The Sdss-iii Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey: the Quasar Luminosity Function From Data Release Nine
Year: 2013
Type: article
Abstract: We present a new measurement of the optical quasar luminosity function (QLF), using data from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey-III: Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (SDSS-III: BOSS). From the SDSS-III Data Release Nine, a uniform sample of 22,301 i ≲ 21.8 quasars are selected over an area of 2236 deg 2 , with confirmed spectroscopic redshifts between 2.2 < z < 3.5, filling in a key part of the luminosity–redshift plane for optical quasar studies. The completeness of the survey is derived through simulated quasar photometry, and this completeness estimate is checked using a sample of quasars selected by their photometric variability within the BOSS footprint. We investigate the level of systematics associated with our quasar sample using the simulations, in the process generating color–redshift relations and a new quasar K -correction. We probe the faint end of the QLF to M i ( z = 2.2) ≈ −24.5 and see a clear break in the QLF at all redshifts up to z = 3.5. A log-linear relation (in log Φ* − M *) for a luminosity evolution and density evolution model is found to adequately describe our data within the range 2.2 < z < 3.5; across this interval the break luminosity increases by a factor of ∼2.6 while Φ* declines by a factor of ∼8. At z ≲ 2.2 our data are reasonably well fit by a pure luminosity evolution model, and only a weak signature of "AGN downsizing" is seen, in line with recent studies of the hard X-ray luminosity function. We compare our measured QLF to a number of theoretical models and find that models making a variety of assumptions about quasar triggering and halo occupation can fit our data over a wide range of redshifts and luminosities.
Source: The Astrophysical Journal
Authors: Nicholas P. Ross, Ian D. McGreer, Martin White, Gordon T. Richards, Adam D. Myers, Nathalie Palanque-Delabrouille, Michael A. Strauss, Scott F. Anderson, Yue Shen, W. N. Brandt, Christophe Yèche, Molly E. C. Swanson, Éric Aubourg, Stephen Bailey, Dmitry Bizyaev, Jo Bovy, Howard Brewington, J. Brinkmann, Colin DeGraf, Tiziana Di Matteo, Garrett Ebelke, Xiaohui Fan, Jian Ge, Elena Malanushenko, Viktor Malanushenko, Rachel Mandelbaum, Claudia Maraston, Demitri Muna, Daniel Oravetz, Kaike Pan, Isabelle Pâris, Patrick Petitjean, Kevin Schawinski, David J. Schlegel, Donald P. Schneider, John D. Silverman, Audrey Simmons, Stephanie Snedden, Alina Streblyanska, Nao Suzuki, David H. Weinberg, Donald York
Institutions: Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, University of Arizona, University of California, Berkeley, Max Planck Institute for Astronomy, Drexel University, University of Wyoming, Commissariat à l'Énergie Atomique et aux Énergies Alternatives, CEA Paris-Saclay - Etablissement de Saclay, CEA Paris-Saclay, Institut de Recherche sur les Lois Fondamentales de l'Univers, Princeton University, University of Washington, Center for Astrophysics Harvard & Smithsonian, Pennsylvania State University, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Université Paris Cité, Observatoire de Paris, Laboratoire AstroParticule et Cosmologie, Institut National de Physique Nucléaire et de Physique des Particules, Institute for Advanced Study, Carnegie Mellon University, University of Florida, University of Portsmouth, New York University, Institut d'Astrophysique de Paris, Université Pierre-et-Marie-Curie, University of Chile, Yale University, Kavli Institute for the Physics and Mathematics of the Universe, The University of Tokyo, Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias, The Ohio State University, University of Chicago
Language: English
Subfield: Astronomy and Astrophysics
Field: Physics and Astronomy
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: bronze
Funders: National Science Foundation, U.S. Department of Energy, Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, Yale University, Vanderbilt University, Princeton University, Ohio State University, Harvard University, University of Washington, Johns Hopkins University, Carnegie Mellon University, University of Portsmouth, New Mexico State University, York University, Office of Science, College of Engineering, Michigan State University, Science and Technology Facilities Council, Astrophysics Division, Brookhaven National Laboratory, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
OpenAlex ID: W2040336008