CLUSTERING OF LOW-REDSHIFT (z ⩽ 2.2) QUASARS FROM THE SLOAN DIGITAL SKY SURVEY

By N. Ross, Yue Shen, M. Strauss, D. V. vanden Berk, Andrew J. Connolly, Gordon Richards, D. Schneider, D. Weinberg, P. Hall, N. Bahcall and 1 more. 2008

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We present measurements of the quasar two-point correlation function, ξQ, over the redshift range 0.3 ⩽ z ⩽ 2.2 based upon data from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS). Using a homogeneous sample of 30,239 quasars with spectroscopic redshifts from the Data Release 5 Quasar Catalog, our study represents the largest sample used for this type of investigation to date. With this redshift range and an areal coverage of ≈4000 deg2, we sample over 25 h−3 Gpc3 (comoving) of the universe in volume, assuming the current Lambda Cold Dark Matter (ΛCDM) cosmology. Over this redshift range, we find that the redshift-space correlation function, ξ(s), is adequately fit by a single power law, with s0 = 5.95 ± 0.45 h−1 Mpc and γs = 1.16+0.11−0.16 when fit over 1.0 h−1 Mpc ⩽ s ⩽ 25.0 h−1 Mpc. We find no evidence for deviation from ξ(s) = 0 at scales of s>100 h−1 Mpc, but do observe redshift-space distortions in the two-dimensional ξ(rp, π) measurement. Using the projected correlation function, wp(rp), we calculate the real-space correlation length, r0 = 5.45+0.35−0.45 h−1 Mpc and γ = 1.90+0.04−0.03, over scales of 1.0 h−1 Mpc ⩽ rp ⩽ 130.0 h−1 Mpc. Dividing the sample into redshift slices, we find very little, if any, evidence for the evolution of quasar clustering, with the redshift-space correlation length staying roughly constant at s0 ∼ 6–7 h−1 Mpc at z ≲ 2.2 (and only increasing at redshifts greater than this). We do, however, see tentative evidence for evolution in the real-space correlation length, r0, at z>1.7. Our results are consistent with those from the 2dF QSO Redshift Survey and previous SDSS quasar measurements using photometric redshifts. Comparing our clustering measurements to those reported for X-ray selected active galactic nucleus at z ∼ 0.5–1, we find reasonable agreement in some cases but significantly lower correlation lengths in others. Assuming a standard ΛCDM cosmology, we find that the linear bias evolves from b ∼ 1.4 at z = 0.5 to b ∼ 3 at z = 2.2, with b(z = 1.27) = 2.06 ± 0.03 for the full sample. We compare our data to analytical models and infer that quasars inhabit dark matter halos of constant mass Mhalo ∼ 2 × 1012 h−1 M☉ from redshifts z ∼ 2.5 (the peak of quasar activity) to z ∼ 0; therefore, the ratio of the halo mass for a typical quasar to the mean halo mass at the same epoch drops with decreasing redshift. The measured evolution of the clustering amplitude is in reasonable agreement with recent theoretical models, although measurements to fainter limits will be needed to distinguish different scenarios for quasar feeding and black hole growth.

Subfields: Astronomy and Astrophysics, Instrumentation, Statistical and Nonlinear Physics

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/04153ded45dda2110cf29e8e5889cc676ef4dfd3

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Citations in the corpus

The Coevolution of Galaxies and Supermassive Black Holes: Insights from Surveys of the Contemporary Universe (2014, methodology): “The 2dF and SDSS QSO redshift surveys have been used to study the dark matter haloes of powerful AGN to even higher redshifts (Porciani et al. 2004, Croom et al. 2005, Ross et al. 2009).”
The clustering of the SDSS-IV extended Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey DR14 quasar sample: measurement of the growth rate of structure from the anisotropic correlation function between redshift 0.8 and 2.2 (2018, methodology): “Moreover, previous programs such as the 2dF QSO Redshift Survey (2QZ, Croom et al. 2009), SDSS-I/II (Myers et al. 2007; Ross et al. 2009; Shen et al. 2009), SDSS-III/BOSS (White et al. 2012; Eftekharzadeh et al. 2015; Laurent et al. 2016), and a combination of quasar samples from the 2QZ and the…”
An ALMA survey of the SCUBA-2 CLS UDS field: physical properties of 707 sub-millimetre galaxies (2019, result): “This halo mass is also similar to that estimated from clustering studies for L∗ QSOs at z ∼ 1–2 (Ross et al. 2009), supporting the evolutionary association between SMG and QSOs suggested by Hickox et al. (2012) and others.”
The completed SDSS-IV extended Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey: BAO and RSD measurements from the anisotropic power spectrum of the quasar sample between redshift 0.8 and 2.2 (2020, background): “Due to their high intrinsic luminosity, quasars can be used as tracers of the large scale structure at high redshifts (Croom et al. 2009; Myers et al. 2007; Ross et al. 2009; Shen et al. 2009; White et al. 2012; Karagiannis et al. 2014; Eftekharzadeh et al. 2015; Laurent et al. 2016).”
The clustering of the SDSS-IV extended Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey DR14 quasar sample: a tomographic measurement of cosmic structure growth and expansion rate based on optimal redshift weights (2018, methodology): “12, we overplot our measurement with published results using clustering quasars including Ross et al. (2009) and Laurent et al. (2017, 2016), as well as with the fitting formula developed in Croom et al. (2005).”
The clustering of the SDSS-IV extended Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey DR14 quasar sample: First measurement of baryon acoustic oscillations between redshift 0.8 and 2.2 (2017, methodology): “The smaller number density in the Ross et al. (2009) and Kayo & Oguri (2012) samples would be reflected in a lower duty cycle, with limited impact on the amplitude and shape of clustering.”
The clustering of intermediate-redshift quasars as measured by the Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (2012, background): “In addition to our estimates ofr0 and s0 we also provide another summary statistic (motivated by Croom et al. 2005; da Angela et al. 2008; Ross et al. 2009), ξ̄ ≡ 3 s3max − s3min ∫ smax smin s2ds ξ(s) (9) 3 Assuming thatZmax is large enough that fingers-of-god are correctly included andb ≫ 1 so…”
What drives the growth of black holes (2011, methodology): “Spatial clustering and environment measurements of quasars (e.g., Ross et al., 2009; Lietzen et al., 2009; Hickox et al., 2011; Carrera et al., 2011) suggest that quasars do indeed reside in halos of these masses at every redshift (as discussed in §3.4 and shown in Fig.”
The DESI Experiment Part I: Science,Targeting, and Survey Design (2016, result): “4 [233], in agreement with previous measurements [234, 235].”
THINK OUTSIDE THE COLOR BOX: PROBABILISTIC TARGET SELECTION AND THE SDSS-XDQSO QUASAR TARGETING CATALOG (2010, background): “…and their co-evolution with galaxies, e.g., through measurements of quasar clustering (e.g., Arp 1970; Hawkins & Reddish 1975; Osmer 1981; Shen et al. 2007; Ross et al. 2009), or they can be used to study the intervening intergalactic medium (e.g., Chelouche et al. 2007; Ménard et al. 2010).”
Clustering of intermediate redshift quasars using the final SDSS III-BOSS sample (2015, background): “…length and quasar bias from previous works (Porciani, Magliocchetti & Norberg 2004; Croom et al. 2005; dâAngela et al. 2005; Myers et al. 2006; Porciani & Norberg 2006; Myers et al. 2007a; Shen et al. 2007; daÂngela et al. 2008; Ross et al. 2009; White et al. 2012; Font-Ribera et al. 2013).”
The LABOCA survey of the Extended Chandra Deep Field-South: clustering of submillimetre galaxies (2011, methodology): “…real-space projected crosscorrelation is well detected on all scales from 0.1–15 h−1 Mpc, and the power-law fits return γ ∼ 1.8, similar to many previous correlation function measurements for galaxies (e.g. Zehavi et al. 2005; Coil et al. 2008) and QSOs (e.g. Coil et al. 2007; Ross et al. 2009).”
THE SDSS-III BARYON OSCILLATION SPECTROSCOPIC SURVEY: THE QUASAR LUMINOSITY FUNCTION FROM DATA RELEASE NINE (2012, background): “…both the QLF and XLF lends weight to the theory that the X-ray selected AGN population at z ∼ 1 is a direct descendent of the optical quasar population at z ∼ 2; a scenario also suggested by quasar and X-ray AGN clustering results (Hickox et al. 2009; Ross et al. 2009; Koutoulidis et al. 2012).”