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Clustering on very small scales from a large sample of confirmed quasar pairs: does quasar clustering track from Mpc to kpc scales?
Journal article   Open access   Peer reviewed

Clustering on very small scales from a large sample of confirmed quasar pairs: does quasar clustering track from Mpc to kpc scales?

S. Eftekharzadeh, A. D. Myers, J. F. Hennawi, S. G. Djorgovski, G. T. Richards, A. A. Mahabal and M. J. Graham
Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, v 468(1)
01 Jun 2017
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stx412
url
https://resolver.caltech.edu/CaltechAUTHORS:20170428-114834477View
Accepted (AM)Open Access (License Unspecified),  Open

Abstract

Astronomy & Astrophysics Science & Technology Physical Sciences
We present the most precise estimate to date of the clustering of quasars on very small scales, based on a sample of 47 binary quasars with magnitudes of g < 20.85 and proper transverse separations of -25 h(-1) kpc. Our sample of binary quasars, which is about six times larger than any previous spectroscopically confirmed sample on these scales, is targeted using a kernel density estimation (KDE) technique applied to Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) imaging over most of the SDSS area. Our sample is 'complete' in that all of the KDE target pairs with 17.0 <= R <= 36.2 h(-1) kpc in our area of interest have been spectroscopically confirmed from a combination of previous surveys and our own long-slit observational campaign. We catalogue 230 candidate quasar pairs with angular separations of < 8 arcsec, from which our binary quasars were identified. We determine the projected correlation function of quasars (W-p) in four bins of proper transverse scale over the range 17.0 <= R <= 36.2 h(-1) kpc. The implied small-scale quasar clustering amplitude from the projected correlation function, integrated across our entire redshift range, is A = 24.1 +/- 3.6 at -26.6 h(-1) kpc. Our sample is the first spectroscopically confirmed sample of quasar pairs that is sufficiently large to study how quasar clustering evolves with redshift at -25 h(-1) kpc. We find that empirical descriptions of how quasar clustering evolves with redshift at -25 h(-1) Mpc also adequately describe the evolution of quasar clustering at -25 h(-1) kpc.

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