Probing the Cosmic Evolution with the Most Distant Quasars

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AST-0307384FanThis project will carry out three aggressive observational campaigns aimed at obtaining large, complete samples of quasars at the highest redshifts, based on imaging data from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS). A wide field survey of luminous candidates in the North Galactic Cap will find 15 to 20 quasars above redshift 5.7, a survey using the deep equatorial stripe data will provide a sample of about a thousand faint quasars above redshift 3, and a multi-wavelength follow-up will produce an unparalleled high-quality dataset for a selected sub-sample.The data will be used to study the evolution, luminosity function, and clustering of quasars, to map the accretion history of the earliest quasars and constrain their evolution, and to consider the relation between super-massive black holes and galaxy evolution. The investigators will also measure the quasar environment, including metallicity and spectral signature. Other research will follow the evolution of the intergalactic medium and the end of reionization, using absorption features in the quasar spectra and the Gunn-Peterson troughs along different lines of sight.The research will involve graduate and undergraduate students, and all of the data will be made available to the community in a timely fashion, including not just the quasar catalog but also the quasar spectra.