On the small scale clustering of quasars: constraints from the MassiveBlack II simulation

Abstract

We examine recent high-precision measurements of small-scale quasar clustering (at $z\sim 0.5-2$ on scales of $\sim 25kpc/h$) from the SDSS in the context of the MassiveBlackII (MBII) cosmological hydrodynamic simulation and conditional luminosity function (CLF) modeling. At these high luminosities ($g<20.85$ quasars), the MBII simulation volume ($100\mathrm{cMpc}/h$ comoving boxsize) has only 3 quasar pairs at distances of $1-4$ Mpc. The black-hole masses for the pairs range between $M_{bh}\sim 1-3\times 10^9{M}_{\odot }/h$ and the quasar hosts are haloes of $M_h\sim 1-3\times 10^{14}{M}_{\odot }/h$. Such pairs show signs of recent major mergers in the MBII simulation. By modeling the central and satellite AGN CLFs as log-normal and Schechter distributions respectively (as seen in MBII AGNs), we arrive at CLF models which fit the simulation predictions and observed luminosity function and the small-scale clustering measured for the SDSS sample. The small-scale clustering of our mock quasars is well-explained by central-satellite quasar pairs that reside in $M_h>10^{14}{M}_{\odot }/h$ dark matter haloes. For these pairs, satellite quasar luminosity is similar to that of central quasars. Our CLF models imply a relatively steep increase in the maximum satellite luminosity, $L_{\mathrm{sat}}^{\ast }$, in haloes of $M_h>10^{14}{M}_{\odot }/h$ with associated larger values of $L_{\mathrm{sat}}^{\ast }$ at higher redshift. This leads to increase in the satellite fraction that manifests itself in an enhanced clustering signal at $\lesssim$ 1 Mpc/h. For the ongoing eBOSS-CORE sample, we predict $\sim 200-500$ quasar pairs at $z\sim 1.5$ (with $M_h\gtrsim 10^{13}{M}_{\odot }/h$ and $M_{bh}\gtrsim 10^8{M}_{\odot }/h$) at $\sim 25\mathrm{kpc}$ scales. Such a sample would be $\gtrsim 10$ times larger than current pair samples.

arXiv comment15 pages, 13 figures

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• Clustering of Lyman-alpha Emitters Around Quasars at $z\sim 4$
• A unified model for the clustering of quasars and galaxies at $z\approx 6$
• J1721$+$8842: a gravitationally lensed binary quasar with a proximate damped Lyman-$\alpha$ absorber
• Supermassive black hole fueling in IllustrisTNG: Impact of environment
• An estimate of the stochastic gravitational wave background from the MassiveBlackII simulation
• Revisiting the Extreme Clustering of $z\approx 4$ Quasars with Large Volume Cosmological Simulations
• A Halo Occupation Interpretation Of Quasars At $z\sim 1.5$ Using Very Small Scale Clustering Information
• Testing the fidelity of simulations of black hole - galaxy co-evolution at z ~ 1.5 with observations
• Multiplicity functions of quasars: Predictions from the MassiveBlackII simulation
• Quasar clustering at redshift 6