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Maarten Schmidt's current interests are centered on the space distribution
and luminosity function of quasars, at radio, optical, and x-rays. He is
engaged in a long-term observational survey program for high-redshift
quasars, aimed in particular to get information about the ``redshift
cutoff''. Such data would provide direct constraints on the epoch of
galaxy and quasar formation. This work involves transit observations (with
the telescope tracking disabled) with CCD arrays, both in direct and
slitless spectroscopic mode. Colors for hundreds of thousands of stars and
galaxies, and very low-dispersion spectra for tens of thousands of objects
are obtained in the course of this program. Besides the search for high
redshift quasars, this material will be of interest for studies of
different types of stars in our Galaxy and of galaxies and clusters of
galaxies. /p
Other active interests of Schmidt include counts of x-ray sources (clusters
of galaxies, Seyfert galaxies, galaxies, BL Lacs and quasars) as well as
the nature of the extragalactic x-ray background, statistics of gamma-ray
bursts, and the luminosity function of stars (both disk and halo) in our
Galaxy. His earlier interests included the statistics and evolution of
radio galaxies, the distribution of mass in our Galaxy, and the chemical
evolution and star formation history of our Galaxy.
Some recent references: Schmidt, M., and Green R., Ap. J., 305, 68, (1986), ``Counts, Evolution, and Background Contribution of X-Ray Quasars and Other Extragalactic X-Ray Sources.'' Schmidt, M., Schneider, D., and Gunn, J., Ap. J. Lett., 316, L1, (1987), ``Nine Optically Selected Quasars With Redshifts Larger Than 3.'' Schmidt, M., Schneider, D., and Gunn, J., Ap. J. Lett., 321, L7, (1987), ``PC 0910+5625: An Optically Selected Quasar With a Redshift of 4.04.''
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