The Canada-France High-z Quasar Survey: nine new quasars and the luminosity function at redshift 6

Understand

We present discovery imaging and spectroscopy for nine new z ~ 6 quasars found in the Canada-France High-z Quasar Survey (CFHQS) bringing the total number of CFHQS quasars to 19.

• By combining the CFHQS with the more luminous SDSS sample we are able to derive the quasar luminosity function from a sample of 40 quasars at redshifts 5.74 < z < 6.42.
• Our binned luminosity function shows a slightly lower normalisation and flatter slope than found in previous work.
• The binned data also suggest a break in the luminosity function at M_1450 approx -25.