The Sloan Digital Sky Survey Quasar Catalog. V. Seventh Data Release

Abstract

We present the fifth edition of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) Quasar Catalog, which is based upon the SDSS Seventh Data Release. The catalog, which contains 105,783 spectroscopically confirmed quasars, represents the conclusion of the SDSS-I and SDSS-II quasar survey. The catalog consists of the SDSS objects that have luminosities larger than M i = −22.0 (in a cosmology with H 0 = 70 km s −1 Mpc −1 , Ω M = 0.3, and Ω Λ = 0.7), have at least one emission line with FWHM larger than 1000 km s −1 or have interesting/complex absorption features, are fainter than i ≈ 15.0, and have highly reliable redshifts. The catalog covers an area of ≈ 9380 deg 2 . The quasar redshifts range from 0.065 to 5.46, with a median value of 1.49; the catalog includes 1248 quasars at redshifts greater than four, of which 56 are at redshifts greater than five. The catalog contains 9210 quasars with i < 18; slightly over half of the entries have i < 19. For each object the catalog presents positions accurate to better than 0.1 ′′ rms per coordinate, five-band (ugriz) CCD-based photometry with typical accuracy of 0.03 mag, and information on the morphology and selection method. The catalog also contains radio, near-infrared, and X-ray emission properties of the quasars, when available, from other large-area surveys. The calibrated digital spectra cover the wavelength region 3800-9200Å at a spectral resolution of ≃ 2000; the spectra can be retrieved from the SDSS public database using the information provided in the catalog. Over 96% of the objects in the catalog were discovered by the SDSS. We also include a supplemental list of an additional 207 quasars with SDSS spectra whose archive photometric information is incomplete.

Reaching the peak of the quasar spectral energy distribution – I. Observations and models

“…We started by searching the Schneider et al (2010) SDSS DR7 quasar catalogue for all AGN meeting the following criteria:…”

Post-starburst quasars: bridging the gap between post-starburst galaxies and quasars

“…This sample consists of 21 broad-lined objects from the SDSS Data Release 7 (DR7) with r model magnitudes 19 and z ∼ 0.36 that all appear in the DR7 Quasar Catalog (Schneider et al 2010). Morphologies for the host galaxies of these quasars are available via HST ACS imaging (Treu et al 2007, hereafter T07).…”

Chemical Evolution of the Universe at 0.7 < z < 1.6 Derived from Abundance Diagnostics of Quasars

“…Our sample is selected from the quasar catalog of the SDSS Data Release 7 (DR7), in which 105,783 spectroscopically confirmed quasars are included [11]. The following two criteria are adopted for our sample selection: (i) a rest frame wavelength range of 2200-3500 Å is available for measuring both Fe II and Mg II emission lines, (ii) the median value of the signal-to-noise ratios of all the pixels is larger than 10 pix −1 .…”