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Quasar Evolution and Luminosity Function: An X-Ray Perspective

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Part of the book series: Astrophysics and Space Science Library ((ASSL,volume 121))

Abstract

X-ray properties of optically-selected QSOs are reviewed, and their implications for the QSO evolution and luminosity function are summarized. Analyses of the explicit dependence of αo,x, the x-ray to optical luminosity ratio parameter, on redshift z and optical luminosity Lo, are described. In particular, results from a recent analysis of complete, magnitude-limited samples of optically-selected QSOs are presented. Previous results obtained from the study of heterogeneous samples are confirmed. It is shown that the large majority, probably all, of optically-selected QSOs are x-ray loud: no more than a few precent can be x-ray quiet. Thus, x-ray emission seems to be a universal property of QSOs. It is found that comparisons of the optical evolution and luminosity function, combined with the αo,x(z,Lo) dependence, with x-ray-selected samples, are numerically sensitive to the details of the input ingredients. There is a residual discrepancy of about a factor of two between the QSO x-ray number counts calculated from available simple pure luminosity evolution models for the optical evolution and luminosity function combined with the best estimate αo,x(z,Lo) dependence, and observed counts from x-ray selected samples. Directions for further research, which will contribute to our understanding of the full bivariate optical-x-ray evolution and luminosity function, are discussed.

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© 1986 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht

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Avni, Y. (1986). Quasar Evolution and Luminosity Function: An X-Ray Perspective. In: Giuricin, G., Mardirossian, F., Mezzetti, M., Ramella, M. (eds) Structure and Evolution of Active Galactic Nuclei. Astrophysics and Space Science Library, vol 121. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-4562-3_23

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-4562-3_23

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht

  • Print ISBN: 978-94-010-8528-1

  • Online ISBN: 978-94-009-4562-3

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

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