Related papers: Constraining the Redshift z=6 Quasar Luminosity Fu…
The bright end of the rest-frame UV luminosity function (UVLF) of high-redshift galaxies is modified by gravitational lensing magnification bias. Motivated by recent discoveries of very high-z galaxies with JWST, we study the dependence of…
We present a measurement of the quasar luminosity function in the range 0.68<z<4 down to extinction corrected magnitude g_dered=22.5, using a simple and well understood target selection technique based on the time-variability of quasars.…
Quasars acting as strong gravitational lenses offer a rare opportunity to probe the redshift evolution of scaling relations between supermassive black holes and their host galaxies, particularly the $M_{\mathrm{BH}}$--$M_{\mathrm{host}}$…
We present the $z\!\approx\!6$ type-1 quasar luminosity function (QLF) based on the Pan-STARRS1 (PS1) quasar survey. The PS1 sample includes 125 quasars at $z\approx5.7-6.2$ with $-28\lesssim M_{1450}\lesssim-25$. Complemented by 48 fainter…
The $z=6.327$ quasar SDSS J010013.02+280225.8 (hereafter J0100+2802) is believed to be powered by a black hole more massive than $10^{10}\ {\rm M}_\odot$, making it the most massive black hole known in the first billion years of the…
A large number of cosmological studies now suggest that roughly two-thirds of the critical energy density of the Universe exists in a component with negative pressure. If the equation of state of such an energy component varies with time,…
We examine predictions for the quasar luminosity functions (QLF) and quasar clustering at high redshift (z > 4.75) using MassiveBlack, our new hydrodynamic cosmological simulation which includes a self-consistent model for black hole growth…
We present discovery observations of a quasar in the Canada-France High-z Quasar Survey (CFHQS) at redshift z=6.44. We also use near-IR spectroscopy of nine CFHQS quasars at z~6 to determine black hole masses. These are compared with…
We report that the Sloan Digital Sky Survey quasar SDSS J165043.44+425149.3 is gravitationally lensed into two images, based on observations obtained with the WIYN 3.5 m telescope at the Kitt Peak National Observatory. The lensed quasar, at…
If the unexpectedly high frequency of quasar pairs with very different component redshifts is due to the lensing of a population of background quasars by the foreground quasar, typical lens masses must be $\sim10^{12}M_{\sun}$ and the sum…
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…
Gravitational lensing by a spiral galaxy occurs when the line-of-sight to a background quasar passes within a few kpc from the center of the galactic disk. Since galactic disks are rich in neutral hydrogen, the quasar spectrum will likely…
Among known strongly lensed quasar systems, ~25% have gravitational potentials sufficiently flat (and sources sufficiently well aligned) to produce four images rather than two. The projected flattening of the lensing galaxy and tides from…
The quasar SDSS J133401.39+331534.3 at z = 2.426 is found to be a two-image gravitationally lensed quasar with the image separation of 0.833. The object is first identified as a lensed quasar candidate in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Quasar…
We present a well-designed sample of more than 1000 type 1 quasars at $3.5<z<5$ and derive UV quasar luminosity functions (QLFs) in this redshift range. These quasars were selected using the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) imaging data in…
We report the discovery of a new gravitationally lensed quasar from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, SDSS J092455.87+021924.9 (SDSS J0924+0219). This object was selected from among known SDSS quasars by an algorithm that was designed to select…
We have developed a flexible framework for constructing physical models of quasar evolution that can incorporate a wide variety of observational constraints, such as multi-wavelength quasar luminosity functions (QLFs), estimated masses and…
Recent redshift-distance measurements of Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) at cosmological distances suggest that two-third of the energy density of the universe is dominated by dark energy component with an effective negative pressure. This dark…
LISA might detect gravitational waves from mergers of massive black hole binaries strongly lensed by intervening galaxies (Sereno et al. 2010). The detection of multiple gravitational lensing events would provide a new tool for cosmography.…
So far, roughly 40 quasars with redshifts greater than z=6 have been discovered. Each quasar contains a black hole with a mass of about one billion solar masses ($10^9 M_\odot$). The existence of such black holes when the Universe was less…