Constraining the QSO luminosity function using gravitational lensing statistics

In this thesis we use gravitational lensing statistics to constrain the QSO luminosity function at a variety of redshifts. We present a theoretical discussion of gravitational lensing statistics and illustrate how high resolution QSO imagery can be used to constrain the QSO luminosity function. We then discuss the selection and observation of the 1073 QSO exposures in our sample. The sample covers a redshift range of 0.7<z<5.5 and may include up to 10 multiply imaged QSOs. We discuss the QSO analysis pipeline developed to compute the gravitational lensing probabilities of each QSO and then present the constraints on the QSO luminosity function and compare them to results in the literature. Our results confirm the suspected fall off in the high-end QSO luminosity function slope at high redshift and agree with modern literature results. We conclude with a brief discussion of improvements that can be made to our analysis process.

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Physics.

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2004

Author dc:creator

• Fakhouri, Onsi Joe, 1983-

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Scott Burles.

• Physics.
• Mathematics.

Statement dc:rights

• M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/32733

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/32733