Related papers: Quasars as tracers of cosmic flows
Quasars are the most luminous sources in the Universe. They are currently observed out to redshift z ~ 7 when the Universe was less than one tenth of its present age. Since their discovery 50 years ago astronomers have dreamed of using them…
The nature of dark energy, driving the accelerated expansion of the Universe, is one of the most important issues in modern astrophysics. In order to understand this phenomenon, we need precise astrophysical probes of the universal…
Quasars are the most luminous non-transient sources in the epoch of cosmological reionization (i.e., which ended a billion years after the Big Bang, corresponding to a redshift of z ~ 5), and are powerful probes of the inter-galactic medium…
Quasars are among the most luminous objects in the universe, and they can be studied in detail up to the highest known redshift. Assuming that the gas associated with quasars is closely related to the interstellar medium of the host galaxy,…
Quasars continue to be the most luminous objects known in the universe but are now rivaled by galaxies for having the largest redshifts. I review current techniques for finding quasars at z > 5 and the status of current optical surveys. I…
Last year (2013) was more or less the 50th anniversary of the discovery of quasars. It is an interesting time to review what we know (and don't know) about them both empirically and theoretically. These compact sources involving line…
Luminous high-redshift quasars can be used to probe of the intergalactic medium (IGM) in the early universe because their UV light is absorbed by the neutral hydrogen along the line of sight. They help us to measure the neutral hydrogen…
Proceeding of the "HACK100" Conference, 6-10 June 2022, Trieste, Italy - In recent years, quasars have been shown to be reliable standardizable candles, thanks to the non-linear relation between their X-rays and ultraviolet luminosity.…
Bright quasar samples at high redshift are useful for investigating active galactic nuclei evolution. In this study, we describe XQz5, a sample of 83 ultraluminous quasars in the redshift range $4.5 < z < 5.3$ with optical and near-infrared…
Quasars can be used as a complementary tool to SN Ia to probe the distribution of dark energy in the Universe by measuring the time delay of the emission line with respect to the continuum. The understanding of the Mg II emission line…
The main purpose of this work is to improve the existing knowledge about the most powerful engines in the Universe - quasars. Although a lot is already known, we still have only a vague idea how these engines work exactly, why they behave…
Quasars (QSOs) are extremely luminous active galatic nuclei currently observed up to redshift $z=7.642$. As such, they have the potential to be the next rung of the cosmic distance ladder beyond SNe Ia, if they can reliably be used as…
Quasars have reigned as the most luminous and distant objects in the Universe. These concepts were based on the hypothesis that the redshifts of quasars are obeying the Hubble low. This hypothesis has little serious competition today, but…
High redshift quasars can be used to deduce the distribution of dark energy in the Universe, as a complementary tool to SN Ia. The method is based on determination of the size of the Broad Line Region from the emission line delay,…
Currently, the $\Lambda$ Cold Dark Matter model, which relies on the existence of cold dark matter and a cosmological constant $\Lambda$, best describes the Universe. However, we lack information in the high-redshift ($z$) region between…
Quasars are galaxies hosting accreting supermassive black holes; due to their brightness, they are unique probes of the early universe. To date, only few quasars have been reported at $z > 6.5$ ($<$800 Myr after the Big Bang). In this work,…
A crucial test of any cosmological model is the distribution of distant objects such as quasars. Because of well defined selection criteria quasars found by a ultraviolet excess (UVX) survey are ideal candidates for testing the model out to…
Strongly lensed quasars with time-delay measurements are well known to provide the "time-delay distances" $D_{\Delta t}=(1+z_L)D_LD_S/D_{LS}$ and the angular diameter distances to lens galaxies $D_L$. These two kinds of distances give…
A sample of quasars has been recently assembled to investigate the non-linear relation between their monochromatic luminosities at 2500{\AA}, and 2 keV and to exploit quasars as a new class of standardized candles. The use of this technique…
The most luminous quasars at high redshift harbour the fastest-growing and most massive black holes in the early Universe. They are exceedingly rare and hard to find. Here, we present our search for the most luminous quasars in the redshift…