Quasar Host Halo Research Articles

Discovery of Optically Emitting Circumgalactic Nebulae around the Majority of UV-luminous Quasars at Intermediate Redshift

We report the discovery of large, ionized, [O ii]-emitting circumgalactic nebulae around the majority of 30 UV-luminous quasars at z = 0.4–1.4 observed with deep, wide-field integral field spectroscopy with the Multi-Unit Spectroscopy Explorer (MUSE) by the Cosmic Ultraviolet Baryon Survey and MUSE Quasar Blind Emitters Survey. Among the 30 quasars, seven (23%) exhibit [O ii]-emitting nebulae with major axis sizes greater than 100 kpc, 20 greater than 50 kpc (67%), and 27 (90%) greater than 20 kpc. Such large, optically emitting nebulae indicate that cool, dense, and metal-enriched circumgalactic gas is common in the halos of luminous quasars at intermediate redshift. Several of the largest nebulae exhibit morphologies that suggest interaction-related origins. We detect no correlation between the sizes and cosmological-dimming-corrected surface brightnesses of the nebulae and quasar redshift, luminosity, black hole mass, or radio-loudness, but find a tentative correlation between the nebulae and rest-frame [O ii] equivalent width in the quasar spectra. This potential trend suggests a relationship between interstellar medium content and gas reservoirs on CGM scales. The [O ii]-emitting nebulae around the z ≈ 1 quasars are smaller and less common than Lyα nebulae around z ≈ 3 quasars. These smaller sizes can be explained if the outer regions of the Lyα halos arise from scattering in more neutral gas, by evolution in the cool circumgalactic medium content of quasar-host halos, by lower-than-expected metallicities on ≳50 kpc scales around z ≈ 1 quasars, or by changes in quasar episodic lifetimes between z = 3 and 1.

The host dark matter haloes of the first quasars

ABSTRACT If z > 6 quasars reside in rare, massive haloes, ΛCDM cosmology predicts they should be surrounded by an anomalously high number of bright companion galaxies. Here, I show that these companion galaxies should also move unusually fast. Using a new suite of cosmological, ‘zoom-in’ hydrodynamic simulations, I present predictions for the velocity distribution of quasar companion galaxies and its variation with quasar host halo mass at $z \, = \, 6$. Satellites accelerate as they approach the quasar host galaxy, producing a line-of-sight velocity profile that broadens with decreasing distance to the quasar host galaxy. This increase in velocity dispersion is particularly pronounced if the host halo mass is $\gtrsim 5 \times 10^{12} \, \rm M_\odot$. Typical line-of-sight speeds rise to $\approx 500 \, \rm km \, s^{-1}$ at projected radii $\sim 10 \, \rm kpc$. For about 10 per cent of satellites, they should exceed $800 \, \rm km \, s^{-1}$, with $\approx 5~{{\ \rm per\ cent}}$ of companions reaching line-of-sight speeds $\sim 1000 \, \rm km \, s^{-1}$. For lower host halo masses $\approx 5 \times 10^{11}{-}10^{12} \, \rm M_\odot$, the velocity profile of companion galaxies is significantly flatter. In this case, typical line-of-sight velocities are $\approx 250 \, \rm km \, s^{-1}$ and do not exceed $\approx 500 \, \rm km \, s^{-1}$. A comparison with existing Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), JWST and Multi-Unit Spectroscopic Explorer (MUSE) line-of-sight velocity measurements reveals that observed z > 6 quasar companions closely follow the velocity distribution expected for a host halo with mass $\gtrsim 5 \times 10^{12} \, \rm M_\odot$, ruling out a light host halo. Finally, through an estimate of ultraviolet and [$\rm O \, {\small III}$] luminosity functions, I show that the velocity distribution more reliably discriminates between halo mass than companion number counts, which are strongly affected by cosmic variance.

Revisiting the extreme clustering of z ≈ 4 quasars with large volume cosmological simulations

ABSTRACT Observations from wide-field quasar surveys indicate that the quasar autocorrelation length increases dramatically from z ≈ 2.5 to ≈ 4. This large clustering amplitude at z ≈ 4 has proven hard to interpret theoretically, as it implies that quasars are hosted by the most massive dark matter haloes residing in the most extreme environments at that redshift. In this work, we present a model that simultaneously reproduces both the observed quasar autocorrelation and quasar luminosity functions. The spatial distribution of haloes and their relative abundance are obtained via a novel method that computes the halo mass and halo cross-correlation functions by combining multiple large-volume dark-matter-only cosmological simulations with different box sizes and resolutions. Armed with these halo properties, our model exploits the conditional luminosity function framework to describe the stochastic relationship between quasar luminosity, L, and halo mass, M. Assuming a simple power-law relation L ∝ Mγ with lognormal scatter, σ, we are able to reproduce observations at z ∼ 4 and find that: (i) the quasar luminosity–halo mass relation is highly non-linear (γ ≳ 2), with very little scatter (σ ≲ 0.3 dex); (ii) luminous quasars ($\log _{10} L/{\rm erg}\, {\rm s}^{-1}\gtrsim 46.5-47$) are hosted by haloes with mass log10M/M⊙ ≳ 13–13.5; and (iii) the implied duty cycle for quasar activity approaches unity ($\varepsilon _{\rm DC}\approx 10\,\mathrm{ per}\,\mathrm{ cent}-60~{{\ \rm per\ cent}}$). We also consider observations at z ≈ 2.5 and find that the quasar luminosity–halo mass relation evolves significantly with cosmic time, implying a rapid change in quasar host halo masses and duty cycles, which in turn suggests concurrent evolution in black hole scaling relations and/or accretion efficiency.

Modeling quasar proximity zones in a realistic cosmological environment with a self-consistent light curve

ABSTRACT We study quasar proximity zones in a simulation that includes a self-consistent quasar formation model and realistic intergalactic medium (IGM) environments. The quasar host halo is 1013 M⊙ at z = 6, more massive than typical halos studied in previous work. Between 6 < z < 7.5, the quasar luminosity varies rapidly, with a mean magnitude of MUV, mean = −24.8 and the fluctuation reaching up to two orders of magnitude. Using this light curve to post-process the dense environment around the quasar, we find that the proximity zone size (Rp) ranges between 0.5 and 5 pMpc. We show that the light curve variability causes a similar degree of scatter in Rp as does the density fluctuation, both of which result in a standard deviation of ∼0.3 pMpc. The Rp traces the light curve fluctuations closely but with a time delay of ∼104 yr, breaking the correspondence between the Rp and the contemporaneous MUV. This also indicates that we can only infer quasar activity within the past ∼104 yr instead of the integrated lifetime from Rp in the later part of cosmic reionization. Compared with the variable light curve, a constant light curve underestimates the Rp by 13 per cent at the dim end (MUV ∼ −23.5), and overestimates the Rp by 30 per cent at the bright end (MUV ∼ −26). By calculating the Rp generated by a number of quasars, we show that variable light curves predict a wider Rp distribution than lightbulb models, and readily explain the extremely small Rp values that have been observed.

Resolving the physics of quasar Ly α nebulae (RePhyNe): I. Constraining quasar host halo masses through circumgalactic medium kinematics

ABSTRACT Ly α nebulae ubiquitously found around z > 2 quasars can supply unique constraints on the properties of the circumgalactic medium, such as its density distribution, provided the quasar halo mass is known. We present a new method to constrain quasar halo masses based on the line-of-sight velocity dispersion maps of Ly α nebulae. By using MUSE-like mock observations obtained from cosmological hydrodynamic simulations under the assumption of maximal quasar fluorescence, we show that the velocity dispersion radial profiles of Ly α emitting gas are strongly determined by gravity and that they are thus self-similar with respect to halo mass when rescaled by the virial radius. Through simple analytical arguments and by exploiting the kinematics of He ii1640 Å emission for a set of observed nebulae, we show that Ly α radiative transfer effects plausibly do not change the shape of the velocity dispersion profiles but only their normalization without breaking their self-similarity. Taking advantage of these results, we define the variable $\eta ^{140-200}_{40-100}$ as the ratio of the median velocity dispersion in two specifically selected annuli and derive an analytical relation between $\eta ^{140-200}_{40-100}$ and the halo mass which can be directly applied to observations. We apply our method to 37 observed quasar Ly α nebulae at 3 < z < 4.7 and find that their associated quasars are typically hosted by ∼1012.16 ± 0.14M⊙ haloes independent of redshift within the explored range. This measurement, which is completely independent of clustering methods, is consistent with the lowest mass estimates based on quasar autocorrelation clustering at z∼3 and with quasar-galaxies cross-correlation results.

The need for obscured supermassive black hole growth to explain quasar proximity zones in the epoch of reionization

ABSTRACTProximity zones of high-redshift quasars are unique probes of supermassive black hole formation, but simultaneously explaining proximity zone sizes and black hole masses has proved to be challenging. We study the robustness of some of the assumptions that are usually made to infer quasar lifetimes from proximity zone sizes. We show that small proximity zones can be readily explained by quasars that vary in brightness with a short duty cycle of fduty ∼ 0.1 and short bright periods of ton ∼ 104 yr, even for long lifetimes. We further show that reconciling this with black hole mass estimates requires the black hole to continue to grow and accrete during its obscured phase. The consequent obscured fractions of ≳ 0.7 or higher are consistent with low-redshift measurements and models of black hole accretion. Such short duty cycles and long obscured phases are also consistent with observations of large proximity zones, thus providing a simple, unified model for proximity zones of all sizes. The large dynamic range of our simulation, and its calibration to the Lyman-α forest, allows us to investigate the influence of the large-scale topology of reionization and the quasar’s host halo mass on proximity zones. We find that incomplete reionization can impede the growth of proximity zones and make them smaller up to 30 per cent, but the quasar host halo mass only affects proximity zones weakly and indirectly. Our work suggests that high-redshift proximity zones can be an effective tool to study quasar variability and black hole growth.

Reconstructing large-scale temperature profiles around z ∼ 6 quasars

ABSTRACT High-redshift quasars ionize He ii into He iii around them, heating the intergalactic medium in the process and creating large regions with elevated temperature. In this work, we demonstrate a method based on a convolutional neural network (CNN) to recover the spatial profile for T0, the temperature at the mean cosmic density, in quasar proximity zones. We train the neural network with synthetic spectra drawn from a Cosmic Reionization on Computers simulation. We discover that the simple CNN is able to recover the temperature profile with an accuracy of ≈1400 K in an idealized case of negligible observational uncertainties. We test the robustness of the CNN and discover that it is robust against the uncertainties in quasar host halo mass, quasar continuum, and ionizing flux. We also find that the CNN has good generality with regard to the hardness of quasar spectra. This shows that with noiseless spectra, one could use a simple CNN to distinguish gas inside or outside the He iii region created by the quasar. Because the size of the He iii region is closely related to the total quasar lifetime, this method has great potential in constraining the quasar lifetime on ∼Myr time-scales. However, noise poses a big problem for accuracy and could downgrade the accuracy to ≈2340 K even for very high signal-to-noise (≳50) spectra. Future studies are needed to reduce the error associated with noise to constrain the lifetimes of reionization epoch quasars with currently available data.

AGN-driven outflows and the formation of Lyα nebulae around high-z quasars

ABSTRACT The detection of Lyα nebulae around z ≳ 6 quasars reveals extended gas reservoirs around the first rapidly growing supermassive black holes. Observations of z > 6 quasars can be explained by cosmological models provided that the black holes by which they are powered evolve in rare, massive dark matter haloes. Whether these models also explain the observed extended Lyα emission remains an open question. We post-process a suite of cosmological, radiation-hydrodynamic simulations, targeting a quasar host halo at z > 6 with the Lyα radiative transfer code Rascas. A combination of recombination radiation from photo-ionized hydrogen and emission from collisionally excited gas powers Lyα nebulae with a surface brightness profile in a close agreement with observations. We also find that, even on its own, resonant scattering of the Lyα line associated to the quasar’s broad-line region can also generate Lyα emission on $\sim 100 \, \rm kpc$ scales, resulting in comparable agreement with observed surface brightness profiles. Even if powered by a broad quasar Lyα line, Lyα nebulae have narrow line-widths $\lesssim 1000 \, \rm km \, s^{-1}$, consistent with observational constraints. Even if there is no quasar, we find that halo gas cooling produces a faint, extended Lyα glow. However, to explain the brightest Lyα nebulae, our simulations unambiguously require quasar-powered outflows to clear out the galactic nucleus and allow the Lyα flux to escape and still remain resonant with halo gas. The close match between observations and simulations with quasar outflows suggest that AGN feedback already operates before $z \, = \, 6$ and confirms that high-z quasars reside in massive haloes tracing overdensities.

A Multiwavelength Study of ELAN Environments (AMUSE2). Mass Budget, Satellites Spin Alignment, and Gas Infall in a Massive z ∼ 3 Quasar Host Halo

The systematic targeting of extended Lyα emission around high-redshift quasars resulted in the discovery of rare and bright Enormous Lyα Nebulae (ELANe) associated with multiple active galactic nuclei (AGNs). We initiate here “a multiwavelength study of ELAN environments” (AMUSE2) focusing on the ELAN around the z ∼ 3 quasar SDSS J1040+1020, aka the Fabulous ELAN. We report on VLT/HAWK-I, APEX/LABOCA, JCMT/SCUBA-2, SMA/850μm, and ALMA CO(5-4), and 2 mm observations and compare them to previously published VLT/MUSE data. The continuum and line detections enable a first estimate of the star formation rates, dust, stellar, and molecular gas masses in four objects associated with the ELAN (three AGNs and one Lyα emitter), confirming that the quasar host is the most star-forming (star formation rate of ∼500 M ⊙ yr−1) and massive galaxy (M star ∼ 1011 M ⊙) in the system, and thus can be assumed as central. All four embedded objects have similar molecular gas reservoirs ( M ⊙), resulting in short depletion timescales. This fact together with the estimated total dark matter halo mass, M DM = (0.8–2) × 1013 M ⊙, imply that this ELAN will evolve into a giant elliptical galaxy. Consistently, the constraint on the baryonic mass budget for the whole system indicates that the majority of baryons should reside in a massive warm/hot reservoir (up to 1012 M ⊙), needed to complete the baryons count. Additionally, we discuss signatures of gas infall on the compact objects as traced by Lyα radiative transfer effects and the evidence for the alignment between the satellites’ spins and their directions to the central.

Forming massive seed black holes in high-redshift quasar host progenitors

ABSTRACT The presence of massive black holes (BHs) with masses of the order of $10^9\, {\rm M_\odot }$, powering bright quasars when the Universe was less than 1 Gyr old, poses strong constraints on their formation mechanism. Several scenarios have been proposed to date to explain massive BH formation, from the low-mass seed BH remnants of the first generation of stars to the massive seed BHs resulting from the rapid collapse of massive gas clouds. However, the plausibility of some of these scenarios to occur within the progenitors of high-z quasars has not yet been thoroughly explored. In this work, we investigate, by combining dark-matter only N-body simulations with a semi-analytic framework, whether the conditions for the formation of massive seed BHs from synchronized atomic-cooling halo pairs and/or dynamically heated (DH) mini-haloes are fulfilled in the overdense regions where the progenitors of a typical high-redshift quasar host form and evolve. Our analysis shows that the peculiar conditions in such regions, i.e. strong halo clustering and high star formation rates, are crucial to produce a non-negligible number of massive seed BH host candidates: we find ≈1400 DH metal-free mini-haloes, including one of these which evolves to a synchronized pair and ends up in the massive quasar-host halo by z = 6. This demonstrates that the progenitors of high-redshift quasar host haloes can harbour early massive seed BHs. Our results further suggest that multiple massive seed BHs may form in or near the quasar host’s progenitors, potentially merging at lower redshifts and yielding gravitational wave events.

Ionization bias and the ghost proximity effect near z ≳ 6 quasars in the shadow of proximate absorption systems

ABSTRACT The larger-than-expected scatter in the opacity of the Ly α forest suggests that the metagalactic ionizing background is strongly fluctuating at $z$ > 5.5. Models for ionizing background fluctuations predict a strong positive bias on large scales, so the environments of massive $\text{$\gt$} 10^{12}\, {\rm M}_\odot$ dark matter haloes, e.g. $z$ ∼ 6 quasar hosts, would be ideal laboratories to constrain the sources of ionizing photons. While the quasars themselves should overwhelm any plausible ionizing photon contribution from neighbouring galaxies, proximate damped Ly α absorbers (DLAs) have recently been discovered in the foreground of $z$ ∼ 6 quasars, and the Ly α forest in the shadow of these DLAs could probe the local ionization environment. Using Gpc3 simulations of $z$ = 6 ionizing background fluctuations, we show that while the Ly α forest signal from ionization bias around a quasar host halo should be strong, it is likely suppressed by the associated intergalactic matter overdensity. We also show that the quasar itself may still overwhelm the clustering signal via a ‘ghost’ of the proximity effect from the quasar radiation, causing a large-scale bias in the ionizing photon mean free path. This ghost proximity effect is sensitive to the lifetime and geometry of quasar emission, potentially unlocking a new avenue for constraining these fundamental quasar properties. Finally, we present observations of a $z$ ∼ 6 quasar with a proximate DLA, which shows a strong excess in Ly α forest transmission at the predicted location of the ghost proximity effect.

Quantifying the thermal Sunyaev–Zel’dovich effect and excess millimetre emission in quasar environments

ABSTRACT In this paper, we probe the hot, post-shock gas component of quasar-driven winds through the thermal Sunyaev–Zel’dovich (tSZ) effect. Combining data sets from the Atacama Cosmology Telescope, the Herschel Space Observatory, and the Very Large Array, we measure average spectral energy distributions of 109 829 optically selected, radio quiet quasars from 1.4 to 3000 GHz in six redshift bins between 0.3 < z < 3.5. We model the emission components in the radio and far-infrared, plus a spectral distortion from the tSZ effect. At z > 1.91, we measure the tSZ effect at 3.8σ significance with an amplitude corresponding to a total thermal energy of 3.1 × 1060 erg. If this energy is due to virialized gas, then our measurement implies quasar host halo masses are ∼6 × 1012 h−1 M⊙. Alternatively, if the host dark matter halo masses are ∼2 × 1012 h−1 M⊙ as some measurements suggest, then we measure a >90 per cent excess in the thermal energy over that expected due to virialization. If the measured SZ effect is primarily due to hot bubbles from quasar-driven winds, we find that $(5^{+1.2}_{-1.3}$) per cent of the quasar bolometric luminosity couples to the intergalactic medium over a fiducial quasar lifetime of 100 Myr. An additional source of tSZ may be correlated structure, and further work is required to separate the contributions. At z ≤ 1.91, we detect emission at 95 and 148 GHz that is in excess of thermal dust and optically thin synchrotron emission. We investigate potential sources of this excess emission, finding that CO line emission and an additional optically thick synchrotron component are the most viable candidates.

Quenching star formation with quasar outflows launched by trapped IR radiation

We present cosmological radiation-hydrodynamic simulations, performed with the code Ramses-RT, of radiatively-driven outflows in a massive quasar host halo at $z = 6$. Our simulations include both single- and multi-scattered radiation pressure on dust from a quasar and are compared against simulations performed with thermal feedback. For radiation pressure-driving, we show that there is a critical quasar luminosity above which a galactic outflow is launched, set by the equilibrium of gravitational and radiation forces. While this critical luminosity is unrealistically high in the single-scattering limit for plausible black hole masses, it is in line with a $\approx 3 \times 10^9 \, \rm M_\odot$ black hole accreting at its Eddington limit, if infrared (IR) multi-scattering radiation pressure is included. The outflows are fast ($v \, \gtrsim \, 1000 \, \rm km \, s^{-1}$) and strongly mass-loaded with peak mass outflow rates $\approx 10^3 - 10^4 \, \rm M_\odot \, yr^{-1}$, but short-lived ($< 10 \, \rm Myr$). Outflowing material is multi-phase, though predominantly composed of cool gas, forming via a thermal instability in the shocked swept-up component. Radiation pressure- and thermally-driven outflows both affect their host galaxies significantly, but in different, complementary ways. Thermally-driven outflows couple more efficiently to diffuse halo gas, generating more powerful, hotter and more volume-filling outflows. IR radiation, through its ability to penetrate dense gas via diffusion, is more efficient at ejecting gas from the bulge. The combination of gas ejection through outflows with internal pressurisation by trapped IR radiation leads to a complete shut down of star formation in the bulge. We hence argue that radiation pressure-driven feedback may be an important ingredient in regulating star formation in compact starbursts, especially during the quasar's `obscured' phase.

Inspiraling halo accretion mapped in Ly α emission around a z ∼ 3 quasar

In an effort to search for Ly$\alpha$ emission from circum- and intergalactic gas on scales of hundreds of kpc around $z\sim3$ quasars, and thus characterise the physical properties of the gas in emission, we have initiated an extensive fast-survey with the Multi Unit Spectroscopic Explorer (MUSE): Quasar Snapshot Observations with MUse: Search for Extended Ultraviolet eMission (QSO MUSEUM). In this work, we report the discovery of an enormous Ly$\alpha$ nebula (ELAN) around the quasar SDSS~J102009.99+104002.7 at $z=3.164$, which we followed-up with deeper MUSE observations. This ELAN spans $\sim297$ projected kpc, has an average Ly$\alpha$ surface brightness ${\rm SB}_{\rm Ly\alpha}\sim 6.04\times10^{-18}$ erg s$^{-1}$ cm$^{-2}$ arcsec$^{-2}$ (within the $2\sigma$ isophote), and is associated with an additional four, previously unknown embedded sources: two Ly$\alpha$ emitters and two faint active galactic nuclei (one Type-1 and one Type-2 quasar). By mapping at high significance the line-of-sight velocity in the entirety of the observed structure, we unveiled a large-scale coherent rotation-like pattern spanning $\sim300$ km s$^{-1}$ with a velocity dispersion of $<270$ km s$^{-1}$, which we interpret as a signature of the inspiraling accretion of substructures within the quasar's host halo. Future multiwavelength data will complement our MUSE observations, and are definitely needed to fully characterise such a complex system. None the less, our observations reveal the potential of new sensitive integral-field spectrographs to characterise the dynamical state of diffuse gas on large scales in the young Universe, and thereby witness the assembly of galaxies.

Imprints of the super-Eddington accretion on the quasar clustering

Abstract Super-Eddington mass accretion has been suggested as an efficient mechanism to grow supermassive black holes. We investigate the imprint left by the radiative efficiency of the super-Eddington accretion process on the clustering of quasars using a new semi-analytic model of galaxy and quasar formation based on large-volume cosmological N-body simulations. Our model includes a simple model for the radiative efficiency of a quasar, which imitates the effect of photon trapping for a high mass accretion rate. We find that the model of radiative efficiency affects the relation between the quasar luminosity and the quasar host halo mass. The quasar host halo mass has only weak dependence on quasar luminosity when there is no upper limit for quasar luminosity. On the other hand, it has significant dependence on quasar luminosity when the quasar luminosity is limited by its Eddington luminosity. In the latter case, the quasar bias also depends on the quasar luminosity, and the quasar bias of bright quasars is in agreement with observations. Our results suggest that the quasar clustering studies can provide a constraint on the accretion disc model.

On the origin of excess cool gas in quasar host haloes

Previous observations of quasar host haloes at z ≈ 2 have uncovered large quantities of cool gas that exceed what is found around inactive galaxies of both lower and higher masses. To better understand the source of this excess cool gas, we compiled an exhaustive sample of 195 quasars at z ≈ 1 with constraints on chemically enriched, cool gas traced by Mg ii absorption in background quasar spectra from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. This quasar sample spans a broad range of luminosities from Lbol = 1044.4 to 1046.8 erg s−1 and allows an investigation of whether halo gas properties are connected with quasar properties. We find a strong correlation between luminosity and cool gas covering fraction. In particular, low-luminosity quasars exhibit a mean gas covering fraction comparable to inactive galaxies of similar masses, but more luminous quasars exhibit excess cool gas approaching what is reported previously at z ≈ 2. Moreover, 30–40 per cent of the Mg ii absorption occurs at radial velocities of |Δv| > 300 km s−1 from the quasar, inconsistent with gas bound to a typical quasar host halo. The large velocity offsets and observed luminosity dependence of the cool gas near quasars can be explained if the gas arises from: (1) neighbouring haloes correlated through large-scale structure at Mpc scales, (2) feedback from luminous quasars or (3) debris from the mergers thought to trigger luminous quasars. The first of these scenarios is in tension with the lack of correlation between quasar luminosity and clustering while the latter two make distinct predictions that can be tested with additional observations.

Driving the growth of the earliest supermassive black holes with major mergers of host galaxies

The formation mechanism of supermassive black holes (SMBHs) in general, and of SMBHs observed as luminous quasars at redshifts in particular, remains an open fundamental question. The presence of such massive BHs at such early times, when the Universe was less than a billion years old, implies that they grew via either super-Eddington accretion, or nearly uninterrupted gas accretion near the Eddington limit; the latter, at first glance, is at odds with empirical trends at lower redshifts, where quasar episodes associated with rapid BH growth are rare and brief. In this work, I examine whether and to what extent the growth of the quasar SMBHs can be explained within the standard quasar paradigm, in which major mergers of host galaxies trigger episodes of rapid gas accretion below or near the Eddington limit. Using a suite of Monte Carlo merger tree simulations of the assembly histories of 40 likely quasar host halos, I investigate (i) their growth and major merger rates out to , and (ii) how long the feeding episodes induced by host mergers must last in order to explain the observed quasar population without super-Eddington accretion. The halo major merger rate scales roughly as , consistent with cosmological simulations at lower redshifts, with quasar hosts typically experiencing major mergers between (), compared to ∼1 for typical massive galaxies at (). The high rate of major mergers allows for nearly continuous SMBH growth if (for example) a merger triggers feeding for a duration comparable to the halo dynamical time. These findings suggest that the growth mechanisms of the earliest quasar SMBHs need not have been drastically different from their counterparts at lower redshifts.

The large-scale quasar-Lyman α forest cross-correlation from BOSS

We measure the large-scale cross-correlation of quasars with the Lyα forest absorption in redshift space, using ∼ 60000 quasar spectra from Data Release 9 (DR9) of the Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (BOSS). The cross-correlation is detected over a wide range of scales, up to comoving separations r of 80 h−1Mpc. For r > 15 h−1Mpc, we show that the cross-correlation is well fitted by the linear theory prediction for the mean overdensity around a quasar host halo in the standard ΛCDM model, with the redshift distortions indicative of gravitational evolution detected at high confidence. Using previous determinations of the Lyα forest bias factor obtained from the Lyα autocorrelation, we infer the quasar bias factor to be bq = 3.64+0.13−0.15 at a mean redshift z = 2.38, in agreement with previous measurements from the quasar auto-correlation. We also obtain a new estimate of the Lyα forest redshift distortion factor, βF = 1.1±0.15, slightly larger than but consistent with the previous measurement from the Lyα forest autocorrelation. The simple linear model we use fails at separations r < 15h−1Mpc, and we show that this may reasonably be due to the enhanced ionization due to radiation from the quasars. We also provide the expected correction that the mass overdensity around the quasar implies for measurements of the ionizing radiation background from the line-of-sight proximity effect.

THE HALO OCCUPATION DISTRIBUTION OF SDSS QUASARS

ABSTRACT We present an estimate of the projected two-point correlation function (2PCF) of quasars in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) over the full range of one- and two-halo scales, 0.02 h −1 Mpc &lt; rp &lt; 120 h −1 Mpc. This was achieved by combining data from SDSS DR7 on large scales and Hennawi et al. (with appropriate statistical corrections) on small scales. Our combined clustering sample is the largest spectroscopic quasar clustering sample to date, containing ∼48, 000 quasars in the redshift range 0.4 ≲ z ≲ 2.5 with median redshift 1.4. We interpret these precise 2PCF measurements within the halo occupation distribution (HOD) framework and constrain the occupation functions of central and satellite quasars in dark matter halos. In order to explain the small-scale clustering, the HOD modeling requires that a small fraction of z ∼ 1.4 quasars, f sat = (7.4 ± 1.4) × 10−4, be satellites in dark matter halos. At z ∼ 1.4, the median masses of the host halos of central and satellite quasars are constrained to be M cen = 4.1+0.3 − 0.4 × 1012 h −1 M ☉ and M sat = 3.6+0.8 − 1.0 × 1014 h −1 M ☉, respectively. To investigate the redshift evolution of the quasar-halo relationship, we also perform HOD modeling of the projected 2PCF measured by Shen et al. for SDSS quasars with median redshift 3.2. We find tentative evidence for an increase in the mass scale of quasar host halos—the inferred median mass of halos hosting central quasars at z ∼ 3.2 is M cen = 14.1+5.8 − 6.9 × 1012 h −1 M ☉. The cutoff profiles of the mean occupation functions of central quasars reveal that quasar luminosity is more tightly correlated with halo mass at higher redshifts. The average quasar duty cycle around the median host halo mass is inferred to be f q = 7.3+0.6 − 1.5 × 10−4 at z ∼ 1.4 and f q = 8.6+20.4 − 7.2 × 10−2 at z ∼ 3.2. We discuss the implications of our results for quasar evolution and quasar–galaxy co-evolution.

Constraints on black hole duty cycles and the black hole-halo relation from SDSS quasar clustering

We use Shen et al.'s (2009) measurements of luminosity-dependent clustering in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Data Release 5 quasar catalogue, at redshifts 0.4 ≤z≤ 2.5, to constrain the relation between quasar luminosity and host halo mass and to infer the duty cycle fopt, the fraction of black holes that shine as optically luminous quasars at a given time. We assume a monotonic mean relation between quasar luminosity and host halo mass, with lognormal scatter Σ. For specified fopt and Σ, matching the observed quasar space density determines the normalization of the luminosity–halo mass relation, from which we predict the clustering bias. The data show no change of bias between the faint and bright halves of the quasar sample but a modest increase in bias for the brightest 10 per cent. At the mean redshift z= 1.45 of the sample, the data can be well described either by models with small intrinsic scatter (Σ= 0.1 dex) and a duty cycle fopt= 6 × 10−4 or by models with much larger duty cycles and larger values of the scatter. ‘Continuity equation’ models of the black hole mass population imply fopt≥ 2 × 10−3 in this range of masses and redshifts, and the combination of this constraint with the clustering measurements implies scatter Σ≥ 0.4 dex. These findings contrast with those inferred from the much stronger clustering of high-luminosity quasars at z≈ 4, which require minimal scatter between luminosity and halo mass and duty cycles close to one.