Quasi-stellar objects in the ALHAMBRA survey: I. Photometric redshift accuracy based on 23 optical-NIR filter photometry

[Context]: Even the spectroscopic capabilities of today's ground and space-based observatories can not keep up with the enormous flow of detections (>10 5 deg -2) unveiled in modern cosmological surveys as: i) would be required enormous telescope time to perform the spectroscopic follow-ups and ii) spectra remain unattainable for the fainter detected population. In the past decade, the typical accuracy of photometric redshift (photo-z) determination has drastically improved. Nowdays, it has become a perfect complement to spectroscopy, closing the gap between photometric surveys and their spectroscopic follow-ups. The photo-z precision for active galactic nuclei (AGN) has always lagged behind that for the galaxy population owing to the lack of proper templates and their intrinsic variability. [Aims]: Our goal is to characterize the ability of the Advanced Large, Homogeneous Area Medium-Band Redshift Astronomical (ALHAMBRA) survey in assigning accurate photo-z's to broad-line AGN (BLAGN) and quasi-stellar objects (QSOs) based on their ALHAMBRA very-low-resolution optical-near-infrared (NIR) spectroscopy. This will serve as a benchmark for any future compilation of ALHAMBRA selected QSOs and the basis for the statistical analysis required to derive luminosity functions up to z ∼ 5. [Methods]: We selected a sample of spectroscopically identified BLAGN and QSOs and used a library of templates (including the SEDs of AGN and both normal and starburst galaxies, as well as stars) to fit the 23 photometric data points provided by ALHAMBRA in the optical and NIR (20 medium-band optical filters plus the standard JHKs). [Results]: We find that the ALHAMBRA photometry is able to provide an accurate photo-z and spectral classification for ~88% of the 170 spectroscopically identified BLAGN/QSOs over 2.5≠deg 2 in different areas of the survey and brighter than m 678 = 23.5 (equivalent to r SLOAN ~ 24.0). The derived photo-z accuracy is below 1% and is comparable to the most recent