Related papers: What can we learn from VIRMOS quasars?

Quasars are variable and their variability can both constrain their physical properties and help to identify them. We look for ways to efficiently identify quasars exhibiting consistent variability over multi-year time-scales, based on a…

The absence of any wide-separation gravitational lenses in the Large Bright Quasar Survey is used to place limits on the population of cluster-sized halos in the universe, and hence constrain a number of cosmological parameters. The results…

We investigate the evolutionary properties of a sample of quasars at 5<z<6.4 using the semi-analytical hierarchical model GAMETE/QSOdust. We find that the observed properties of these quasars are well reproduced by a common formation…

Quasars (Quasi Stellar Objects, abbreviated as QSOs) are still nowadays, close to half a century after their discovery, objects which are not completel y understood. In this brief review a description of the pending problems,…

We have previously shown that the linewidth distribution in AGN can be accounted for by an axisymmetric broad emission line region. In this paper we show that the linewidth distribution changes with redshift and that these changes are…

There is considerable evidence that powerful radio quasars and radio galaxies are orientation-dependent manifestations of the same parent population: massive spheroids containing correspondingly massive black holes. Following the…

These lectures deal with our current knowledge of the matter distribution in the universe, focusing on how this is studied via the large-scale structure seen in galaxy surveys. We first assemble the necessary basics needed to understand the…

Understanding the Universe's origins and evolution remains one of the most fundamental challenges in modern cosmology. This white paper explores three key science priorities in this field: unravelling the physics of cosmic inflation,…

Quasars can be used to measure baryon acoustic oscillations at high redshift, which are considered as direct tracers of the most distant large-scale structures in the Universe. It is fundamental to select quasars from observations before…

I review the current status of studies of the large-scale structure of the Universe using redshift surveys of galaxies and clusters of galaxies. I first summarise the advances we have made in our knowledge of the cosmography of the z<0.2…

We describe a project to study the state of the ISM in ~20 low redshift (z<0.3) QSO host galaxies observed with the PMAS integral field spectrograph. We describe method developement to access the stellar and gas component of the spectrum…

I present an overview of observational studies of quasars of all types, with particular emphasis on X-ray observational studies. The presentation is based on the most popularly accepted unified picture of quasars - collectively referred to…

Observations of redshift-space distortions in spectroscopic galaxy surveys offer an attractive method for observing the build-up of cosmological structure. In this paper we develop and test a new statistic based on anisotropies in the…

The accretion of a cloud of hydrogen at the surface of a small, heavy star produces a high energy mostly dissipated by electromagnetic radiation. The combination of the absorption and the redshift of this radiation by hydrogen explains all…

We introduce a phenomenological investigation of the evolution and large scale distribution of quasars using a modified version of the Field and Colgate gravitational contraction model for proto-galaxies. By studying the distribution of…

We show how observations of multiply-imaged quasars at high redshift can be used as a probe of dark matter clumps (subhalos with masses ~ 10^9 solar masses) within the virialized extent of more massive lensing halos. A large abundance of…

We have selected red MSX sources (RMS) that have the colours of massive young stellar objects (MYSOs). Our aim is to generate a large, systematically selected sample to address questions such as their luminosity function, lifetimes,…

A brief review of the search for variation of the fine structure constant in quasar absorption spectra is presented. Special consideration is given to the role of atomic calculations in the analysis of the observed data. A range of methods…

The evolution of the large-scale distribution of matter is sensitive to a variety of fundamental parameters that characterise the dark matter, dark energy, and other aspects of our cosmological framework. Since the majority of the mass…

Quasars at the redshift frontier (z > 7.0) are fundamental probes of black hole (BH) growth and evolution but notoriously difficult to identify. At these redshifts, machine learning-based selection methods have proven to be efficient, but…