Early Science Result from the Japanese Virtual Observatory: AGN and Galaxy Clustering at z = 0.3 to 3.0

TL;DR

This study analyzes the clustering of AGNs and galaxies across redshifts 0.3 to 3.0 using the Japanese Virtual Observatory, revealing environmental evolution and demonstrating the VO system's effectiveness for such research.

Contribution

It provides the first large-scale clustering analysis of AGNs at high redshift using VO data, showing environmental changes over cosmic time.

Findings

AGNs at low redshift reside in environments similar to local galaxies.

Higher redshift AGNs are found in denser environments than lower redshift ones.

The study demonstrates the effectiveness of VO data for environmental studies of AGNs.

Abstract

We present the result of projected cross correlation analysis of AGNs and galaxies at redshifts from 0.3 to 3.0. The Japanese Virtual Observatory (JVO) was used to obtain the Subaru Suprime-Cam images and UKIDSS catalog data around AGNs. We investigated 1,809 AGNs, which is about ten times larger a sample than that used in previous studies on AGN-galaxy clustering at redshifts larger than 0.6. 90% of the AGN samples are optically-selected AGN from the SDSS and 2dF catalogs. The galaxy samples at low redshift includes many redder objects from UKIDSS survey, while at higher redshift they are mainly blue galaxies from Suprime-Cam. We found significant excess of galaxies around the AGNs at redshifts from 0.3 to 1.8. For the low redshift samples ($z<0.9$), we obtained correlation length of $r_{0} = $5--6 $h^{-1}$Mpc ($\gamma = 1.8$), which indicates that the AGNs at this redshift range reside in a similar environment around typical local galaxies. We also found that AGNs at higher redshift ranges reside in a denser environment than lower redshift AGNs; For $z=1.3 \sim 1.8$ AGNs, the cross correlation length was measured as 11$^{+6}_{-3}$ $h^{-1}$Mpc ($\gamma=1.8$). Considering that our galaxies sample is based on optical observations with Suprime-Cam at the redshift range, it is expected that blue star-forming galaxies comprise the majority of objects that are observed to be clustered around the AGNs. It is successfully demonstrated that the use of the archive through the Virtual Observatory system can provide a powerful tool for investigating the small scale environment of the intermediate redshift AGNs.