Title: Clustering of intermediate redshift quasars using the final SDSS III-BOSS sample

Abstract

In this study, we measure the two-point clustering of spectroscopically confirmed quasars from the final sample of the Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (BOSS) on comoving scales of 4 ≲ s ≲ 22 h ^-1Mpc. The sample covers 6950 deg ² [~19 (h ^-1Gpc) ³] and, over the redshift range 2.2 ≲ z ≲ 2.8, contains 55 826 homogeneously selected quasars, which is twice as many as in any similar work. We deduce b_Q= 3.54 ± 0.10; the most precise measurement of quasar bias to date at these redshifts. This corresponds to a host halo mass of ~2 × 10 ¹²h ^-1M⊙ with an implied quasar duty cycle of ~1 per cent. The real-space projected correlation function is well fitted by a power law of index 2 and correlation length r ₀= (8.12 ± 0.22) h ^-1Mpc over scales of 4 ≲ r _p ≲ 25 h ^-1Mpc. To better study the evolution of quasar clustering at moderate redshift, we extend the redshift range of our study to z ~ 3.4 and measure the bias and correlation length of three subsamples over 2.2 ≲ z ≲ 3.4. We find no significant evolution of r ₀ or bias over this range, implyingmore » that the host halo mass of quasars decreases somewhat with increasing redshift. We find quasar clustering remains similar over a decade in luminosity, contradicting a scenario in which quasar luminosity is monotonically related to halo mass at z ≈ 2.5. In conclusion, our results are broadly consistent with previous BOSS measurements, but they yield more precise constraints based upon a larger and more uniform data set.« less

Authors:

Eftekharzadeh, Sarah ^[1]; Myers, Adam D. ^[1]; White, Martin ^[2]; Weinberg, David H. ^[3]; Schneider, Donald P. ^[4]; Shen, Yue ^[5]; Font-Ribera, Andreu ^[6]; Ross, Nicholas P. ^[7]; Paris, Isabelle ^[8]; Streblyanska, Alina ^[9]

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+ Show Author Affiliations

1. Univ. of Wyoming, Laramie, WY (United States)
2. Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States); Univ. of California, Berkeley, CA (United States)
3. The Ohio State Univ., Columbus, OH (United States)
4. Pennsylvania State Univ., University Park, PA (United States)
5. Carnegie Observatories, Pasadena, CA (United States); Peking Univ., Beijing (China)
6. Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
7. Drexel Univ., Philadelphia, PA (United States); Univ. of Edinburgh, Scotland (United Kingdom)
8. INAF - Osservatorio Astronomico di Trieste (Italy)
9. Instituto de Astrofisica de Canarias (IAC), Tenerife (Spain)

Publication Date:

2015-09-03

Research Org.:

Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)

Sponsoring Org.:

USDOE Office of Science (SC)

OSTI Identifier:

1530206

Grant/Contract Number:  

AC02-05CH11231

Resource Type:

Accepted Manuscript

Journal Name:

Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

Additional Journal Information:

Journal Volume: 453; Journal Issue: 3; Journal ID: ISSN 0035-8711

Publisher:

Royal Astronomical Society

Country of Publication:

United States

Language:

English

Subject:

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS; galaxies: quasars: general; cosmology: observations; dark matter; large-scale structure of Universe