EIGER VI. The Correlation Function, Host Halo Mass and Duty Cycle of Luminous Quasars at z\gtrsim6

2024/03/12 by Anna–Christina Eilers, Eilers, Anna-Christina, Ruari Mackenzie +29 · 8 citations
Physics and Astronomy · #Astronomy and Astrophysical Research #Astrophysics of Galaxies (astro-ph.GA) #Cosmology and Gravitation Theories #Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics (astro-ph.CO) #FOS: Physical sciences #Galaxies: Formation, Evolution, Phenomena

paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2403.07986

openalex publication_date 2024/03/12 · openalex created_date 2024/03/15 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28

Abstract

We expect luminous (M₁₄₅₀\lesssim-26.5) high-redshift quasars to trace the highest density peaks in the early universe. Here, we present observations of four z\gtrsim6 quasar fields using JWST/NIRCam in imaging and widefield slitless spectroscopy mode and report a wide range in the number of detected [OIII]-emitting galaxies in the quasars' environments, ranging between a density enhancement of δ≈65 within a 2 cMpc radius - one of the largest proto-clusters during the Epoch of Reionization discovered to date - to a density contrast consistent with zero, indicating the presence of a UV-luminous quasar in a region comparable to the average density of the universe. By measuring the two-point cross-correlation function of quasars and their surrounding galaxies, as well as the galaxy auto-correlation function, we infer a correlation length of quasars at ⟨ z⟩=6.25 of r₀^{\rm QQ}=22.0^+3.0_-2.9~\rm cMpc h^-1, while we obtain a correlation length of the [OIII]-emitting galaxies of r₀^{\rm GG}=4.1±0.3~\rm cMpc h^-1. By comparing the correlation functions to dark-matter-only simulations we estimate the minimum mass of the quasars' host dark matter halos to be log₁₀(M_{\rm halo, min}/M_\odot)=12.43^+0.13_-0.15 (and log₁₀(M_{\rm halo, min}^{\rm [OIII]}/M_\odot) = 10.56^+0.05_-0.03 for the [OIII]-emitters), indicating that (a) luminous quasars do not necessarily reside within the most overdense regions in the early universe, and that (b) the UV-luminous duty cycle of quasar activity at these redshifts is f_{\rm duty}≪1. Such short quasar activity timescales challenge our understanding of early supermassive black hole growth and provide evidence for highly dust-obscured growth phases or episodic, radiatively inefficient accretion rates.

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• Superheavy Q-Balls and Cosmology
• The z=7.08 quasar ULAS J1120+0641 May Never Reach a "Normal" Black Hole to Stellar Mass Ratio
• SHELLQs-JWST perspective on the intrinsic mass relation between supermassive black holes and their host galaxies at z > 6

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