The Sloan Digital Sky Survey View of the Palomar-Green Bright Quasar Survey

By S. Jester, D. Schneider, Gordon Richards, R. Green, M. Schmidt, P. Hall, M. Strauss, D. V. vanden Berk, C. Stoughton, James E. Gunn and 14 more. 2005

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We investigate the extent to which the Palomar-Green (PG) Bright Quasar Survey (BQS) is complete and representative of the general quasar population by comparing it with imaging and spectroscopy from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS). A comparison of SDSS and PG photometry of both stars and quasars reveals the need to apply a color and magnitude recalibration to the PG data. Using the SDSS photometric catalog, we define the PG's parent sample of objects that are not main-sequence stars and simulate the selection of objects from this parent sample using the PG photometric criteria and errors. This simulation shows that the effective U - B cut in the PG survey is U - B < -0.71, implying a color-related incompleteness. As the color distribution of bright quasars peaks near U - B = -0.7 and the 2 σ error in U - B is comparable to the full width of the color distribution of quasars, the color incompleteness of the BQS is approximately 50% and essentially random with respect to U - B color for z < 0.5. There is, however, a bias against bright quasars at 0.5 < z < 1, which is induced by the color-redshift relation of quasars (although quasars at z > 0.5 are inherently rare in bright surveys in any case). We find no evidence for any other systematic incompleteness when comparing the distributions in color, redshift, and FIRST radio properties of the BQS and a BQS-like subsample of the SDSS quasar sample. However, the application of a bright magnitude limit biases the BQS toward the inclusion of objects that are blue in g - i, in particular compared to the full range of g - i colors found among the i-band limited SDSS quasars, and even at i-band magnitudes comparable to those of the BQS objects.

Subfields: Astronomy and Astrophysics, Instrumentation

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Citations in the corpus

The SAGA Survey. I. Satellite Galaxy Populations around Eight Milky Way Analogs (2017, methodology): “For the Magellanic Clouds, we assume sizes, colors and surface brightness from Bothun & Thompson (1988) using the photometric transformation of Jester et al. (2005).”
Soft X-Ray and Ultraviolet Emission Relations in Optically Selected AGN Samples (2005, background): “…(B < 16:16) and blue U B cut (U B < 0:44) of the BQS sample bias the sample toward z < 0:5 and the bluest luminous AGNs, systematically excluding redder objects while including some AGNs fainter than the quoted magnitude limit (e.g., Wampler & Ponz 1985; Wisotzki et al. 2000; Jester et al. 2005).”
The Sloan Digital Sky Survey Quasar Survey: Quasar Luminosity Function from Data Release 3 (2006, background): “%) z > 0.3 PG (Schmidt & Green 1983) quasars in the DR3 sample footprint are free of cosmetic defects in the SDSS imaging (see the discussion in Jester et al. 2005).”
On the origin of radio emission in radio-quiet quasars (2008, background): “The completeness of the sample has been debated, and the recent thorough study of Jester et al. (2005) finds a somewhat different effective cut (U − B < −0.7), but with no systematic incompleteness (at z < 0.5).”
The Stellar Populations of Praesepe and Coma Berenices (2007, methodology): “Luminosities and optical colors for our high-mass and intermediate-mass stellar models (spectral types B8YK7) were based on the absoluteUBVmagnitudes of Schmidt-Kaler (1982), which we converted to SDSS absolute magnitudes using the color transformations of Jester et al. (2005).”
Now You See It, Now You Don't: The Disappearing Central Engine of the Quasar J1011+5442 (2015, methodology): “From the ugriz colors and the transformations of Jester et al. (2005) appropriate for quasars of z < 2.1, we obtain V = 18.01 ± 0.01 and R = 17.64 ± 0.01.”
SDSS unveils a population of intrinsically faint cataclysmic variables at the minimum orbital period (2009, methodology): “Using the colour transformations of Jester et al. (2005), the HQS has a limiting magnitude of g 17.4 for blue objects.”
Mass-metallicity relation explored with CALIFA I. Is there a dependence on the star-formation rate? (2013, methodology): “The B andV-band magnitudes were derived using the Petrosian magnitudes provided the SDSS photometric catalog3, and trans- formed using the equations by Jester et al. (2005).”
Rapid optical and X-ray timing observations of GX 339-4: multi-component optical variability in the low/hard state (2010, methodology): “We note that the optical spec- c© 2010 RAS, MNRAS000, 1–27 tral fluxes are close to those obtained by conversion of the mean count rates in ULTRACAM monitoring toBV filter fluxes, assuming standard zero-points and filter transformations applicab e for the ULTRACAM Sloan filters (Jester et al. 2005).”
GRB 080503: IMPLICATIONS OF A NAKED SHORT GAMMA-RAY BURST DOMINATED BY EXTENDED EMISSION (2008, methodology): “The standard star field SA 110 was observed on the nights of May 3, May 4, May 5, and May 8; catalog magnitudes (Landolt 1992) were converted to griz using the equations from Jester et al. (2005) and used to calibrate 23 stars close to the GRB position (Table 3).”
A Comprehensive Maximum Likelihood Analysis of the Structural Properties of Faint Milky Way Satellites (2008, methodology): “The ‘observed magnitude’ of each realization is then determined from the luminosity of all stars above a limiting magnitude of g = 21.5 (half a magnitude brighter than the approximate 100% completeness limit of the SDSS), transformed to the V -band using color equations from Jester et al. (2005).”
Reverberation Mapping of High-Luminosity Quasars: First Results (2006, background): “Of course, the PG sample itself suffers from some incompleteness; see Jester et al. (2005) and references therein.”
DIRECT OXYGEN ABUNDANCES FOR LOW-LUMINOSITY LVL GALAXIES (2012, methodology): “The SDSS values are then used to estimate the B − V color following Jester et al. (2005): B − V = (g − r) + 0.22 1.02 .”
THE NEXT GENERATION ATLAS OF QUASAR SPECTRAL ENERGY DISTRIBUTIONS FROM RADIO TO X-RAYS (2011, background): “Jester et al. (2005) pointed out that BQS quasars are representative of bright blue quasars, but not representative of bright red quasars.”
A LARGE SYSTEMATIC SEARCH FOR CLOSE SUPERMASSIVE BINARY AND RAPIDLY RECOILING BLACK HOLES (2011, unknown): “SDSS Observations and Basic Properties of Sample Objects The apparent V magnitudes of the sample quasars were determined from the SDSS PSF magnitudes in the g and r bands, using the transformation equations of Jester et al. (2005).”
EIGHT NEW MILKY WAY COMPANIONS DISCOVERED IN FIRST-YEAR DARK ENERGY SURVEY DATA (2015, methodology): “(5) DES SDSS SDSS SDSS DES SDSS SDSS SDSS DES DES DES This transform from DES g and r magnitudes to V-band magnitudes was derived using an SDSS stellar calibration sample and the equations from Jester et al. (2005).”
A POPULATION OF MASSIVE, LUMINOUS GALAXIES HOSTING HEAVILY DUST-OBSCURED GAMMA-RAY BURSTS: IMPLICATIONS FOR THE USE OF GRBs AS TRACERS OF COSMIC STAR FORMATION (2013, methodology): “We downloaded the riz GMOS-S images from the Gemini Science archive and performed photometry with a 2.0′′ radius aperture using only objects with stellar PSFs from the Henden catalog, transformed to the SDSS system using the equations of Jester et al. (2005).”
Spitzer Quasar and ULIRG Evolution Study (QUEST). I. The Origin of the Far-Infrared Continuum of QSOs (2006, background): “…( 1011.5Y 1013 L based on the B-band absolute magnitude and the SED of Elvis et al. 1994), radio loudness, and infrared excess [log ( L (60 m)/LBol) 0:02Y0:35] spanned by the local members of the PG QSO sample (see also Jester et al. 2005, for a recent view on selection effects in the PG sample).”
MASS FUNCTIONS OF THE ACTIVE BLACK HOLES IN DISTANT QUASARS FROM THE LARGE BRIGHT QUASAR SURVEY, THE BRIGHT QUASAR SURVEY, AND THE COLOR-SELECTED SAMPLE OF THE SDSS FALL EQUATORIAL STRIPE (2009, background): “Also, the colors of the BQS quasars are not typical of SDSS quasars (Jester et al. 2005) and the BQS thus makes a different contribution to our insight on black hole mass distribution than the SDSS alone can provide.”
A Near-Infrared Spectral Template for Quasars (2005, background): “Furthermore, in a comparison between SDSS and PalomarGreen quasars from the Bright Quasar Survey (BQS; Schmidt & Green 1983), Jester et al. (2005) found that quasar samples with brighter apparent magnitudes (in B, g, and i bands) are biased to the blue compared with a fainter sample (see their x…”