THE SDSS-III BARYON OSCILLATION SPECTROSCOPIC SURVEY: THE QUASAR LUMINOSITY FUNCTION FROM DATA RELEASE NINE

Journal Article · Sat Aug 10 00:00:00 EDT 2013 · Astrophysical Journal

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1088/0004-637X/773/1/14· OSTI ID:22140297

Ross, Nicholas P.; White, Martin; Bailey, Stephen ^[1]; McGreer, Ian D. ^[2]; Richards, Gordon T. ^[3]; Myers, Adam D. ^[4]; Palanque-Delabrouille, Nathalie; Yeche, Christophe ^[5]; Strauss, Michael A. ^[6]; Anderson, Scott F. ^[7]; Shen, Yue; Swanson, Molly E. C. ^[8]; Brandt, W. N. ^[9]; Aubourg, Eric ^[10]; Bizyaev, Dmitry; Brewington, Howard; Brinkmann, J. ^[11]; Bovy, Jo ^[12]; DeGraf, Colin; others, and

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1. Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, 1 Cyclotron Road, Berkeley, CA 92420 (United States)
2. Steward Observatory, 933 North Cherry Avenue, Tucson, AZ 85721 (United States)
3. Department of Physics, Drexel University, 3141 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, PA 19104 (United States)
4. Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Wyoming, Laramie, WY 82071 (United States)
5. CEA, Centre de Saclay, IRFU, F-91191 Gif-sur-Yvette (France)
6. Department of Astrophysical Sciences, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08544 (United States)
7. Department of Astronomy, University of Washington, Box 351580, Seattle, WA 98195 (United States)
8. Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138 (United States)
9. Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, The Pennsylvania State University, 525 Davey Laboratory, University Park, PA 16802 (United States)
10. APC, University of Paris Diderot, CNRS/IN2P3, CEA/IRFU, Observatoire de Paris, Sorbonne Paris Cite (France)
11. Apache Point Observatory, P.O. Box 59, Sunspot, NM 88349-0059 (United States)
12. Institute for Advanced Study, Einstein Drive, Princeton, NJ 08540 (United States)

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 {approx}< 21.8 quasars are selected over an area of 2236 deg{sup 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{sub i} (z = 2.2) Almost-Equal-To -24.5 and see a clear break in the QLF at all redshifts up to z = 3.5. A log-linear relation (in log {Phi}* - 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 {approx}2.6 while {Phi}* declines by a factor of {approx}8. At z {approx}< 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.

• OSTI ID: 22140297
• Journal Information: Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 773, Issue 1; Other Information: Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0004-637X
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

79 ASTROPHYSICS
COSMOLOGY AND ASTRONOMY
BARYONS
COLOR
CORRECTIONS
DENSITY
EVOLUTION
GALAXIES
HARD X RADIATION
LUMINOSITY
MASS
OCCUPATIONS
OSCILLATIONS
QUASARS
RED SHIFT
SIMULATION