arXiv subjects

Ian D. McGreer

Publications and source records attributed to Ian D. McGreer.

54 records · Page 3Linked to original sources

arXiv2014

Close companions to two high-redshift quasars

We report the serendipitous discoveries of companion galaxies to two high-redshift quasars. SDSS J025617.7+001904 is a z=4.79 quasar included in our recent survey of faint quasars in the SDSS Stripe 82 region. The initial MMT slit spectroscopy shows excess Lyman alpha emission extending well beyond the quasar's light profile. Further imaging and spectroscopy with LBT/MODS1 confirms the presence of a bright galaxy (i_AB = 23.6) located 2arcsec (12 kpc projected) from the quasar with strong Lyman alpha emission (EW_0 ~ 100Ang) at the redshift of the quasar, as well as faint continuum. The second quasar, CFHQS J005006.6+344522 (z=6.25), is included in our recent HST SNAP survey of z~6 quasars searching for evidence of gravitational lensing. Deep imaging with ACS and WFC3 confirms an optical dropout ~4.5 mag fainter than the quasar (Y_AB=25) at a separation of 0.9 arcsec. The red i_775-Y_105 color of the galaxy and its proximity to the quasar (5 kpc projected if at the quasar redshift) strongly favor an association with the quasar. Although it is much fainter than the quasar it is remarkably bright when compared to field galaxies at this redshift, while showing no evidence for lensing. Both systems may represent late-stage mergers of two massive galaxies, with the observed light for one dominated by powerful ongoing star formation and for the other by rapid black hole growth. Observations of close companions are rare; if major mergers are primarily responsible for high-redshift quasar fueling then the phase when progenitor galaxies can be observed as bright companions is relatively short.

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arXiv2014

The Sloan Digital Sky Survey Reverberation Mapping Project: Technical Overview

The Sloan Digital Sky Survey Reverberation Mapping project (SDSS-RM) is a dedicated multi-object RM experiment that has spectroscopically monitored a sample of 849 broad-line quasars in a single 7 deg$^2$ field with the SDSS-III BOSS spectrograph. The RM quasar sample is flux-limited to i_psf=21.7 mag, and covers a redshift range of 0.1 0.3, and will investigate the prospects of RM with all major broad lines covered in optical spectroscopy. SDSS-RM will provide guidance on future multi-object RM campaigns on larger scales, and is aiming to deliver more than tens of BLR lag detections for a homogeneous sample of quasars. We describe the motivation, design and implementation of this program, and outline the science impact expected from the resulting data for RM and general quasar science.

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arXiv2014

The Sloan Digital Sky Survey Stripe 82 Imaging Data: Depth-Optimized Co-adds Over 300 Deg^2 in Five Filters

We present and release co-added images of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) Stripe 82. Stripe 82 covers an area of 300 deg^2 on the Celestial Equator, and has been repeatedly scanned 70-90 times in the ugriz bands by the SDSS imaging survey. By making use of all available data in the SDSS archive, our co-added images are optimized for depth. Input single-epoch frames were properly processed and weighted based on seeing, sky transparency, and background noise before co-addition. The resultant products are co-added science images and their associated weight images that record relative weights at individual pixels. The depths of the co-adds, measured as the 5 sigma detection limits of the aperture (3.2 arcsec diameter) magnitudes for point sources, are roughly 23.9, 25.1, 24.6, 24.1, and 22.8 AB magnitudes in the five bands, respectively. They are 1.9-2.2 mag deeper than the best SDSS single-epoch data. The co-added images have good image quality, with an average point-spread function FWHM of ~1 arcsec in the r, i, and z bands. We also release object catalogs that were made with SExtractor. These co-added products have many potential uses for studies of galaxies, quasars, and Galactic structure. We further present and release near-IR J-band images that cover ~90 deg^2 of Stripe 82. These images were obtained using the NEWFIRM camera on the NOAO 4-m Mayall telescope, and have a depth of about 20.0--20.5 Vega magnitudes (also 5 sigma detection limits for point sources).

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arXiv2013

The Sloan Digital Sky Survey quasar catalog: tenth data release

We present the Data Release 10 Quasar (DR10Q) catalog from the Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (BOSS) of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey III. The catalog includes all BOSS objects that were targeted as quasar candidates during the first 2.5 years of the survey and that are confirmed as quasars via visual inspection of the spectra. The catalog also includes known quasars (mostly from SDSS-I and II) that were reobserved by BOSS. The catalog contains 166,583 quasars (74,454 are new discoveries since SDSS-DR9) detected over 6,373 deg$^{2}$ with robust identification and redshift measured by a combination of principal component eigenspectra. The number of quasars with $z>2.15$ (117,668) is $\sim$5 times greater than the number of $z>2.15$ quasars known prior to BOSS. Redshifts and FWHMs are provided for the strongest emission lines (CIV, CIII, MgII). The catalog identifies 16,461 broad absorption line quasars and gives their characteristics. For each object, the catalog presents five-band (u, g, r, i, z) CCD-based photometry with typical accuracy of 0.03 mag and information on the optical morphology and selection method. The catalog also contains X-ray, ultraviolet, near-infrared, and radio emission properties of the quasars, when available, from other large-area surveys. The calibrated digital spectra cover the wavelength region 3,600-10,500Å at a spectral resolution in the range 1,300$<$R$<$2,500; the spectra can be retrieved from the SDSS Catalog Archive Server. We also provide a supplemental list of an additional 2,376 quasars that have been identified among the galaxy targets of the SDSS-III/BOSS.

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arXiv2013

Deep LBT/LUCI Spectroscopy of a Lyman-alpha Emitter Candidate at z ~ 7.7

We present deep spectroscopic observations of a Lyman-alpha emitter (LAE) candidate at z ~ 7.7 using the infrared spectrograph LUCI on the 2 x 8.4m Large Binocular Telescope (LBT). The candidate is the brightest among the four z ~ 7.7 LAE candidates found in a narrow-band imaging survey by Krug et al. 2012. Our spectroscopic data include a total of 7.5 hours of integration with LBT/LUCI and are deep enough to significantly (3.2-4.9 sigma) detect the Lyman-alpha emission line of this candidate, based on its Lyman-alpha flux 1.2 x 10^{-17} erg s^{-1} cm^{-2} estimated from the narrow-band photometry. However, we do not find any convincing signal at the expected position of its Lyman-alpha emission line, suggesting that this source is not an LAE at z ~ 7.7. The non-detection in this work, together with the previous studies of z ~ 7.7 LAEs, puts a strong constraint on the bright-end Lyman-alpha luminosity function (LF) at z ~ 7.7. We find a rapid evolution of the Lyman-alpha LF from z ~ 6.5 to 7.7: the upper limit of the z ~ 7.7 LF is more than 5 times lower than the z ~ 6.5 LF at the bright end (f > 1.0 x 10^{-17} erg s^{-1} cm^{-2}, or L > 6.9 x 10^{42} erg s^{-1}). This is likely caused by an increasing neutral fraction in the IGM that substantially attenuates Lyman-alpha emission at z ~ 7.7.

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arXiv2013

The z=5 Quasar Luminosity Function from SDSS Stripe 82

We present a measurement of the Type I quasar luminosity function at z=5 using a large sample of spectroscopically confirmed quasars selected from optical imaging data. We measure the bright end (M_1450<-26) with Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) data covering ~6000 deg^2, then extend to lower luminosities (M_1450<-24) with newly discovered, faint z~5 quasars selected from 235 deg^2 of deep, coadded imaging in the SDSS Stripe 82 region (the celestial equator in the Southern Galactic Cap). The faint sample includes 14 quasars with spectra obtained as ancillary science targets in the SDSS-III Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (BOSS), and 59 quasars observed at the MMT and Magellan telescopes. We construct a well-defined sample of 4.7<z<5.1 quasars that is highly complete, with 73 spectroscopic identifications out of 92 candidates. Our color selection method is also highly efficient: of the 73 spectra obtained, 71 are high redshift quasars. These observations reach below the break in the luminosity function (M_1450* ~ -27). The bright end slope is steep (beta <~ -4), with a constraint of beta < -3.1 at 95% confidence. The break luminosity appears to evolve strongly at high redshift, providing an explanation for the flattening of the bright end slope reported previously. We find a factor of ~2 greater decrease in the number density of luminous quasars (M_1450<-26) from z=5 to z=6 than from z=4 to z=5, suggesting a more rapid decline in quasar activity at high redshift than found in previous surveys. Our model for the quasar luminosity function predicts that quasars generate ~30% of the ionizing photons required to keep the universe ionized at z=5.

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arXiv2012

The Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey of SDSS-III

The Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (BOSS) is designed to measure the scale of baryon acoustic oscillations (BAO) in the clustering of matter over a larger volume than the combined efforts of all previous spectroscopic surveys of large scale structure. BOSS uses 1.5 million luminous galaxies as faint as i=19.9 over 10,000 square degrees to measure BAO to redshifts z<0.7. Observations of neutral hydrogen in the Lyman alpha forest in more than 150,000 quasar spectra (g<22) will constrain BAO over the redshift range 2.15<z<3.5. Early results from BOSS include the first detection of the large-scale three-dimensional clustering of the Lyman alpha forest and a strong detection from the Data Release 9 data set of the BAO in the clustering of massive galaxies at an effective redshift z = 0.57. We project that BOSS will yield measurements of the angular diameter distance D_A to an accuracy of 1.0% at redshifts z=0.3 and z=0.57 and measurements of H(z) to 1.8% and 1.7% at the same redshifts. Forecasts for Lyman alpha forest constraints predict a measurement of an overall dilation factor that scales the highly degenerate D_A(z) and H^{-1}(z) parameters to an accuracy of 1.9% at z~2.5 when the survey is complete. Here, we provide an overview of the selection of spectroscopic targets, planning of observations, and analysis of data and data quality of BOSS.

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arXiv2012

The SDSS-III Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey: The Quasar Luminosity Function from Data Release Nine

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 (DR9), we select a uniform sample of 22,301 i<=21.8 quasars over an area of 2236 sq. deg with confirmed spectroscopic redshifts between 2.2<z<3.5, filling in a key part of the luminosity-redshift plane for optical quasar studies. We derive the completeness of the survey through simulated quasar photometry, and check this completeness estimate 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_i(z=2.2) = -24.5 and see a clear break in the QLF at all redshifts up to z=3.5. We find that a log-linear relation (in log[Phi*] - M*) for a luminosity and density evolution (LEDE) model adequately describes our data within the range 2.2<z<3.5; across this interval the break luminosity increases by a factor of ~2.3 while Phi* declines by a factor of ~6. At z<2.2 our data is reasonably well fit by a pure luminosity evolution (PLE) model. We see only a weak signature of "AGN downsizing", 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.

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arXiv2012

The Sloan Digital Sky Survey quasar catalog: ninth data release

We present the Data Release 9 Quasar (DR9Q) catalog from the Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (BOSS) of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey III. The catalog includes all BOSS objects that were targeted as quasar candidates during the survey, are spectrocopically confirmed as quasars via visual inspection, have luminosities Mi[z=2]<-20.5 (in a $Λ$CDM cosmology with H0 = 70 km/s/Mpc, $Ω_{\rm M}$ = 0.3, and $Ω_Λ$ = 0.7) and either display at least one emission line with full width at half maximum (FWHM) larger than 500 km/s or, if not, have interesting/complex absorption features. It includes as well, known quasars (mostly from SDSS-I and II) that were reobserved by BOSS. This catalog contains 87,822 quasars (78,086 are new discoveries) detected over 3,275 deg$^{2}$ with robust identification and redshift measured by a combination of principal component eigenspectra newly derived from a training set of 8,632 spectra from SDSS-DR7. The number of quasars with $z>2.15$ (61,931) is ~2.8 times larger than the number of z>2.15 quasars previously known. Redshifts and FWHMs are provided for the strongest emission lines (CIV, CIII], MgII). The catalog identifies 7,533 broad absorption line quasars and gives their characteristics. For each object the catalog presents five-band (u,g,r,i,z) CCD-based photometry with typical accuracy of 0.03 mag, and information on the morphology and selection method. The catalog also contains X-ray, ultraviolet, near-infrared, and radio emission properties of the quasars, when available, from other large-area surveys.

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arXiv2011

Think Outside the Color Box: Probabilistic Target Selection and the SDSS-XDQSO Quasar Targeting Catalog

We present the SDSS-XDQSO quasar targeting catalog for efficient flux-based quasar target selection down to the faint limit of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) catalog, even at medium redshifts (2.5 <~ z <~ 3) where the stellar contamination is significant. We build models of the distributions of stars and quasars in flux space down to the flux limit by applying the extreme-deconvolution method to estimate the underlying density. We convolve this density with the flux uncertainties when evaluating the probability that an object is a quasar. This approach results in a targeting algorithm that is more principled, more efficient, and faster than other similar methods. We apply the algorithm to derive low-redshift (z < 2.2), medium-redshift (2.2 <= z <= 3.5), and high-redshift (z > 3.5) quasar probabilities for all 160,904,060 point sources with dereddened i-band magnitude between 17.75 and 22.45 mag in the 14,555 deg^2 of imaging from SDSS Data Release 8. The catalog can be used to define a uniformly selected and efficient low- or medium-redshift quasar survey, such as that needed for the SDSS-III's Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey project. We show that the XDQSO technique performs as well as the current best photometric quasar-selection technique at low redshift, and outperforms all other flux-based methods for selecting the medium-redshift quasars of our primary interest. We make code to reproduce the XDQSO quasar target selection publicly available.

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arXiv2011

The Eighth Data Release of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey: First Data from SDSS-III

The Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) started a new phase in August 2008, with new instrumentation and new surveys focused on Galactic structure and chemical evolution, measurements of the baryon oscillation feature in the clustering of galaxies and the quasar Ly alpha forest, and a radial velocity search for planets around ~8000 stars. This paper describes the first data release of SDSS-III (and the eighth counting from the beginning of the SDSS). The release includes five-band imaging of roughly 5200 deg^2 in the Southern Galactic Cap, bringing the total footprint of the SDSS imaging to 14,555 deg^2, or over a third of the Celestial Sphere. All the imaging data have been reprocessed with an improved sky-subtraction algorithm and a final, self-consistent photometric recalibration and flat-field determination. This release also includes all data from the second phase of the Sloan Extension for Galactic Understanding and Evolution (SEGUE-2), consisting of spectroscopy of approximately 118,000 stars at both high and low Galactic latitudes. All the more than half a million stellar spectra obtained with the SDSS spectrograph have been reprocessed through an improved stellar parameters pipeline, which has better determination of metallicity for high metallicity stars.

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arXiv2011

The first (nearly) model-independent constraint on the neutral hydrogen fraction at z~5--6

Cosmic reionization is expected to be complex, extended and very inhomogeneous. Existing constraints at z~6 on the volume-averaged neutral hydrogen fraction, , are highly model-dependent and controversial. Constraints at z<6, suggesting that the Universe is highly ionized, are also model-dependent, but more fundamentally are invalid in the context of inhomogeneous reionization. As such, it has recently been pointed out that there is no conclusive evidence that reionization has completed by z~5--6, a fact that has important ramifications on the interpretation of high-redshift observations and theoretical models. We present the first direct upper limits on at z~5--6 using the simple and robust statistic of the covering fraction of dark pixels in the Ly alpha/beta forests of high redshift quasars. With a sample of 13 Keck ESI spectra we constrain < 0.2 at 5 < z < 5.5, rising to < 0.8 at z~6.1. We also find tentative evidence for a break in the redshift evolution of the dark covering fraction at z~5.5. A subsample of two deep spectra provides a more stringent constraint of (z=6.1) < 0.5 when combined with conservative estimates of cosmic variance. This upper limit is comparable to existing results at z~6 but is more robust. The results presented here do not rely on assumptions about the quasar continuum, IGM density, HII morphology or ionizing background fields, and thus are a good starting point for future interpretation of high redshift observations.

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arXiv2010

LBT/LUCIFER Observations of the z~2 Lensed Galaxy J0900+2234

We present rest-frame optical images and spectra of the gravitationally lensed, star-forming galaxy J0900+2234 (z=2.03). The observations were performed with the newly commissioned LUCIFER1 near-infrared instrument mounted on the Large Binocular Telescope (LBT). We fit lens models to the rest-frame optical images and find the galaxy has an intrinsic effective radius of 7.4 kpc with a lens magnification factor of about 5 for the A and B components. We also discovered a new arc belonging to another lensed high-z source galaxy, which makes this lens system a potential double Einstein ring system. Using the high S/N rest-frame optical spectra covering H+K band, we detected Hbeta, OIII, Halpha, NII and SII emission lines. Detailed physical properties of this high-z galaxy were derived. The extinction towards the ionized HII regions (E_g(B-V)) is computed from the flux ratio of Halpha and Hbeta and appears to be much higher than that towards stellar continuum (E_s(B-V)), derived from the optical and NIR broad band photometry fitting. The metallicity was estimated using N2 and O3N2 indices. It is in the range of 1/5-1/3 solar abundance, which is much lower than the typical z~2 star-forming galaxies. From the flux ratio of SII 6717 and 6732, we found that the electron number density of the HII regions in the high-z galaxy were >1000 cm^-3, consistent with other z~2 galaxies but much higher than that in local HII regions. The star-formation rate was estimated via the Halpha luminosity, after correction for the lens magnification, to be about 365\pm69 Msun/yr. Combining the FWHM of Halpha emission lines and the half-light radius, we found the dynamical mass of the lensed galaxy is 5.8\pm0.9x10^10 Msun. The gas mass is 5.1\pm1.1x10^10~Msun from the Hαflux surface density by using global Kennicutt-Schmidt Law, indicating a very high gas fraction of 0.79\pm0.19 in J0900+2234.

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arXiv2010

SDSS J094604.90+183541.8: A Gravitationally Lensed Quasar at z=4.8

We report the discovery of a gravitationally lensed quasar identified serendipitously in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS). The object, SDSS J094604.90+183541.8, was initially targeted for spectroscopy as a luminous red galaxy, but the SDSS spectrum has the features of both a z=0.388 galaxy and a z=4.8 quasar. We have obtained additional imaging that resolves the system into two quasar images separated by 3.06 arcsec and a bright galaxy that is strongly blended with one of the quasar images. We confirm spectroscopically that the two quasar images represent a single lensed source at z=4.8 with a total magnification of 3.2, and we derive a model for the lensing galaxy. This is the highest redshift lensed quasar currently known. We examine the issues surrounding the selection of such an unusual object from existing data and briefly discuss implications for lensed quasar surveys.

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arXiv2009

A Comparison of X-ray and Mid-Infrared Selection of Obscured AGN

We compare the relative merits of AGN selection at X-ray and mid-infrared wavelengths using data from moderately deep fields observed by both Chandra and Spitzer. The X-ray-selected AGN sample and associated optical follow-up are drawn from the SEXSI program. Mid-infrared data in these fields are derived from Spitzer imaging, and mid-infrared AGN selection is accomplished primarily through application of the IRAC color-color AGN `wedge' selection technique. Nearly all X-ray sources in these fields which exhibit clear spectroscopic signatures of AGN activity have mid-infrared colors consistent with IRAC AGN selection. These are predominantly the most luminous X-ray sources. X-ray sources that lack high-ionization and/or broad lines in their optical spectra are far less likely to be selected as AGN by mid-infrared color selection techniques. The fraction of X-ray sources identified as AGN in the mid-infrared increases monotonically as the X-ray luminosity increases. Conversely, only 22% of mid-infrared-selected AGN are detected at X-ray energies in the moderately deep (~100 ks) Chandra data. We hypothesize that the IRAC AGN that lack X-ray detections are predominantly high-luminosity AGN that are obscured and/or lie at high redshift. A stacking analysis of X-ray-undetected sources shows that objects in the mid-infrared AGN selection wedge have average X-ray fluxes in the 2-8 keV band three times higher than sources that fall outside the wedge. Their X-ray spectra are also harder. It is evident from this comparative study that in order to create a complete, unbiased census of supermassive black hole growth and evolution, a combination of sensitive infrared, X-ray and hard X-ray selection is required. We conclude by discussing what samples will be provided by upcoming survey missions such as WISE, eROSITA, and NuSTAR.

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arXiv2009

Radio-Selected Quasars in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey

We have conducted a pilot survey for z>3.5 quasars by combining the FIRST radio survey with the SDSS. While SDSS already targets FIRST sources for spectroscopy as quasar candidates, our survey includes fainter quasars and greatly improves the discovery rate by using strict astrometric criteria for matching the radio and optical positions. Our method allows for selection of high-redshift quasars with less color bias than with optical selection, as using radio selection essentially eliminates stellar contamination. We report the results of spectroscopy for 45 candidates, including 29 quasars in the range 0.37 < z < 5.2, with 7 having redshifts z>3.5. We compare quasars selected using radio and optical criteria, and find that radio-selected quasars have a much higher fraction of moderately-reddened objects. We derive a radio-loud quasar luminosity function at 3.5<z<4.0, and find that it is in good agreement with expectations from prior SDSS results.

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arXiv2008

The Impact of HD Cooling on the Formation of the First Stars

We use numerical simulations to investigate the importance of HD formation and cooling on the first generation of metal-free stars in a LCDM cosmology. We have implemented and tested non-equilibrium HD chemistry in an adaptive mesh refinement simulation code and applied it to two situations. (1) It is first applied to the formation of 10^5 - 10^6 Msun halos which form in the absence of any ionizing source. We show, in agreement with previous work, that HD cooling is of only marginal importance for most halos; however, we find that for the lowest mass halos, HD cooling can equal or surpass the H2 cooling rate. This leads to a population of stars formed in halos with effective HD cooling that are less massive by a factor of ~6 compared to halos dominated by H2 cooling. (2) In the second part of the paper, we ionize the halos in order to explore the impact of HD cooling in the presence of an ample population of free electrons. This leads to cooler temperatures (due to the electron- catalyzed production of H2) and somewhat lower resulting proto-stellar mass. Adding HD chemistry lowers the temperature further, to the level of the CMB. We find that HD cooling dominates over H2 cooling in the density range 10^2 cm^-3 to 10^6 cm^-3, but above this density, the temperature rises and H2 cooling dominates again. Because of this, the accretion rate on to the protostar is almost the same as in the H2 case (at least for accreted masses below 50-100 Msun), therefore we argue that HD cooling in ionized halos will probably not result in a population of significantly lower mass stars.

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arXiv2006

Discovery of a z=6.1 Radio-Loud Quasar in the NDWFS

From examination of only 4 deg^2 of sky in the NOAO Deep Wide-Field Survey (NDWFS) region, we have identified the first radio-loud quasar at a redshift z>6. The object, FIRST J1427385+331241, was discovered by matching the FLAMEX IR survey to FIRST survey radio sources with NDWFS counterparts. One candidate z>6 quasar was found, and spectroscopy with the Keck II telescope confirmed its identification, yielding a redshift z=6.12. The object is a Broad Absorption Line (BAL) quasar with an optical luminosity of M_B ~ -26.9 and a radio-to-optical flux ratio ~ 60. Two MgII absorptions systems are present at redshifts of z=2.18 and z=2.20. We briefly discuss the implications of this discovery for the high-redshift quasar population.

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