Hostname: page-component-77c89778f8-gvh9x Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-21T00:19:19.141Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

The Quasar Redshift Limit

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 August 2017

Patrick S. Osmer*
Affiliation:
Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory, Casilla 603, La Serena, Chile

Extract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

The concept of a redshift limit for quasars was first mentioned a decade ago by Schmidt (1970, 1972) and Sandage (1972) who independently realized that faint, high redshift quasars were not being found in the numbers expected from the redshift and magnitude distribution of bright quasars. Subsequently the limit moved out in redshift to z ∼ 3.5 from z ∼ 2.5 after the discovery of OQ172 (z = 3.53, Wampler et al. 1973) and numerous other quasars with z > 3. It should be said at the outset that the limit concept is in need of definition. While it would be most interesting if an absolute limit existed, i.e., no quasars beyond a certain redshift, in reality the limit value is more likely to be the redshift at which the quasar space density turns down significantly.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Reidel 1983 

References

Bohuski, T.J., and Weedman, D.W. 1979, Ap. J., 231, 653.Google Scholar
Carswell, R.F., and Smith, M.G. 1978, M.N.R.A.S., 185, 381.Google Scholar
Koo, D.C., and Kron, R.G. 1980, P.A.S.P., 92, 537.Google Scholar
Koo, D.C., and Kron, R.G. 1982, Astron. Astrophys., 105, 107.Google Scholar
Osmer, P.S. 1982, Ap. J., 253, 28.Google Scholar
Peterson, B.A., Savage, A., Jauncey, D.L., and Wright, A.E. 1982, Ap. J. (Letters) in press.Google Scholar
Schmidt, M. 1970, Ap. J., 162, 371.Google Scholar
Schmidt, M. 1972, Ap. J., 176, 273.Google Scholar
Sandage, A. 1972, Ap. J., 178, 25.Google Scholar
Sciama, D.W. 1982, M.N.R.A.S., 198, 25.Google Scholar
Setti, G., and Woltjer, L. 1979, Astron. and Astrophys., 76, L1.Google Scholar
Smith, M.G. 1978, Vistas in Astr., 22, 321.Google Scholar
Wampler, E.J., Baldwin, J.A., Burke, W.L., Robinson, L.B., and Hazard, C. 1973, Nature, 243, 336.Google Scholar