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The Sloan Digital Sky Survey Quasar Survey: Quasar Luminosity Function from Data Release 3

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Gordon T. Richards1,2, Michael A. Strauss1, Xiaohui Fan3, Patrick B. Hall4, Sebastian Jester5,6, Donald P. Schneider7, Daniel E. Vanden Berk7, Chris Stoughton5, Scott F. Anderson8, Robert J. Brunner9, Jim Gray10, James E. Gunn1, Željko Ivezić8, Margaret K. Kirkland1, G. R. Knapp1, Jon Loveday11, Avery Meiksin12, Adrian Pope2, Alexander S. Szalay2, Anirudda R. Thakar2, Brian Yanny5, Donald G. York13,14, J. C. Barentine15, Howard J. Brewington15, J. Brinkmann15, Masataka Fukugita16, Michael Harvanek15, Stephen M. Kent5,13, S. J. Kleinman15, Jurek Krzesiński15,17, Daniel C. Long15, Robert H. Lupton1, Thomas Nash5, Eric H. Neilsen, Jr.5, Atsuko Nitta15, David J. Schlegel18 and Stephanie A. Snedden15

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We determine the number counts and z = 0-5 luminosity function for a well-defined, homogeneous sample of quasars from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS). We conservatively define the most uniform statistical sample possible, consisting of 15,343 quasars within an effective area of 1622 deg2 that was derived from a parent sample of 46,420 spectroscopically confirmed broad-line quasars in the 5282 deg2 of imaging data from SDSS Data Release 3. The sample extends from i = 15 to 19.1 at z lesssim 3 and to i = 20.2 for z gtrsim 3. The number counts and luminosity function agree well with the results of the Two Degree Field QSO Redshift Survey (2QZ) at redshifts and luminosities at which the SDSS and 2QZ quasar samples overlap, but the SDSS data probe to much higher redshifts than does the 2QZ sample. The number density of luminous quasars peaks between redshifts 2 and 3, although uncertainties in the selection function in this range do not allow us to determine the peak redshift more precisely. Our best-fit model has a flatter bright-end slope at high redshift than at low redshift. For z < 2.4 the data are best fit by a redshift-independent slope of β = -3.1 [Φ(L) ∝ Lβ]. Above z = 2.4 the slope flattens with redshift to β gtrsim -2.37 at z = 5. This slope change, which is significant at the gtrsim5 σ level, must be accounted for in models of the evolution of accretion onto supermassive black holes.


Keywords

cosmology: observations; galaxies: active; galaxies: luminosity function, mass function; quasars: general; surveys


Dates

Issue 6 (2006 June)

Received 2005 September 20, accepted for publication 2006 February 10



  1. The Sloan Digital Sky Survey Quasar Survey: Quasar Luminosity Function from Data Release 3

    Gordon T. Richards et al. 2006 The Astronomical Journal 131 2766

  2. Optical and Radio Properties of Extragalactic Sources Observed by the FIRST Survey and the Sloan Digital Sky Survey

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  3. The First Data Release of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey

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  4. The Discovery of a Luminous z = 5.80 Quasar from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey

    Xiaohui Fan et al. 2000 The Astronomical Journal 120 1167

  5. High-Redshift Quasars Found in Sloan Digital Sky Survey Commissioning Data. V. Hobby-Eberly Telescope Observations

    Donald P. Schneider et al. 2001 The Astronomical Journal 121 1232

  6. Early-Type Galaxies in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. III. The Fundamental Plane

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  7. The First Hour of Extragalactic Data of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Spectroscopic Commissioning: The Coma Cluster

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  8. The Luminosity Function of Galaxies in SDSS Commissioning Data

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  9. Early-Type Galaxies in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. I. The Sample

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  10. Early-type Galaxies in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. II. Correlations between Observables

    Mariangela Bernardi et al. 2003 The Astronomical Journal 125 1849

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