Angular and spatial clustering of photometrically classified quasar candidates from SDSS NBCKDE

TL;DR

This study analyzes the clustering of photometrically classified quasars from SDSS NBCKDE using a novel random catalogue technique, confirming known clustering properties and exploring dependencies on redshift and luminosity.

Contribution

Introduces a new random catalogue generation method for quasar clustering analysis that accounts for survey homogeneity without needing an imaging mask.

Findings

Quasar two-point correlation function follows a power law with specific parameters.

Clustering amplitude increases with redshift.

No luminosity dependence found in quasar clustering.

Abstract

The present paper analyses the quasar clustering using the two-point correlation function (2pCF) and the largest existing sample of photometrically selected quasars: the SDSS NBCKDE catalogue (from the SDSS DR6). A new technique of random catalogue generation was developed for this purpose, that allows to take into account the original homogeneity of the survey without knowledge of its imaging mask. When averaged over photometrical redshifts 0.8<z_phot<2.2 the 2pCF of photometrically selected quasars is found to be approximated well with the power law w(\theta)=(\theta/\theta_0)^{-\alpha} with \theta_0=4".5+/-1".4, \alpha=0.94+/-0.06 over the range 1'<\theta<40'. It agrees well with previous results by Myers et al. (2006,2007), obtained for samples of NBCKDE quasars with similar mean z_phot, but averaged over broader z_phot range. The parameters of the deprojected 2pCF averaged over the same z_phot range and modelled with a power law \xi(r)=(r/r_0)^{-\gamma}, are r_0=7.81^{+1.18}_{-1.16} Mpc/h, \gamma=1.94+/-0.06, which are in perfect agreement with previous results from spectroscopic surveys. We confirm the evidence for an increase of the clustering amplitude with z, and find no evidence for luminosity dependence of the quasar clustering. The latter is consistent with the models of the quasar formation, in which bright and faint quasars are assumed to be similar sources, hosted by dark matter halos of similar masses, but observed at different stages of their evolution. Comparison of our results with studies of the X-ray selected AGNs with similar z shows that the clustering amplitude of optically selected quasars is similar to that of X-ray selected quasars, but lower than that of samples of all X-ray selected AGNs. As the samples of all X-ray selected AGNs contain AGNs of both types, our result serves as an evidence for different types of AGNs to reside in different environments.