10,614 research outputs found
Observations of QSO J2233-606 in the Southern Hubble Deep Field
The Hubble Deep Field South (HDF-S) HST observations are expected to begin in
October 1998. We present a composite spectrum of the QSO in the HDF-S field
covering UV/optical/near IR wavelengths, obtained by combining data from the
ANU 2.3m Telescope with STIS on the HST. This intermediate resolution spectrum
covers the range 1600-10000A and allows us to derive some basic information on
the intervening absorption systems which will be important in planning future
higher resolution studies of this QSO.Comment: 9 pages and 2 figures, submitted to ApJ
The Cambridge-Cambridge ROSAT Serendipity Survey - I. X-ray-luminous galaxies
We report on the first results obtained from a new optical identification
programme of 123 faint X-ray sources with (0.5--2ergscm serendipitously detected in {\it ROSAT}
PSPC pointed observations. We have spectroscopically identified the optical
counterparts to more than 100 sources in this survey. Although the majority of
the sample (68 objects) are QSOs, we have also identified 12 narrow emission
line galaxies which have extreme X-ray luminosities (ergs). Subsequent spectroscopy reveals them to be a
mixture of starburst galaxies and Seyfert 2 galaxies in approximately equal
numbers. Combined with potentially similar objects identified in the {\it
Einstein} Extended Medium Sensitivity Survey, these X-ray-luminous galaxies
exhibit a rate of cosmological evolution, , consistent with that derived for X-ray QSOs. This
evolution, coupled with the steep slope determined for the faint end of the
X-ray luminosity function (), implies
that such objects could comprise 15--35 per cent of the soft (1--2keV)Comment: Accepted for publication in MNRAS. 7 pages including 5 figures;
uuencoded compressed postscript; RGO-21
Do Quasars Lens Quasars?
If the unexpectedly high frequency of quasar pairs with very different
component redshifts is due to the lensing of a population of background quasars
by the foreground quasar, typical lens masses must be \sim10^{12}M_{\sun} and
the sum of all such quasar lenses would have to contain times the
closure density of the Universe. It then seems plausible that a very high
fraction of all \sim10^{12} M_{\sun} gravitational lenses with redshifts
contain quasars. Here I propose that these systems have evolved to
form the present population of massive galaxies with M and M
>5\times10^{11} M_{\sun}.Comment: 6 pages, aas style, ams symbols, ApJL (accepted
The Evolution of Radio Galaxies at Intermediate Redshift
We describe a new estimate of the radio galaxy 1.4 GHz luminosity function
and its evolution at intermediate redshifts (z~0.4). Photometric redshifts and
color selection have been used to select Bj<23.5 early-type galaxies from the
Panoramic Deep Fields, a multicolor survey of two 25 sq deg fields.
Approximately 230 radio galaxies have then been selected by matching early-type
galaxies with NVSS radio sources brighter than 5 mJy. Estimates of the 1.4 GHz
luminosity function of radio galaxies measure significant evolution over the
observed redshift range. For an Omega_M=1 cosmology the evolution of the radio
power is consistent with luminosity evolution where P(z)=P(0)(1+z)^{k_L} and
3<k_L<5. The observed evolution is similar to that observed for UVX and X-ray
selected AGN and is consistent with the same physical process being responsible
for the optical and radio luminosity evolution of AGN.Comment: 26 pages, 9 Figures, Accepted for Publication in A
2dF QSO Redshift Survey
With approximately 6000 QSO redshifts,the 2dF QSO redshift survey is already
the biggest complete QSO survey. The aim for the survey is to have 25000 QSO
redshifts, providing an order of magnitude increase in QSO clustering
statistics. We first describe the observational parameters of the 2dF QSO
survey. We then describe several highlights of the survey so far, including new
estimates of the QSO luminosity function and its evolution. We also review the
current status of QSO clustering analyses from the 2dF data. Finally, we
discuss how the complete QSO survey will be able to constrain the value of
Omega_o by measuring the evolution of QSO clustering, place limits on the
cosmological constant via a direct geometrical test and determine the form of
the fluctuation power-spectrum out to the approximately 1000 Mpc scales only
previously probed by COBE.Comment: 6 pages; to be published in Clustering at High Redshift, Marseille,
June 1999, eds. A. Mazure, O. LeFevre, V. Lebru
Hardware and software status of QCDOC
QCDOC is a massively parallel supercomputer whose processing nodes are based
on an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC). This ASIC was
custom-designed so that crucial lattice QCD kernels achieve an overall
sustained performance of 50% on machines with several 10,000 nodes. This strong
scalability, together with low power consumption and a price/performance ratio
of $1 per sustained MFlops, enable QCDOC to attack the most demanding lattice
QCD problems. The first ASICs became available in June of 2003, and the testing
performed so far has shown all systems functioning according to specification.
We review the hardware and software status of QCDOC and present performance
figures obtained in real hardware as well as in simulation.Comment: Lattice2003(machine), 6 pages, 5 figure
QSO clustering and the AAT 2dF redshift survey
We review previous results on the clustering and environments of QSOs. We
show that the correlation length for QSOs derived from existing surveys is
r~5/h Mpc, similar to the observed correlation length for field galaxies at the
present epoch. The galaxy environment for z<1 radio-quiet QSOs is also
consistent with field galaxies. The evolution of the QSO correlation length
with redshift is currently uncertain, largely due to the small numbers of QSOs
(~2000) in surveys suitable for clustering analysis. We report on intial
progress with the AAT 2dF QSO redshift survey, which, once completed will
comprise almost 30000 QSOs. With over 1000 QSOs already observed, it is already
the largest single homogeneous QSO survey. We discuss prospects for deriving
limits on cosmological parameters from this survey, and on the evolution of
large-scale structure in the Universe.Comment: Invited talk at RS meeting on 'Large Scale Structure in the Universe'
held at the Royal Society on 25-26 March 1998 14 pages, 11 figre
Gravitational Lensing of the X-Ray Background by Clusters of Galaxies
Gravitational lensing by clusters of galaxies affects the cosmic X-ray
background (XRB) by altering the observed density and flux distribution of
background X-ray sources. At faint detection flux thresholds, the resolved
X-ray sources appear brighter and diluted, while the unresolved component of
the XRB appears dimmer and more anisotropic, due to lensing. The diffuse X-ray
intensity in the outer halos of clusters might be lower than the sky-averaged
XRB, after the subtraction of resolved sources. Detection of the lensing signal
with a wide-field X-ray telescope could probe the mass distribution of a
cluster out to its virialization boundary. In particular, we show that the
lensing signature imprinted on the resolved component of the XRB by the cluster
A1689, should be difficult but possible to detect out to 8' at the 2-4 sigma
level, after 10^6 seconds of observation with the forthcoming AXAF satellite.
The lensing signal is fairly insensitive to the lens redshift in the range
0.1<z<0.6. The amplitude of the lensing signal is however sensitive to the
faint end slope of the number-flux relation for unresolved X-ray sources, and
can thus help constrain models of the XRB. A search for X-ray arcs or arclets
could identify the fraction of all faint sources which originate from extended
emission of distant galaxies. The probability for a 3 sigma detection of an
arclet which is stretched by a factor of about 3 after a 10^6 seconds
observation of A1689 with AXAF, is roughly comparable to the fraction of all
background X-ray sources that have an intrinsic size of order 1''.Comment: 41 LaTeX pages, 11 postscript figures, 1 table, in AASTeX v4.0
format. To appear in ApJ, April 1, 1997, Vol. 47
The 2dF QSO Redshift Survey
We present preliminary results from the 2-degree Field (2dF) QSO Redshift
Survey currently under way at the Anglo-Australian Telescope. This survey aims
to determine the redshifts of >25000 QSOs over a redshift range of 0.3<z<3.0
with the primary goal of investigating large-scale structure in the Universe to
high redshift and at very large scales (~1000h-1Mpc).
We describe the photometric procedure used to select QSO candidates for
spectroscopic observation. We then describe results from our first 2dF
observations, which have so far measured the redshifts for over 1000 QSOs. We
already find a significant detection of clustering and have also found one
close pair of QSOs (separation 17'') which are gravitational lens candidates.
To keep up to date with the current progress of the survey see:
http://msowww.anu.edu.au/~rsmith/QSO_Survey/qso_surv.htmlComment: 5 pages Latex including 6 figures, To appear in the proceedings of
"Evolution of Large Scale Structure: From Recombination to Garching", held
August 199
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