We present cosmological parameter constraints from a tomographic weak gravitational lensing analysis of ∼450 deg 2 of imaging data from the Kilo Degree Survey (KiDS). For a flat ΛCDM cosmology with a prior on H 0 that encompasses the most recent direct measurements, we find S 8 ≡ σ 8 Ω m /0.3 = 0.745 ± 0.039. This result is in good agreement with other low redshift probes of large scale structure, including recent cosmic shear results, along with pre-Planck cosmic microwave background constraints. A 2.3σ tension in S 8 and 'substantial discordance' in the full parameter space is found with respect to the Planck 2015 results. We use shear measurements for nearly 15 million galaxies, determined with a new improved 'self-calibrating' version of lensfit validated using an extensive suite of image simulations. Four-band ugri photometric redshifts are calibrated directly with deep spectroscopic surveys. The redshift calibration is confirmed using two independent techniques based on angular cross-correlations and the properties of the photometric redshift probability distributions. Our covariance matrix is determined using an analytical approach, verified numerically with large mock galaxy catalogues. We account for uncertainties in the modelling of intrinsic galaxy alignments and the impact of baryon feedback on the shape of the non-linear matter power spectrum, in addition to the small residual uncertainties in the shear and redshift calibration. The cosmology analysis was performed blind. Our high-level data products, including shear correlation functions, covariance matrices, redshift distributions, and Monte Carlo Markov Chains are available at http://kids.strw.leidenuniv.nl.

We present the final catalogue of the 2dF QSO Redshift Survey (2QZ), based on Anglo‐Australian Telescope 2dF spectroscopic observations of 44 576 colour‐selected (ubJr) objects with 18.25 < bJ < 20.85 selected from automated plate measurement scans of UK Schmidt Telescope (UKST) photographic plates. The 2QZ comprises 23 338 quasi‐stellar objects (QSOs), 12 292 galactic stars (including 2071 white dwarfs) and 4558 compact narrow emission‐line galaxies. We obtained a reliable spectroscopic identification for 86 per cent of objects observed with 2dF. We also report on the 6dF QSO Redshift Survey (6QZ), based on UKST 6dF observations of 1564 brighter(16 < bJ < 18.25) sources selected from the same photographic input catalogue. In total, we identified 322 QSOs spectroscopically in the 6QZ. The completed 2QZ is, by more than a factor of 50, the largest homogeneous QSO catalogue ever constructed at these faint limits (bJ < 20.85) and high QSO surface densities (35 QSOs deg−2). As such, it represents an important resource in the study of the Universe at moderate‐to‐high redshifts. As an example of the results possible with the 2QZ, we also present our most recent analysis of the optical QSO luminosity function and its cosmological evolution with redshift. For a flat, Ωm= 0.3 and ΩΛ= 0.7, universe, we find that a double power law with luminosity evolution that is exponential in look‐back time, τ, of the form L b J*(z)∝ e6.15τ, equivalent to an e‐folding time of 2 Gyr, provides an acceptable fit to the redshift dependence of the QSO LF over the range 0.4 < z < 2.1 and M b J < −22.5. Evolution described by a quadratic in redshift is also an acceptable fit, with L b J*(z)∝ 10 1.39italicz−0.29italicz 2.

We present a finely-binned tomographic weak lensing analysis of the Canada-FranceHawaii Telescope Lensing Survey, CFHTLenS, mitigating contamination to the signal from the presence of intrinsic galaxy alignments via the simultaneous fit of a cosmological model and an intrinsic alignment model. CFHTLenS spans 154 square degrees in five optical bands, with accurate shear and photometric redshifts for a galaxy sample with a median redshift of z m = 0.70. We estimate the 21 sets of cosmic shear correlation functions associated with six redshift bins, each spanning the angular range of 1.5 < θ < 35 arcmin. We combine this CFHTLenS data with auxiliary cosmological probes: the cosmic microwave background with data from WMAP7, baryon acoustic oscillations with data from BOSS, and a prior on the Hubble constant from the HST distance ladder. This leads to constraints on the normalisation of the matter power spectrum σ 8 = 0.799 ± 0.015 and the matter density parameter Ω m = 0.271 ± 0.010 for a flat ΛCDM cosmology. For a flat wCDM cosmology we constrain the dark energy equation of state parameter w = −1.02 ± 0.09. We also provide constraints for curved ΛCDM and wCDM cosmologies. We find the intrinsic alignment contamination to be galaxy-type dependent with a significant intrinsic alignment signal found for early-type galaxies, in contrast to the late-type galaxy sample for which the intrinsic alignment signal is found to be consistent with zero.

A B S T R A C TWe present a determination of the optical luminosity function of quasi-stellar objects (QSOs) and its cosmological evolution with redshift for a sample of over 6000 QSOs identified primarily from the first observations of the 2dF QSO Redshift Survey (2QZ). For QSOs with 226 , M B , 223 and 0X35 , z , 2X3Y we find that pure luminosity evolution (PLE) models provide an acceptable fit to the observed redshift dependence of the luminosity function (LF). The LF is best fitted by a two-power-law function of the form FL B G L B aL * B a L B aL * B b 21 X Exponential luminosity evolution models, both as a function of look-back time, L * B z L * B 0 e k 1 t Y and as a general second-order polynomial, L * B z G 10 k 1 zk 2 z 2 Y were found to provide acceptable fits to the data set comprising the 2QZ and the Large Bright Quasar Survey. Exponential evolution with look-back time is preferred for q 0 0X05Y while the polynomial evolution model is preferred for q 0 0X5X The shape and evolution of the LF at low redshifts z , 0X5 and/or high luminosities, not currently well sampled by the 2QZ survey, may show departures from pure luminosity evolution, but the results presented here show that, over a significant range of redshift, PLE is a good description of QSO evolution.

A likelihood-based method for measuring weak gravitational lensing shear in deep galaxy surveys is described and applied to the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope (CFHT) Lensing Survey (CFHTLenS). CFHTLenS comprises 154 deg 2 of multicolour optical data from the CFHT Legacy Survey, with lensing measurements being made in the i ′ band to a depth i ′ AB < 24.7, for galaxies with signal-to-noise ratio ν SN 10. The method is based on the lensfit algorithm described in earlier papers, but here we describe a full analysis pipeline that takes into account the properties of real surveys. The method creates pixel-based models of the varying point spread function (PSF) in individual image exposures. It fits PSF-convolved twocomponent (disk plus bulge) models, to measure the ellipticity of each galaxy, with bayesian marginalisation over model nuisance parameters of galaxy position, size, brightness and bulge fraction. The method allows optimal joint measurement of multiple, dithered image exposures, taking into account imaging distortion and the alignment of the multiple measurements. We discuss the effects of noise bias on the likelihood distribution of galaxy ellipticity. Two sets of image simulations that mirror the observed properties of CFHTLenS have been created, to establish the method's accuracy and to derive an empirical correction for the effects of noise bias.