Related papers: Quasars as high-redshift standard candles

Quasar redshifts require the best possible precision and accuracy for a number of applications, such as setting the velocity scale for outflows as well as measuring small-scale quasar-quasar clustering. The most reliable redshift standard…

We apply a simple statistical method (Derenzo & Hildebrand 1969) to estimating the completeness of quasar surveys. It requires that an area has been covered by two or more, preferably different, selection techniques. We use three suitable…

We present three new Chandra X-ray epochs along with new ground-based optical-UV observations as the third installment in a time-series analysis of four high-redshift ($z\sim4.1-4.4$) radio-quiet quasars (RQQs). In total, we present nine…

We present near-infrared imaging with ESO VLT+ISAAC of the host galaxies of low luminosity quasars in the redshift range 1 < z < 2, aimed at investigating the relationship between the nuclear and host galaxy luminosities at high redshift.…

We measure long (2200-4000 ang) and short (1450-2200 ang) wavelength spectral slopes \alpha (F_\nu proportional to \nu^\alpha) for quasar spectra from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. The long and short wavelength slopes are computed from 3646…

We report on Chandra observations of a sample of 11 optically luminous (Mb<-28.5) quasars at z=3.96-4.55 selected from the Palomar Digital Sky Survey and the Automatic Plate Measuring Facility Survey. These are among the most luminous z>4…

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 most highly accreting quasars (xA) are of special interest in studies of the physics of AGNs and host galaxy evolution. Quasars accreting at high rates (L/LEdd $\sim$ 1) hold promise for use as 'standard candles': distance indicators…

This is the fourth paper in a series aimed at finding high-redshift quasars from five-color imaging data taken along the Celestial Equator by the SDSS. during its commissioning phase. In this paper, we use the color-selected sample of 39…

We use the ROSAT All Sky Survey (RASS) to study the soft X-ray properties of a homogeneous sample of 46,420 quasars selected from the third data release of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS). Optical luminosities, both at rest-frame…

We investigate the UV continuum slope $\alpha$ of a large quasar sample from SDSS DR7. By using specific continuum windows, we build two samples at lower ($0.71<z<1.19$) and higher ($1.90<z<3.15$) redshifts, which correspond to the…

We present a sample of 8498 quasars with both SDSS $ugriz$ optical and UKIDSS $YJHK$ near-IR photometric data. With this sample, we obtain the median colour-z relations based on 7400 quasars with magnitude uncertainties less than 0.1mag in…

We present detailed clustering measurements for a flux limited sample of 14,000 quasars extracted from the 2dF QSO Redshift Survey (2QZ) in the redshift range 0.8<z<2.1. After splitting the sample into three redshift bins and each of them…

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…

We study the dependence of the number density and properties of quasars on the background galaxy density using the currently largest spectroscopic datasets of quasars and galaxies. We construct a galaxy number density field smoothed over…

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).…

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…

We have searched in the XMM-Newton public archive for quasars in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) First Data Release (DR1), and found 55 lying in the field of a XMM-Newton observation with exposure times >20 ksec (as of August, 2004).…

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…

We present Chandra X-ray observations of 14 radio-loud quasars at redshifts $3 < z < 4$, selected from a well-defined sample. All quasars are detected in the 0.5-7.0 keV energy band, and resolved X-ray features are detected in five of the…