Gemini Near Infrared Spectrograph Distant Quasar Survey: Initial Results

MATTHEWS, BRANDON; SHEMMER, OHAD; BROTHERTON, MICHAEL S; ANDRUCHOW, I.; BOROSON, TODD A.; BRANDT, W. NIEL; CELLONE, S.A.; DIX, C.; FERRERO, GABRIEL; GALLAGHER, SARAH; GREEN, RICHARD F.; HENNAWI, JOSEPH F.; LIRA, PAULINA; MYERS, ADAM D.; PLOTKIN, RICHARD; RICHARDS, GORDON T.; RUNNOE, JESSIE; SCHNEIDER, DONALD P.; SHEN, YUE; STRAUSS, MICHAEL A.; WILLOTT, CHRIS J.; WILLS, BEVERLEY J.

Honolulu, Hawaii

Conferencia; 235th AAS Meeting | American Astronomical Society; 2020

American Astronomical Society

We present the initial results from the GeminiNear Infrared Spectrograph Distant Quasar Survey(GNIRS-DQS). This survey, which began in 2017,continues to obtain high quality near-infrared spectroscopyof hundreds of Sloan Digital Sky Survey(SDSS) quasars between redshifts of 1.5 and 3.5 inthe ∼1.0-2.5 μm band. These GNIRS-DQS and SDSSspectra cover principal quasar diagnostic features,namely C IV, Mg II, Hβ, and [O III] emission lines. Tothis end, we present basic spectral properties of thefirst 125 GNIRS-DQS quasars. In particular, we focuson systemic redshifts determined primarily fromthe rest-frame optical emission lines and the respectivevelocity offsets of prominent rest-frame ultraviolet(UV) emission lines. As has been seen in previousstudies, we observe significant systematic blueshiftingfor UV-based redshift estimates in addition tonotable scatter in the velocity offsets. One of ourprimary goals is to arrive at a prescription to correctthese offsets and minimize the uncertainties onUV-based redshift estimates. This work is supportedby National Science Foundation grants AST-1815281and AST-1815645.