Abstract
The ionizing spectral energy distribution of quasars is known to exhibit a steepening in their energy distribution short-ward of 1200 Å. We study the possibility that a tenuous intergalactic absorption gas component, which we associate to the warm-hot intergalactig medium component, may contribute to all or only small part of this steepening. We find that most of the steepening is intrinsic to quasars but that the warm-hot intergalactig medium may produce a very small flux discontinuity near 1216 Å in the observer-frame.
