particularly for the longer wavelengths). It is proposed that for the later group, hidden broad lines may exist in the infrared. On the basis of our and previous results, we also discuss the possibility that there are two distinct classes of type II quasars: `true' type II quasars without a broad-line region and heavily obscured type I quasars, in full analogy with the case for type II Seyfert galaxies. No relationships can be found for either the near-infrared or the far-infrared colours and the redshift. Correlations between absolute magnitude in the near- and far-infrared with redshift are found, but could be due to a flux limit (Malmquist bias).