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D.P. Schneider (The Pennsylvania State University), SDSS Collaboration
One of the primary goals of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) is to create a sample of approximately 100,000 quasars from 10,000 sq deg in the Northern Galactic sky. Quasar candidates are identified using color and morphological information contained in the multicolor (ugriz) image data taken with the SDSS CCD camera. Spectra of the candidates are obtained using the fiber-fed SDSS double spectrographs. The survey is designed to identify quasars brighter than i'=19.2; for quasars with z>3, this limit is i'=20.5. The SDSS should be able to detect quasars out to redshifts slightly larger than six. As of March 2001 the SDSS has obtained spectra of over 9,000 quasars (the vast majority were previously unknown) in an area of approximately 900 sq degrees.
This talk describes the quasar selection technique and its performance during the commissioning/early operations period. The expected properties of the SDSS Quasar Survey are presented, and the scientific programs to be addressed by the data are discussed.