We investigate the high-redshift quasar luminosity function (QLF) down to an apparent magnitude of I_AB_=25 in the Cosmic Evolution Survey (COSMOS). Careful analysis of the extensive COSMOS photometry and imaging data allows us to identify and remove stellar and low-redshift contaminants, enabling a selection that is nearly complete for type-1 quasars at the redshifts of interest. We find 155 likely quasars at z>3.1, 39 of which have prior spectroscopic confirmation. We present our sample in detail and use these confirmed and likely quasars to compute the rest-frame UV QLF in the redshift bins 3.1<z<3.5 and 3.5<z<5. The space density of faint quasars decreases by roughly a factor of four from z~3.2 to z~4, with faint-end slopes of {beta}~-1.7 at both redshifts. The decline in space density of faint optical quasars at z>3 is similar to what has been found for more luminous optical and X-ray quasars. We compare the rest-frame UV luminosity functions found here with the X-ray luminosity function at z>3, and find that they evolve similarly between z~3.2 and z~4; however, the different normalizations imply that roughly 75% of X-ray bright active galactic nuclei (AGNs) at z~3-4 are optically obscured. This fraction is higher than found at lower redshift and may imply that the obscured, type-2 fraction continues to increase with redshift at least to z~4. Finally, the implications of the results derived here for the contribution of quasars to cosmic reionization are discussed.
Striking similarities have been seen between accretion signatures of Galactic X-ray binary (XRB) systems and active galactic nuclei (AGNs). XRB spectral states show a V-shaped correlation between X-ray spectral hardness and Eddington ratio as they vary, and some AGN samples reveal a similar trend, implying analogous processes at vastly larger masses and timescales. To further investigate the analogies, we have matched 617 sources from the Chandra Source Catalog (CSC) to Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) spectroscopy, and uniformly measured both X-ray and optical spectral characteristics across a broad range of AGN and galaxy types. We provide useful tabulations of X-ray spectral slope for broad- and narrow-line AGNs, star-forming and passive galaxies, and composite systems, also updating relationships between optical (H{alpha} and [OIII]) line emission and X-ray luminosity. We further fit broadband spectral energy distributions with a variety of templates to estimate bolometric luminosity. Our results confirm a significant trend in AGNs between X-ray spectral hardness and Eddington ratio expressed in X-ray luminosity, albeit with significant dispersion. The trend is not significant when expressed in the full bolometric or template-estimated AGN luminosity. We also confirm a relationship between the X-ray/optical spectral slope {alpha}_ox_ and Eddington ratio, but it may not follow the trend predicted by analogy with XRB accretion states.
