Constraining the Lifetime of Quasars from Their Spatial Clustering

By Zoltán Haiman, L. Hui. 2000

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The lifetime of the luminous phase of quasars is constrained by current observations to be 106 ≲ tQ ≲ 108 yr but is otherwise unknown. We model the quasar luminosity function in detail in the optical and X-ray bands using the Press-Schechter formalism and show that the expected clustering of quasars depends strongly on their assumed lifetime tQ. We quantify this dependence and find that existing measurements of the correlation length of quasars are consistent with the range 106 ≲ tQ ≲ 108 yr. We then show that future measurements of the power spectrum of quasars out to z ~ 3, from the Anglo-Australian Telescope Two-Degree Field or Sloan Digital Sky Survey, can significantly improve this constraint and in principle allow a precise determination of tQ. We estimate the systematic errors introduced by uncertainties in the modeling of the quasar-halo relationship, as well as by the possible existence of obscured quasars.

Subfields: Astronomy and Astrophysics

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/9168794d9cdc2a3aeea153b99d9555ba73290b46

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Citations in the corpus

Clustering of intermediate redshift quasars using the final SDSS III-BOSS sample (2015, methodology): “Following the approach proposed in a range of previous works(e.g. Haiman & Hui 2001; Martini & Weinberg 2001; Wyithe & Loeb 2005), we now use our clustering measurements to constrain the host halo masses of BOSS quasars and the duty cycles of quasar activity in these halos.”
SELF-CONSISTENT MODELS OF THE AGN AND BLACK HOLE POPULATIONS: DUTY CYCLES, ACCRETION RATES, AND THE MEAN RADIATIVE EFFICIENCY (2007, background): “As emphasized by Haiman & Hui (2001) and Martini & Weinberg (2001), the clustering of AGN can be a powerful diagnostic for the duty cycle of black hole activity: a high duty cycle implies that halos of AGN are rare, hence high mass, hence strongly clustered.”
QUASAR CLUSTERING FROM SDSS DR5: DEPENDENCES ON PHYSICAL PROPERTIES (2008, background): “By comparing the relative abundance of quasars and host halos, one can infer the average duty cycles of quasar activity10 (e.g., Cole & Kaiser 1989; Martini & Weinberg 2001; Haiman & Hui 2001).”
First Results from the X-Ray and Optical Survey of the Chandra Deep Field South (2000, background): “Detailed analyses of the correlation function in Chandra deep pointings will provide important complementary information on the nature of the discrete X-ray sources (e.g., Haiman & Hui 2001, and references therein).”
The 2dF QSO Redshift Survey - XIV. Structure and evolution from the two-point correlation function (2004, background): “A number of authors (e.g. Martini & Weinberg 2001; Haiman & Hui 2001; Kauffmann & Haehnelt 2002) have constructed models for QSO evolution including clustering, and these need to be tested against accurate measurements.”
The 2dF-SDSS LRG and QSO survey: QSO clustering and the L-z degeneracy (2006, background): “…which have been the basis of interpretations of QSO luminosity functions (Hopkins et al. 2005b) can also be inferred from clustering measurements (Haiman & Hui 2001; Martini & Weinberg 2001; Croom et al. 2005), and hence permit discrimination between QSO evolutionary models, such as a…”
Clustering Analyses of 300,000 Photometrically Classified Quasars. I. Luminosity and Redshift Evolution in Quasar Bias (2006, background): “…gas physics to quasar evolution means that measurements of the luminosity function of quasars (see Richards et al. 2006 for a review) have also proved key in constraining baryonic elements of quasar evolution, e.g., quasar lifetimes via the “duty cycle” (Haiman & Hui 2001; Martini & Weinberg 2001).”
Accretion-driven evolution of black holes: Eddington ratios, duty cycles and active galaxy fractions (2011, background): “The clustering of quasars is a diagnostic for the space density of the underlying black hole population, as more numerous black holes must reside in lower mass halos that are less strongly clustered (Haiman & Hui 2001; Martini & Weinberg 2001).”
Self-regulated Growth of Supermassive Black Holes in Galaxies as the Origin of the Optical and X-Ray Luminosity Functions of Quasars (2003, background): “This result naturally explains observational estimates of quasar lifetimes (e.g Steidel et al. 2002; Yu & Tremaine 2002; Haiman & Hui 2001; Martini & Weinberg 2001).”
The Environment of Active Galactic Nuclei in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (2003, background): “However, it is more consistent with the estimates on the lifetime of quasars from quasar clustering measurements (see Haiman & Hui 2001).”
Clustering of High-Redshift (z ≥ 2.9) Quasars from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (2007, methodology): “Quasar Lifetime, Halo Mass, and Bias The clustering of quasars and their space density can be used to constrain the average quasar lifetimetQ17 and the bias of the dark matter halos in which they sit (Martini & Weinberg 2001; Haiman & Hui 2001).”
Binary Quasars in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey: Evidence for Excess Clustering on Small Scales (2005, methodology): “Furthermore, a comparison of quasar clustering with the quasar luminosity function can be used to constrain the mean quasar lifetime (Haiman & Hui 2001; Martini &Weinberg 2001), as well as the relationship between the masses of central black holes and the circular velocities of their host dark…”
Cosmic evolution of quasar clustering: implications for the host haloes (2004, background): “The number of optically bright quasars per halo can be used to estimate the duty cycle of quasar activity and, thus, the quasar lifetime (Haiman & Hui 2001; Martini & Weinberg 2001).”
Observational constraints on growth of massive black holes (2002, result): “The lifetimes of QSOs derived here are also consistent with some theoretical models for the luminosity function of QSOs (e.g. Haehnelt, Natarajan & Rees 1998; Haiman & Loeb 1998) and with the spatial clustering of QSOs (e.g. Haiman & Hui 2001; Martini & Weinberg 2001).”
The clustering of intermediate-redshift quasars as measured by the Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (2012, background): “Comparison of the abundance of such halos to that of quasars can provide constraints on the duty cycle and degree of scatter in the observable halo-mass relation (Cole & Kaiser 1989; Martini & Weinberg 2001; Haiman & Hui 2001; White, Martini & Cohn 2008; Shankar, Weinberg & Shen 2010).”
CLUSTERING OF LOW-REDSHIFT (z ⩽ 2.2) QUASARS FROM THE SLOAN DIGITAL SKY SURVEY (2008, background): “With certain reasonable assumptions, the measurement and interpretation of the bias can lead to determination of the dark matter halo properties of quasars and to quasar lifetimes (tq, Martini & Weinberg 2001; Haiman & Hui 2001).”