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Register a new userThe 2QDES Pilot : The luminosity and redshift dependence of quasar clustering
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We present a new redshift survey, the 2dF Quasar Dark Energy Survey pilot (2QDESp), which consists of ${approx}10000$ quasars from ${approx}150$ deg$^2$ of the southern sky, based on VST-ATLAS imaging and 2dF/AAOmega spectroscopy. Combining our optical photometry with the WISE (W1,W2) bands we can select essentially contamination free quasar samples with $0.8{<}z{<}2.5$ and $g{<}20.5$. At fainter magnitudes, optical UVX selection is still required to reach our $g{approx}22.5$ limit. Using both these techniques we observed quasar redshifts at sky densities up to $90$ deg$^{-2}$. By comparing 2QDESp with other surveys (SDSS, 2QZ and 2SLAQ) we find that quasar clustering is approximately luminosity independent, with results for all four surveys consistent with a correlation scale of $r_{0}{=}6.1{pm}0.1 : h^{-1}$Mpc, despite their decade range in luminosity. We find a significant redshift dependence of clustering, particularly when BOSS data with $r_{0}{=}7.3{pm}0.1 : h^{-1}$Mpc are included at $z{approx}2.4$. All quasars remain consistent with having a single host halo mass of ${approx}2{pm}1{times}10^{12} : h^{-1}M_odot$. This result implies that either quasars do not radiate at a fixed fraction of the Eddington luminosity or AGN black hole and dark matter halo masses are weakly correlated. No significant evidence is found to support fainter, X-ray selected quasars at low redshift having larger halo masses as predicted by the `hot halo mode AGN model of Fanidakis et al. 2013. Finally, although the combined quasar sample reaches an effective volume as large as that of the original SDSS LRG sample, we do not detect the BAO feature in these data.
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We show that current clustering observations of quasars and luminous AGN can be explained by a merger model augmented by feedback from outflows. Using numerical simulations large enough to study clustering out to 25 comoving h^{-1} Mpc, we calculate correlation functions, biases, and correlation lengths as a function of AGN redshift and optical and X-ray luminosity. At optical wavelengths, our results match a wide range of current observations and generate predictions for future data sets. We reproduce the weak luminosity dependence of clustering over the currently well-measured range, and predict a much stronger dependence at higher luminosities. The increase in the amplitude of binary quasar clustering observed in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) is also reproduced and is predicted to occur at higher redshift, an effect that is due to the one halo term in the correlation function. On the other hand, our results do not match the rapid evolution of the correlation length observed in the SDSS at zsimeq 3, a discrepancy that is at least partially due to differences in the scales probed by our simulation versus this survey. In fact, we show that changing the distances sampled from our simulations can produce changes as large as 40% in the fitted correlation lengths. Finally, in the X-ray, our simulations produce correlation lengths similar to that observed in the Chandra Deep Field (CDF) North, but not the significantly larger correlation length observed in the CDF South.
We investigate the UV continuum slope $alpha$ of a large quasar sample from SDSS DR7. By using specific continuum windows, we build two samples at lower ($0.71<z<1.19$) and higher ($1.90<z<3.15$) redshifts, which correspond to the continuum slopes at longer (NUV) and shorter (FUV) rest wavelength ranges respectively. Overall, the average continuum slopes are $-0.36$ and $-0.51$ for $alpha_{rm NUV}$ and $alpha_{rm FUV}$ with similar dispersions $sigma_{alpha} sim 0.5$. For both samples, we confirm the luminosity dependence of the continuum slope, i.e., fainter quasars have redder spectra. We further find that both $alpha_{rm NUV}$ and $alpha_{rm FUV}$ have a common upper limit ($sim 1/3$) which is almost independent of the quasar luminosity $L_{rm bol}$. This finding implies that the intrinsic quasar continuum (or the bluest quasar), at any luminosity, obey the standard thin disk model. We propose that the other quasars with redder $alpha$ are caused by the reddening from the dust {it locally}. With this assumption, we employ the dust extinction scenario to model the observed $L_{rm bol}-alpha$ relation. We find that, a typical value of $E(B-V)sim0.1$ to $0.3$ mag (depending on the types of extinction curve) of the quasar {it local} dust is enough to explain the discrepancy of $alpha$ between the observation ($sim-0.5$) and the standard accretion disk model prediction ($sim 1/3$).
43024 objects, which were primarily identified as quasars in SDSS DR5 and have spectroscopic redshifts were used to study the luminosity dependence of the quasar clustering with the help of two different techniques. The obtained results reveal that brighter quasars are more clustered, but this dependence is weak, which is in agreement with the results by Porciani & Norberg, 2006 and theoretical predictions by Lidz et al., 2006.
Large-scale surveys over the last years have revealed about 300 QSOs at redshift above 6. Follow-up observations identified surprising properties, such as the very high black hole (BH) masses, spatial correlations with surrounding cold gas of the host galaxy, or high CIV-MgII velocity shifts. In particular, the discovery of luminous high-redshift quasars suggests that at least some black holes likely have large masses at birth and grow efficiently. We aim at quantifying quasar pairs at high redshift for a large sample of objects. This provides a new key constraint on a combination of parameters related to the origin and assembly for the most massive black holes: BH formation efficiency and clustering, growth efficiency and relative contribution of BH mergers. We observed 116 spectroscopically confirmed QSOs around redshift 6 with the simultaneous 7-channel imager GROND in order to search for companions. Applying identical colour-colour cuts as for those which led to the spectroscopically confirmed QSO, we perform LePHARE fits to the 26 best QSO pair candidates, and obtained spectroscopic observations for 11 of those. e do not find any QSO pair with a companion brighter than M1450(AB) < -26 mag within our 0.1-3.3 h^-1 cMpc search radius, in contrast to the serendipitous findings in the redshift range 4--5. However, a low fraction of such pairs at this luminosity and redshift is consistent with indications from present-day cosmological-scale galaxy evolution models. In turn, the incidence of L- and T-type brown dwarfs which occupy a similar colour space as z ~ 6 QSOs, is higher than expected, by a factor of 5 and 20, respectively.
We have identified 469 MgII doublet systems having W_r >= 0.02 {AA} in 252 Keck/HIRES and UVES/VLT quasar spectra over the redshift range 0.1 < z < 2.6. Using the largest sample yet of 188 weak MgII systems (0.02 {AA} <= W_r < 0.3 {AA}), we calculate their absorber redshift path density, dN/dz. We find clear evidence of evolution, with dN/dz peaking at z ~ 1.2, and that the product of the absorber number density and cross section decreases linearly with increasing redshift; weak MgII absorbers seem to vanish above z ~ 2.7. If the absorbers are ionized by the UV background, we estimate number densities of 10^6 - 10^9 per Mpc^3 for spherical geometries and 10^2 - 10^5 per Mpc^3 for more sheetlike geometries. We also find that dN/dz toward intrinsically faint versus bright quasars differs significantly for weak and strong (W_r >= 1.0 {AA}) absorbers. For weak absorption, dN/dz toward bright quasars is ~ 25% higher than toward faint quasars (10 sigma at low redshift, 0.4 <= z <= 1.4, and 4 sigma at high redshift, 1.4 < z <= 2.34). For strong absorption the trend reverses, with dN/dz toward faint quasars being ~ 20% higher than toward bright quasars (also 10 sigma at low redshift and 4 sigma at high redshift). We explore scenarios in which beam size is proportional to quasar luminosity and varies with absorber and quasar redshifts. These do not explain dN/dzs dependence on quasar luminosity.
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