What Makes Red Quasars Red?

Red quasars have been suspected to be an intermediate population between merger-driven star-forming galaxies and normal quasars. In this scenario, red quasars are expected to have dusty red color coming from the dust extinction by dust and gas in their host galaxy. However, several studies have proposed different explanation of the red color of red quasars, which are i) a moderate viewing angle between type 1 and 2 quasars, ii) an unusual covering factor of dust torus, and iii) an anomalous synchrotron emission with a peak at NIR wavelength. In this study, we investigate the factor leading to the red color of red quasars by using the line luminosity ratios of the hydrogen Balmer to Paschen series of 11 red quasars. We find the Pb/Hb luminosity ratios of the red quasars are significantly higher than those of normal quasars. Moreover, we compare the Pb/Hb luminosity ratios of the red quasars to the theoretically expected line luminosity ratios computed from the CLOUDY code. We find the line luminosity ratios of the red quasars cannot be explained by the theoretical line luminosity ratios with any physical conditions. We conclude that red color of red quasars comes from dust extinction by their host galaxy. This result is consistent with the picture that red quasars are an intermediate population between the merger-driven star-forming galaxies and normal quasars.