Related papers: Quasar Optical Variability in the Palomar-QUEST Su…
We present a method for studying the proximity effect and the density structure around redshift z=2-3 quasars. It is based on the probability distribution of Lyman-alpha pixel optical depths and its evolution with redshift. We validate the…
We study the variability of the quasar HS 1946+7658 on intra-night time scale based on both our own optical and archival X-ray data. We find the quasar non-variable during about 11 hours of optical monitoring. This is in accordance with the…
Utilizing 21 new Chandra observations as well as archival Chandra, ROSAT, and XMM-Newton data, we study the X-ray properties of a representative sample of 59 of the most optically luminous quasars in the Universe (M_i~~-29.3 to -30.2)…
We use 62,185 quasars from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey DR5 sample and standard virial mass scaling laws based on the widths of H beta, Mg II, and C IV lines and adjacent continuum luminosities to explore the maximum mass of quasars as a…
Extremely variable quasars (EVQs) are a population of sources showing large optical photometric variability revealed by time-domain surveys. The physical origin of such extreme variability is yet unclear. In this first paper of a series, we…
The variability of broad absorption lines is investigated for a sample of 188 broad-absorption-line (BAL) quasars (QSOs) ($z > 1.7$) with at least two-epoch observations from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Data Release 7 (SDSS DR7), covering…
Intensive monitoring campaigns have recently attempted to measure the time delays between multiple images of gravitational lenses. Some of the resulting light-curves show puzzling low-level, rapid variability which is unique to individual…
The brightest southern quasar above redshift $z=1$, HE 0515$-$4414, with its strong intervening metal absorption-line system at $z_{abs}=1.1508$, provides a unique opportunity to precisely measure or limit relative variations in the…
We describe the execution and data reduction of the European Southern Observatory Large Programme "Quasars and their absorption lines: a legacy survey of the high-redshift universe with VLT/XSHOOTER" (hereafter `XQ-100'). XQ-100 has…
We have compiled a catalog of optically-selected quasars with simultaneous observations in UV/optical and X-ray bands by the Swift Gamma Ray Burst Explorer. Objects in this catalog are identified by matching the Swift pointings with the…
Emission from Active Galactic Nuclei is known to vary strongly over time over a wide energy band, but the origin of the variability and especially of the inter-band correlations is still not well established. Here we present the results of…
We present a detailed structure function analysis of the UV variability of Q0957+561. From new optical observations, we constructed normalized structure functions of the quasar luminosity at restframe wavelengths of 2100 and 2600 \AA. Old…
The study is about the quasars cosmological evolution. We used the medium-band photometric survey at the 1-m Schmidt telescope of the Byurakan Astrophysical Observatory. The HS47-22 field with an area of 2.38 square degrees has been…
We present an improved photometric error analysis for the 7,100 CRTS (Catalina Real-Time Transient Survey) optical light curves for quasars from the SDSS (Sloan Digital Sky Survey) Stripe 82 catalogue. The SDSS imaging survey has provided a…
Periodically variable quasars have been suggested as close binary supermassive black holes. We present a systematic search for periodic light curves in 625 spectroscopically confirmed quasars with a median redshift of 1.8 in a 4.6 deg$^2$…
For 15 bright (V<17.5), high redshift (z>3) quasars, we have obtained IR spectra and photometry, and optical spectrophotometry and photometry, which we use to construct their rest-frame 1285-5100 AA spectral energy distributions (SEDs).…
We develop a method for separating quasars from other variable point sources using SDSS Stripe 82 light curve data for ~10,000 variable objects. To statistically describe quasar variability, we use a damped random walk model parametrized by…
We present Chandra observations of 2106 radio-quiet quasars in the redshift range 1.7<z<2.7 from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS), through data release fourteen (DR14), that do not contain broad absorption lines (BAL) in their rest-frame…
We have investigated a sample of 5088 quasars from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Second Data Release in order to determine how the frequency and properties of broad absorptions lines (BALs) depend on black hole mass, bolometric luminosity,…
We use 62185 quasars from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) DR5 sample to explore the quasar mass-luminosity plane view of virial mass estimation. Previous work shows deviations of ~0.4 dex between virial and reverberation masses. The…