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Description
We present the results of the spectroscopic follow-up of the QUasars as BRIght beacons for Cosmology in the Southern Hemisphere (QUBRICS; Calderone+ 2019, J/ApJ/887/268) survey. The selection method is based on a machine-learning approach applied to photometric catalogs, covering an area of ~12400deg^2^ in the Southern Hemisphere. The spectroscopic observations started in 2018 and identified 55 new, high-redshift (z>=2.5), bright (i<=18) quasi-stellar objects (QSOs), with the catalog published in late 2019. Here we report the current status of the survey, bringing the total number of bright QSOs at z>=2.5 identified by QUBRICS to 224. The success rate of the QUBRICS selection method, in its most recent training, is estimated to be 68%. The predominant contaminant turns out to be lower-z QSOs at z<2.5. This survey provides a unique sample of bright QSOs at high z available for a number of cosmological investigations. In particular, carrying out the redshift drift measurements (Sandage Test) in the Southern Hemisphere, using the High Resolution Spectrograph at the 39m Extremely Large Telescope appears to be possible with less than 2500hr of observations spread over 30 targets in 25yr.
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