Probing the Cosmic Evolution with the Most Distant Quasars

AST-0307384 Fan该项目将根据斯隆数字巡天(SDSS)的成像数据，实施三项激进的观测活动，旨在获取具有最高红移的大型、完整的类星体样本。对北银河帽发光候选者的广泛野外调查将发现15到20个红移5.7以上的类星体，使用深赤道条纹数据的调查将提供大约1000个红移3以上的微弱类星体样本，多波长跟踪将为选定的子样本产生无与伦比的高质量数据集。这些数据将用于研究类星体的演化、光度函数和星团，绘制最早类星体的吸积史并限制它们的演化，并考虑超大质量黑洞和星系演化之间的关系。研究人员还将测量类星体的环境，包括金属丰度和光谱特征。其他研究将利用类星体光谱和Gunn-Peterson谷沿不同视线的吸收特征，跟踪星际介质的演化和再电离的结束。研究将涉及研究生和本科生，所有数据将及时向社会提供，不仅包括类星体目录，还包括类星体光谱。

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.