Quasar Clustering in Cosmological Hydrodynamic Simulations: Evidence for mergers

TL;DR

This study uses cosmological hydrodynamic simulations to analyze quasar clustering, revealing a significant small-scale excess due to galaxy mergers that host multiple quasars, consistent with recent observations.

Contribution

It provides new insights into small-scale quasar clustering and the role of galaxy mergers in producing multiple quasars within single halos.

Findings

Quasar correlation function has distinct 1-halo and 2-halo components.

Small-scale excess in clustering is caused by galaxy mergers hosting multiple quasars.

The excess is most prominent in halos of 4-8×10^11 solar masses with intermediate-mass black holes.

Abstract

We examine the clustering properties of a population of quasars drawn from fully hydrodynamic cosmological simulations that directly follow black hole growth. We find that the black hole correlation function is best described by two distinct components: contributions from BH pairs occupying the same dark matter halo ('1-halo term') which dominate at scales below 300 kpc/h, and contributions from BHs occupying separate halos ('2-halo term') which dominate at larger scales. From the 2-halo BH term we find a typical host halo mass for faint-end quasars (those probed in our simulation volumes) ranging from 10^11 to a few 10^12 solar masses from z=5 to z=1 respectively (consistent with the mean halo host mass). The BH correlation function shows a luminosity dependence as a function of redshift, though weak enough to be consistent with observational constraints. At small scales, the high resolution of our simulations allows us to probe the 1-halo clustering in detail, finding that the 1-halo term follows an approximate power law, lacking the characteristic decrease in slope at small scales found in 1-halo terms for galaxies and dark matter. We show that this difference is a direct result of a boost in the small-scale quasar bias caused by galaxies hosting multiple quasars (1-subhalo term) following a merger event, typically between a large central subgroup and a smaller, satellite subgroup hosting a relatively small black hole. We show that our predicted small-scale excess caused by such mergers is in good agreement with both the slope and amplitude indicated by recent small-scale measurements. Finally, we note the excess to be a strong function of halo mass, such that the observed excess is well matched by the multiple black holes of intermediate mass (10^7-10^8 solar masses) found in hosts of 4-8*10^11 solar masses, a range well probed by our simulations.