The research supported under this grant is the continuation of a very successful joint project of C. B. Foltz, C. Impey, and F. Chaffee of the University of Arizona, and R. Weymann and S. Morris of the Carnegie Institution of Washington. These investigators, widely considered to be world leaders in their field, will complete an optical survey of over 1000 bright quasars using broadly based and quantifiable selection criteria. This new observational material will be used to make a number of studies not previously possible. Among these will be a probe of a very large supercluster of absorbers lying in front of several quasars, studies of the relationship between radio and optical power in quasars, and investigations of possible links between nonthermal optical properties of quasars and their VLBI radio emission.
