The clustering and bias of radio-selected AGN and star-forming galaxies in the COSMOS field

TL;DR

This study examines the clustering of radio-selected AGN and star-forming galaxies in the COSMOS field, revealing differences in their host halo masses and accretion rates, which inform galaxy evolution models.

Contribution

It provides new measurements of galaxy bias and halo masses for different galaxy types and accretion states using 3 GHz radio data in the COSMOS field.

Findings

AGN are more strongly clustered than SFGs.

Low-accretion rate AGN reside in more massive haloes.

Halo mass dependence varies with redshift and accretion rate.

Abstract

Dark matter haloes in which galaxies reside are likely to have a significant impact on their evolution. We investigate the link between dark matter haloes and their constituent galaxies by measuring the angular two-point correlation function of radio sources, using recently released 3 GHz imaging over $\sim 2 \ \mathrm{deg}^2$ of the COSMOS field. We split the radio source population into Star Forming Galaxies (SFGs) and Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN), and further separate the AGN into radiatively efficient and inefficient accreters. Restricting our analysis to $z<1$, we find SFGs have a bias, $b = 1.5 ^{+0.1}_{-0.2}$, at a median redshift of $z=0.62$. On the other hand, AGN are significantly more strongly clustered with $b = 2.1\pm 0.2$ at a median redshift of 0.7. This supports the idea that AGN are hosted by more massive haloes than SFGs. We also find low-accretion rate AGN are more clustered ($b = 2.9 \pm 0.3$) than high-accretion rate AGN ($b = 1.8^{+0.4}_{-0.5}$) at the same redshift ($z \sim 0.7$), suggesting that low-accretion rate AGN reside in higher mass haloes. This supports previous evidence that the relatively hot gas that inhabits the most massive haloes is unable to be easily accreted by the central AGN, causing them to be inefficient. We also find evidence that low-accretion rate AGN appear to reside in halo masses of $M_{h} \sim 3-4 \times 10^{13}h^{-1}$M$_{\odot}$ at all redshifts. On the other hand, the efficient accreters reside in haloes of $M_{h} \sim 1-2 \times 10^{13}h^{-1}$M$_{\odot}$ at low redshift but can reside in relatively lower mass haloes at higher redshifts. This could be due to the increased prevalence of cold gas in lower mass haloes at $z \ge 1$ compared to $z<1$.