Binary Quasars in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey: Evidence for Excess Clustering on Small Scales

Abstract

We present a sample of 218 new quasar pairs with proper transverse separations R_prop < 1 Mpc/h over the redshift range 0.5 < z < 3.0, discovered from an extensive follow up campaign to find companions around the Sloan Digital Sky Survey and 2dF Quasar Redshift Survey quasars. This sample includes 26 new binary quasars with separations R_prop < 50 kpc/h (theta < 10 arcseconds), more than doubling the number of such systems known. We define a statistical sample of binaries selected with homogeneous criteria and compute its selection function, taking into account sources of incompleteness. The first measurement of the quasar correlation function on scales 10 kpc/h < R_prop < 400 kpc/h is presented. For R_prop < 40 kpc/h, we detect an order of magnitude excess clustering over the expectation from the large scale R_prop > 3 Mpc/h quasar correlation function, extrapolated down as a power law to the separations probed by our binaries. The excess grows to ~ 30 at R_prop ~ 10 kpc/h, and provides compelling evidence that the quasar autocorrelation function gets progressively steeper on sub-Mpc scales. This small scale excess can likely be attributed to dissipative interaction events which trigger quasar activity in rich environments. Recent small scale measurements of galaxy clustering and quasar-galaxy clustering are reviewed and discussed in relation to our measurement of small scale quasar clustering.

25 pages, 12 figures, 9 tables. Submitted to the Astronomical Journal

References in corpus (15)

• The Third Data Release of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey
• The Sloan Digital Sky Survey Quasar Catalog III. Third Data Release
• Dust Reddening in SDSS Quasars
• Cosmic Evolution of Quasar Clustering: Implications for the Host Haloes
• Efficient Photometric Selection of Quasars from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey: 100,000 z<3 Quasars from Data Release One
• The 2dF-SDSS LRG and QSO Survey: The z<2.1 Quasar Luminosity Function from 5645 Quasars to g=21.85
• Evidence for Primordial Clustering Around the QSO SDSS J1030+0524 at z=6.28
• An Empirical Calibration of the Completeness of the SDSS Quasar Survey
• An Empirical Algorithm for Broad-band Photometric Redshifts of Quasars from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey
• Imaging of SDSS z>6 quasar fields: gravitational lensing, companion galaxies and the host dark matter halos
• A Possible Correlation Between the Luminosities and Lifetimes of Active Galactic Nuclei
• Discovery of Two Gravitationally Lensed Quasars with Image Separations of 3 Arcseconds from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey
• The Clustering of AGN in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey
• SDSSJ102111.02+491330.4: A Newly Discovered Gravitationally Lensed Quasar
• Towards Constraints on Dark Energy from Absorption Spectra of Close Quasar Pairs

Cited by in corpus (228)

• The Eleventh and Twelfth Data Releases of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey: Final Data from SDSS-III
• A Unified, Merger-Driven Model for the Origin of Starbursts, Quasars, the Cosmic X-Ray Background, Supermassive Black Holes and Galaxy Spheroids
• Sloan Digital Sky Survey IV: Mapping the Milky Way, Nearby Galaxies, and the Distant Universe
• A Cosmological Framework for the Co-Evolution of Quasars, Supermassive Black Holes, and Elliptical Galaxies: I. Galaxy Mergers & Quasar Activity
• The Sloan Digital Sky Survey Quasar Catalog V. Seventh Data Release
• The Sloan Digital Sky Survey Quasar Catalog IV. Fifth Data Release
• The Sloan Digital Sky Survey Quasar Catalog: Fourteenth Data Release
• Clustering of High Redshift ($z\ge 2.9$) Quasars from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey
• Efficient Photometric Selection of Quasars from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey: II. ~1,000,000 Quasars from Data Release Six
• The Quest for Dual and Binary Supermassive Black Holes: A Multi-Messenger View
• Fluctuations in the High-Redshift Lyman-Werner Background: Close Halo Pairs as the Origin of Supermassive Black Holes
• Quasar Quartet Embedded in Giant Nebula Reveals Rare Massive Structure in Distant Universe
• Clustering of Low-Redshift (z <= 2.2) Quasars from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey
• Quasar Clustering from SDSS DR5: Dependences on Physical Properties
• The clustering of intermediate redshift quasars as measured by the Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey
• Spectral properties of quasars from Sloan Digital Sky Survey data release 14: The catalog
• Efficient Photometric Selection of Quasars from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey: 100,000 z<3 Quasars from Data Release One
• Think Outside the Color Box: Probabilistic Target Selection and the SDSS-XDQSO Quasar Targeting Catalog
• The SDSS-IV extended Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey: Quasar Target Selection
• Correcting CIV-Based Virial Black Hole Masses
• Finding the Electromagnetic Counterparts of Cosmological Standard Sirens
• The DEEP3 Galaxy Redshift Survey: The Impact of Environment on the Size Evolution of Massive Early-type Galaxies at Intermediate Redshift
• Minor Galaxy Interactions: Star Formation Rates and Galaxy Properties
• Observability of Dual Active Galactic Nuclei in Merging Galaxies
• Type 2 AGNs with Double-Peaked [O III] Lines: Narrow Line Region Kinematics or Merging Supermassive Black Hole Pairs?
• Type 2 Active Galactic Nuclei with Double-Peaked [OIII] Lines. II. Single AGNs with Complex Narrow-Line Region Kinematics are More Common than Binary AGNs
• Evolution of binary black holes in self gravitating discs: dissecting the torques
• QSO MUSEUM I: A sample of 61 extended Ly$\alpha$-emission nebulae surrounding $z\sim 3$ quasars
• The Sloan Digital Sky Survey Quasar Lens Search. I. Candidate Selection Algorithm
• Quasars Probing Quasars I: Optically Thick Absorbers Near Luminous Quasars
• Clustering of intermediate redshift quasars using the final SDSS III-BOSS sample
• Massive black hole binaries: dynamical evolution and observational signatures
• Selecting Quasars by their Intrinsic Variability
• The Sloan Digital Sky Survey Quasar Lens Search. V. Final Catalog from the Seventh Data Release
• Kiloparsec-scale ALMA Imaging of [CII] and Dust Continuum Emission of 27 Quasar Host Galaxies at z~6
• Discovery of Four kpc-Scale Binary AGNs
• Active Galactic Nucleus Pairs from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. I. The Frequency on ~ 5-100 kpc Scales
• Quasars Probing Quasars VI. Excess HI Absorption Within One Proper Mpc of z~2 Quasars
• A Characteristic Division Between the Fueling of Quasars and Seyferts: Five Simple Tests
• The Nature of Double-Peaked [O III] Active Galactic Nuclei
• Binary Quasars at High Redshift I: 24 New Quasar Pairs at z ~ 3-4
• Quasars Probing Quasars II: The Anisotropic Clustering of Optically Thick Absorbers around Quasars
• Photometric redshifts and quasar probabilities from a single, data-driven generative model
• Do the Most Massive Black Holes at $z=2$ Grow via Major Mergers?
• Quasars Probing Quasars III: New Clues to Feedback, Quenching, and the Physics of Massive Galaxy Formation
• Quasars Probing Quasars VII. The Pinnacle of the Cool Circumgalactic Medium Surrounds Massive z~2 Galaxies
• Observational Evidence for the Co-evolution of Galaxy Mergers, Quasars, and the Blue/Red Galaxy Transition
• Clustering Analyses of 300,000 Photometrically Classified Quasars--II. The Excess on Very Small Scales
• Mergers in Double-Peaked [O III] Active Galactic Nuclei
• A Universal Density Structure for Circum-Galactic Gas
• Quasar Clustering at $25\kpch$ from a Complete Sample of Binaries
• Inspiraling Halo Accretion Mapped in Lyman-$\alpha$ Emission around a $z\sim 3$ Quasar
• Halo masses for optically-selected and for radio-loud AGN from clustering and galaxy-galaxy lensing
• Chandra X-ray and Hubble Space Telescope Imaging of Optically Selected kiloparsec-Scale Binary Active Galactic Nuclei I. Nature of the Nuclear Ionizing Sources
• Super-massive binary black holes and emission lines in active galactic nuclei
• The Demography of Super-Massive Black Holes: Growing Monsters at the Heart of Galaxies
• Host galaxy morphologies of X-ray selected AGN: assessing the significance of different black hole fueling mechanisms to the accretion density of the Universe at z~1
• The Environments of Active Galactic Nuclei within the zCOSMOS Density Field
• Cross-Correlation of SDSS DR7 Quasars and DR10 BOSS Galaxies: The Weak Luminosity Dependence of Quasar Clustering at z~0.5
• Constraining sub-Parsec Binary Supermassive Black Holes in Quasars with Multi-Epoch Spectroscopy. I. The General Quasar Population
• Quasars Probing Quasars IV: Joint Constraints on the Circumgalactic Medium from Absorption and Emission
• The Co-Formation of Spheroids and Quasars Traced in their Clustering
• Self-Consistent Modeling of Reionization in Cosmological Hydrodynamical Simulations
• Double-peaked Narrow-Line Signatures of Dual Supermassive Black Holes in Galaxy Merger Simulations
• The real-space clustering of luminous red galaxies around z<0.6 quasars in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey
• The Small-Scale Environment of Quasars
• Gravitationally lensed quasars in Gaia: III. 22 new lensed quasars from Gaia Data Release 2
• The Luminosity Dependence of Quasar Clustering
• The Sloan Digital Sky Survey Quasar Lens Search. II. Statistical Lens Sample from the Third Data Release
• A Substantial Mass of Cool, Metal-Enriched Gas Surrounding the Progenitors of Modern-Day Ellipticals
• Supermassive Black Holes in the Hierarchical Universe: A General Framework and Observational Tests
• A simple model to link the properties of quasars to the properties of dark matter halos out to high redshift
• A clumpy and anisotropic galaxy halo at z=1 from gravitational-arc tomography
• SDSS J1254+0846: A Binary Quasar Caught in the Act of Merging
• Photometric redshifts for Quasars in multi band Surveys
• A Full Year's Chandra Exposure on SDSS Quasars from the Chandra Multiwavelength Project
• MUSE Analysis of Gas around Galaxies (MAGG) -- III: The gas and galaxy environment of z = 3-4.5 quasars
• The Halo Occupation Distribution of SDSS Quasars
• Transverse Sizes of CIV Absorption Systems Measured from Multiple QSO Sightlines
• Confronting Simulations of Optically Thick Gas in Massive Halos with Observations at z=2-3
• Constraints on the correlation between QSO luminosity and host halo mass from high-redshift quasar clustering
• Quasars Probing Quasars VIII. The Physical Properties of the Cool Circumgalactic Medium Surrounding z ~ 2-3 Massive Galaxies Hosting Quasars
• Chandra Observations of a 1.9 kpc Separation Double X-ray Source in a Candidate Dual AGN Galaxy at z=0.16
• Quasars: What turns them off?
• Interferometric imaging of the high-redshift radio galaxy, 4C60.07: An SMA, Spitzer and VLA study reveals a binary AGN/starburst
• Active Galactic Nucleus Pairs from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. II. Evidence for Tidally Enhanced Star Formation and Black Hole Accretion
• Spatially-Resolved Spectroscopy of SDSS J0952+2552: a Confirmed Dual AGN
• No overdensity of Lyman Alpha Emitting Galaxies around a quasar at z~5.7
• A 14 $h^{-3}$ Gpc${}^3$ study of cosmic homogeneity using BOSS DR12 quasar sample
• Varstrometry for Off-nucleus and Dual sub-Kpc AGN (VODKA): Hubble Space Telescope Discovers Double Quasars
• A catalogue of photometric redshifts for the SDSS-DR9 galaxies
• Very small-scale clustering of quasars from a complete quasar lens survey
• Pressure Support vs. Thermal Broadening in the Lyman-alpha Forest I: Effects of the Equation of State on Longitudinal Structure
• Binary Quasars at High Redshift II: Sub-Mpc Clustering at z ~ 3-4
• QSO Absorption Lines from QSOs
• Mapping the Lyman-Alpha Emission Around a z~6.6 QSO with MUSE: Extended Emission and a Companion at Close Separation
• Adaptive Optics Imaging of QSOs with Double-Peaked Narrow Lines: Are they Dual AGNs?
• Partial coverage of the Broad Line Region of Q1232+082 by an intervening H2-bearing cloud
• Double quasars: probes of black hole scaling relationships and merger scenarios
• Dual supermassive black holes at close separation revealed by the Hyper Suprime-Cam Subaru Strategic Program
• Sub-parsec supermassive Binary Quasars: expectations at z<1
• A hidden population of high-redshift double quasars unveiled by astrometry
• A New Method to Directly Measure the Jeans Scale of the Intergalactic Medium Using Close Quasar Pairs
• Galaxy and Quasar Fueling Caught in the Act from the Intragroup to the Interstellar Medium
• Measurement of the small-scale structure of the intergalactic medium using close quasar pairs
• Broad Absorption Line Quasars with Redshifted Troughs: High-Velocity Infall or Rotationally Dominated Outflows?
• Incorporating Photometric Redshift Probability Density Information into Real-Space Clustering Measurements
• AGN host galaxies at redshift z~0.7: peculiar or not?
• Machine Learning based photometric redshifts for the KiDS ESO DR2 galaxies
• The Sloan Digital Sky Survey Quasar Lens Search. IV. Statistical Lens Sample from the Fifth Data Release
• KiDS-SQuaD: The KiDS Strongly lensed Quasar Detection project
• Gravitationally Lensed Quasars in Gaia: I. Resolving Small-Separation Lenses
• A Simple Method To Find All Lensed Quasars
• Clustering on very small scales from a large sample of confirmed quasar pairs: Does quasar clustering track from Mpc to kpc scales?
• Discovery of a Probable Physical Triple Quasar
• A Candidate Dual AGN at z=1.175
• Binary Active Galactic Nuclei in Stripe 82: Constraints on Synchronized Black Hole Accretion in Major Mergers
• AGN Environments in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey I: Dependence on Type, Redshift, and Luminosity
• First lensed quasar systems from the VST-ATLAS survey: one quad, two doubles and two pairs of lensless twins
• Strong Clustering of Lyman Break Galaxies around Luminous Quasars at z~4
• Optical microvariability properties of BALQSOs
• Differences in the AGN Populations of Groups and Clusters: Clues to AGN Evolution
• The extent of the MgII absorbing circum-galactic medium of quasars
• Coincident, 100 kpc-scale damped Lyman alpha absorption towards a binary QSO: how large are galaxies at z ~ 3?
• Ly$\alpha$ Halos Around $z\sim 6$ Quasars
• X-ray selected AGN in groups at redshifts z~1
• HST Images and KPNO Spectroscopy of the Binary Black Hole Candidate SDSS J153636.22+044127.0
• Discovery of a dual AGN at z~3.3 with 20kpc separation
• Eight New Quasar Lenses from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Quasar Lens Search
• SDSSJ102111.02+491330.4: A Newly Discovered Gravitationally Lensed Quasar
• The Clustering and Host Halos of Galaxy Mergers at High Redshift
• Constraining galaxy overdensities around three z~6.5 quasars with ALMA and MUSE
• Enhancement of Galaxy Overdensity around Quasar Pairs at z<3.6 based on the Hyper Suprime-Cam Subaru Strategic Program Survey
• Pressure Support vs. Thermal Broadening in the Lyman-alpha Forest II: Effects of the Equation of State on Transverse Structure
• Quasar Clustering in Cosmological Hydrodynamic Simulations: Evidence for mergers
• A Constraint on Quasar Clustering at z=5 from a Binary Quasar
• Discovery of Radio Emission from the Quasar SDSS J1536+0441, a Candidate Binary Black-Hole System
• A Search for Gravitationally Lensed Quasars and Quasar Pairs in Pan-STARRS1: Spectroscopy and Sources of Shear in the Diamond 2M1134$-$2103
• Metal Absorption Systems in Spectra of Pairs of QSOs
• Constraints on black hole duty cycles and the black hole-halo relation from SDSS quasar clustering
• Clustering of Lyman-alpha Emitters Around Quasars at $z\sim 4$
• Future dark energy constraints from measurements of quasar parallax: Gaia, SIM and beyond
• A Chandra X-ray Survey of Optically Selected AGN Pairs
• MUSE Analysis of Gas around Galaxies (MAGG) -- V: Linking ionized gas traced by CIV and SiIV absorbers to Ly$\alpha$ emitting galaxies at $z\approx 3.0-4.5$
• ALMA reveals large overdensity and strong clustering of galaxies in quasar environments at $z\sim 4$
• Statistics of Galactic-Scale Quasar Pairs at Cosmic Noon
• Simba: The average properties of the circumgalactic medium of $2\le z\le 3$ quasars are determined primarily by stellar feedback
• Very Long Baseline Array Imaging of Type-2 Seyferts with Double-Peaked Narrow Emission Lines: Searches for Sub-kpc Dual AGNs and Jet-Powered Outflows
• A Candidate Kiloparsec-scale Quasar Pair at $z=5.66$
• New database for a sample of optically bright lensed quasars in the northern hemisphere
• Discovery of intergalactic bridges connecting two faint $z\sim 3$ quasars
• Constraining AGN triggering mechanisms through the clustering analysis of active black holes
• The NGC 3341 minor merger: a panchromatic view of the active galactic nucleus in a dwarf companion
• A Survey for High-redshift Gravitationally Lensed Quasars and Close Quasars Pairs. I. the Discoveries of an Intermediately-lensed Quasar and a Kpc-scale Quasar Pair at $z\sim 5$
• A Fundamental Test for Galaxy Formation Models: Matching the Lyman-$\alpha$ Absorption Profiles of Galactic Halos over Three Decades in Distance
• Caught in the Act: Discovery of a Physical Quasar Triplet
• The spectral and environment properties of $z\sim 2.0-2.5$ quasar pairs
• A Multiwavelength Study of Binary Quasars and Their Environments
• The Evolution of Active Galactic Nuclei in Warm Dark Matter Cosmology
• Evidence for Merger-Driven Activity in the Clustering of High Redshift Quasars
• A Southern Photometric Quasar Catalog from the Dark Energy Survey Data Release 2
• Partial covering of emission regions of Q 0528-250 by intervening H${}_2$ clouds
• The co-evolution of black hole growth and star formation from a cross-correlation analysis between quasars and the cosmic infrared background
• Probing Structure in Cold Gas at $z\lesssim 1$ with Gravitationally Lensed Quasar Sight Lines
• A Direct Measurement of the Mean Occupation Function of Quasars: Breaking Degeneracies between Halo Occupation Distribution Models
• J1721$+$8842: a gravitationally lensed binary quasar with a proximate damped Lyman-$\alpha$ absorber
• Constraining the Gravitational Lensing of $z\gtrsim 6$ Quasars from their Proximity Zones
• LBQS 0103-2753: A Binary Quasar in a Major Merger
• A New Model for Dark Matter Halos Hosting Quasars
• The AGN Population in X-ray Selected Galaxy Groups at $0.5<z<1.1$
• The Halo Occupation Distribution of Obscured Quasars: Revisiting the Unification Model
• Statistics of Quasars Multiply Imaged by Galaxy Clusters
• Quasars probing quasars X: The quasar pair spectral database
• Supermassive black hole fueling in IllustrisTNG: Impact of environment
• Binary Disk interaction II: Gap-Opening criteria for unequal mass binaries
• A study of six low redshift QSO pairs
• Predictions of Quasar Clustering: Redshift, Luminosity and Selection Dependence
• The Circumgalactic Medium of Submillimeter Galaxies. I. First Results from a Radio-Identified Sample
• Can AGN and galaxy clusters explain the surface brightness fluctuations of the cosmic X-ray background?
• The Cosmic Evolution of Halo Pairs: I. Global Trends
• The Halo Occupation Distribution of Black Holes: Dependence on Mass
• On the small scale clustering of quasars: constraints from the MassiveBlack II simulation
• A Halo Occupation Interpretation Of Quasars At $z\sim 1.5$ Using Very Small Scale Clustering Information
• Discovering Strongly-lensed QSOs From Unresolved Light Curves
• Early Science Result from the Japanese Virtual Observatory: AGN and Galaxy Clustering at z = 0.3 to 3.0
• The environment of low redshift quasar pairs
• The Clustering of Undetected High-redshift Black Holes and Their Signatures in Cosmic Backgrounds
• AGN pairs: chance superpositions or black hole binaries?
• A Little Red Dot at $\mathbf{z}=7.3$ within a Large Galaxy Overdensity
• XMM-Newton view of galaxy pairs: activation of quiescent black holes?
• A slitless spectroscopic survey for quasars near quasars
• Galaxy and Mass Assembly (GAMA): The Weak Environmental Dependence of Quasar Activity at 0.1<z<0.35
• The eROSITA Final Equatorial-Depth Survey (eFEDS): An X-ray bright, extremely luminous infrared galaxy at z = 1.87
• Order and Chaos in a Three-dimensional Binary System of Interacting Galaxies
• Correlation function of quasars in real and redshift space from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Data Release 7
• The quasar-galaxy cross SDSS J1320+1644: A probable large-separation lensed quasar
• On merger bias and the clustering of quasars
• Multiplicity functions of quasars: Predictions from the MassiveBlackII simulation
• A quasar companion to the puzzling quasar SDSS J0927+2943
• The Host Galaxy of the Recoiling Black Hole Candidate in 3C 186: An Old Major Merger Remnant at the Center of a z=1 Cluster
• Transverse clues on the kpc-scale structure of the circumgalactic medium as traced by C IV absorption
• A QSO plus host system lensed into a 6" Einstein ring by a low redshift galaxy
• Double nuclei in NGC 908 and NGC 1187
• Overdensity of galaxies in the environment of quasar pairs
• A new apparent quasar pair: Q2225-403A,B
• A SysTematic seaRch fOr Dual Agns in meRgINg Galaxies (ASTRO-DARING) II: first results from long-slit spectroscopic observations
• Spectroscopic follow-up of double quasar candidates
• Finding binary active galactic nuclei candidates by the centroid shift in imaging surveys II. Testing the method with SDSS J233635.75-010733.7
• The Messy Nature of Fiber Spectra: Star-Quasar Pairs Masquerading as Dual Type 1 AGNs
• Optical Spectroscopy of Dual Quasar Candidates from the Subaru HSC-SSP program
• Ultraviolet background fluctuations with clustered sources
• A candidate quadruple AGN system at $z\sim 3$
• High-redshift AGN population in radiation-hydrodynamics simulations
• A cosmic dance at z~3: Detecting the host galaxies of the dual AGN system LBQS0302-0019 and Jil with HAWK-I+GRAAL
• Serendipitous discovery of a projected pair of QSOs separated by 4.5 arcsec on the sky
• A new quasar strongly-lensed candidate by the galaxy cluster WHJ0400-27 with a $18^{\prime \prime }$ image-separation
• Serendipitous discovery of a physical binary quasar at z=1.76
• Search for Quasar Pairs with $Gaia$ Astrometric Data. I. Method and Candidates
• Finding Lensed Radio Sources with the VLA Sky Survey
• A first look at quasar-galaxy clustering at $z\simeq 7.3$
• Fraction of the X-ray selected AGNs with optical emission lines in galaxy groups
• Wide Field Multiband Imaging of Low Redshift Quasar Environments
• Photometric Objects Around Cosmic Webs (PAC). VI. High Satellite Fraction of Quasars
• The multiple coherence scales of C IV at cosmic noon
• Quasar clustering at redshift 6
• X-shooter observations of QSO pairs
• Reclassification of the nearest quasar pair candidate: SDSS J15244+3032 - RXS J15244+3032
• Spectroscopic confirmation of dual and offset quasars from the Subaru HSC-SSP program