GTC spectra ofz≈ 2.3 quasars: comparison with local luminosity analogs

[Abridged] Context: The advent of 8-10m class telescopes makes possible for the first time detailed comparison of quasars with similar luminosity and very different redshifts. Aims: A search for z-dependent gradients in line emission diagnostics and derived physical properties by comparing, in a narrow bolometric luminosity range (log L ~ 46.1 +/- 0.4 [\ergss]), some of the most luminous local (z < 0.6) quasars with some of the lowest luminosity sources yet found at redshift z = 2.1 ~ 2.5. Method: Spectra for 22 high z sources were obtained with the 10.4m Gran Telescopio Canarias (GTC) while the HST (largely FOS) archive provides a low redshift control sample. Comparison is made in the context of the 4D Eigenvector 1 formalism meaning that we divide both source samples into high accreting Population A and low accreting Population B sources. Results: CIV 1549 shows very similar properties at both redshifts confirming at high redshift the CIV profile differences between Pop. A and B that are well established in local quasars. The CIV blueshift that appears quasi- ubiquitous in higher L sources is found in only half (Pop. A) of quasars observed in both of our samples. A CIV evolutionary Baldwin effect is certainly disfavored. We find evidence for lower metallicity in the GTC sample that may point toward a gradient with z. No evidence for a gradient in black hole mass or Eddington ratio is found. Conclusions: Spectroscopic differences established at low redshift are also present in much higher redshift quasars. Given that our samples involve sources with very similar luminosity the evidence for a systematic metallicity decrease, if real, points toward an evolutionary effect. Our samples appear representative of a slow evolving quasar population likely present at all redshifts.
To appear in Astronomy & Astrophysics