IMPROVED SPECTROPHOTOMETRIC CALIBRATION OF THE SDSS-III BOSS QUASAR SAMPLE

Journal Article · Thu Nov 10 00:00:00 EST 2016 · Astrophysical Journal

DOI:https://doi.org/10.3847/0004-637X/831/2/157· OSTI ID:22667228

Margala, Daniel; Kirkby, David ^[1]; Dawson, Kyle ^[2]; Bailey, Stephen ^[3]; Blanton, Michael ^[4]

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1. Frederick Reines Hall, Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of California, Irvine, CA (United States)
2. Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT 84112 (United States)
3. Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, One Cyclotron Road, Berkeley, CA 94720 (United States)
4. Center for Cosmology and Particle Physics, Department of Physics, New York University, 4 Washington Place, New York, NY 10003 (United States)

We present a model for spectrophotometric calibration errors in observations of quasars from the third generation of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (BOSS) and describe the correction procedure we have developed and applied to this sample. Calibration errors are primarily due to atmospheric differential refraction and guiding offsets during each exposure. The corrections potentially reduce the systematics for any studies of BOSS quasars, including the measurement of baryon acoustic oscillations using the Ly α forest. Our model suggests that, on average, the observed quasar flux in BOSS is overestimated by ∼19% at 3600 Å and underestimated by ∼24% at 10,000 Å. Our corrections for the entire BOSS quasar sample are publicly available.

• OSTI ID: 22667228
• Journal Information: Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 831, Issue 2; 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
ABSORPTION
BARYONS
CALIBRATION
CORRECTIONS
COSMOLOGY
ERRORS
OSCILLATIONS
QUASARS
REFRACTION
SPECTROPHOTOMETRY