Physics - Astrophysics of Galaxies Physics - Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics Physics - Earth and Planetary Astrophysics Physics - High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena Physics - Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics Physics - Solar and Stellar Astrophysics
Astron.J. 122 (2001) 503-517 We present results on over 100 high-redshift quasars found in the Sloan
Digital Sky Survey (SDSS), using automated selection algorithms applied to SDSS
imaging data and with spectroscopic confirmation obtained during routine
spectroscopic operations of the Sloan 2.5-m telescope. The SDSS spectra cover
the wavelength range 3900--9200 Angstroms at a spectral resolution of 1800, and
have been obtained for 116 quasars with redshifts greater than 3.94; 92 of
these objects were previously uncataloged, significantly increasing the current
tally of published z>4 quasars. The paper also reports observations of five
additional new z>4.6 quasars; all were found from the SDSS imaging survey and
spectroscopically confirmed with data from the Apache Point Observatory's 3.5-m
telescope. The i' magnitudes of the quasars range from 18.03 to 20.56. Of the
97 new objects in this paper, 13 are Broad Absorption Line quasars. Five
quasars, including one object at a redshift of 5.11, have 20 cm peak flux
densities greater than 1 mJy. Two of the quasars, both at z=4.5, have very weak
emission lines; one of these objects is a radio source. Nineteen of the
newly-discovered objects have redshifts above 4.6, and the maximum redshift is
z=5.41; among objects reported to date, the latter is the third highest
redshift AGN, and penultimate in redshift among luminous quasars.