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The intrinsic column density (NH) distribution of quasars is poorly known. At the high obscuration end of the quasar population and for redshifts z<1, the X-ray spectra can only be reliably characterized using broad-band measurements which…
Many open questions in X-ray astronomy are limited by the relatively small number of objects in uniform optically-identified samples, especially when rare subclasses are considered, or subsets isolated to search for evolution or…
With close pairs of quasars at different redshifts, a background quasar sightline can be used to study a foreground quasar's environment in absorption. We use a sample of 650 projected quasar pairs to study the HI Lya absorption transverse…
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…
Current X-ray observations and simulations show that gravitational lensing can be used to infer the structure near the event horizons of black holes, constrain the dynamics and evolution of black-hole accretion and outflows, test general…
We present the results from a survey of i-dropout objects selected from ~1550 deg^2 of multicolor imaging data from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, to search for luminous quasars at z>5.8. Objects with i*-z*>2.2 and z*<20.2 are selected, and…
We present radio and X-ray observations of the recently discovered $z=6.13$ radio-powerful quasar RACS J032021.44$-$352104.1 using uGMRT, ATCA, LBA, and Chandra. The observed radio properties are in line with what is typically observed in…
We examine the accretion properties in a sample of 42 hard (3-60keV) X-ray selected nearby broad-line AGNs. The energy range in the sample is harder than that usually used in the similar previous studies. These AGNs are mainly complied from…
Quasars with a high redshift (z) are important to understand the evolution processes of galaxies in the early universe. However only a few of these distant objects are known to this date. The costs of building and operating a 10-metre class…
Quasars, the brightly glowing disks of material that can form around the super-massive black holes at the centres of large galaxies, are amongst the most luminous astronomical objects known and so can be seen at great distances. The most…
We present spectroscopic observations of six optical counterparts of intermediate luminosity X-ray sources (ULXs) around nearby galaxies. The spectra of the six objects show the presence of broad emission features. The identification of…
The results of a large area, ~600 deg^2, K-band flux-limited spectroscopic survey for luminous quasars are presented. The survey utilises the UKIRT Infrared Deep Sky Survey (UKIDSS) Large Area Survey (LAS) in regions of sky within the Sloan…
We perform a spectral analysis of a sample of 11 medium redshift (1.5 < z < 2.2) quasars. Our sample all have optical spectra from the SDSS, infrared spectra from GNIRS and TSPEC, and X-ray spectra from XMM-Newton. We first analyse the…
Red quasars constitute an important but elusive phase in the evolution of supermassive black holes, where dust obscuration can significantly alter their observed properties. They have broad emission lines, like other quasars, but their…
Recently discovered quasar pairs at high redshifts ($z\gtrsim$5) are likely precursors to supermassive black hole mergers, providing a promising window to high redshift quasar growth mechanisms. However, the large uncertainties on their…
The last 25 years saw a major step forward in the analysis of optical and UV spectroscopic data of large quasar samples. Multivariate statistical approaches have led to the definition of systematic trends in observational properties that…
A search for emission lines in foreground galaxies in quasar spectra (z(gal) < z(QSO)) of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) data release 5 (DR5) reveals 23 examples of quasars shining through low redshift, foreground galaxies at small…
With close pairs of quasars at different redshifts, a background quasar sightline can be used to study a foreground quasar's environment in absorption. We used a sample of 17 Lyman limit systems with column density N_HI > 10^19 cm^-2…
In the two parts of this contribution we describe two related XMM-Newton programs. The first part summarizes our study of the X-ray spectral properties and variability of z>4 quasars (Shemmer et al. 2005). The second part presents…
We present a study of the relation between X-rays and ultraviolet emission in quasars for a sample of broad-line, radio-quiet objects obtained from the cross-match of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey DR14 with the latest Chandra Source Catalog…