Statistics of Galactic-scale Quasar Pairs at Cosmic Noon
The statistics of galactic-scale quasar pairs can elucidate our understanding of the dynamical evolution of supermassive black hole (SMBH) pairs, the duty cycles of quasar activity in mergers, or even the nature of dark matter, but they have been challenging to measure at cosmic noon, the prime epoc...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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IOP Publishing
2023-01-01
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| Series: | The Astrophysical Journal |
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| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/aca662 |
| _version_ | 1797701274733379584 |
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| author | Yue Shen Hsiang-Chih Hwang Masamune Oguri Nianyi Chen Tiziana Di Matteo Yueying Ni Simeon Bird Nadia Zakamska Xin Liu Yu-Ching Chen Kaitlin M. Kratter |
| author_facet | Yue Shen Hsiang-Chih Hwang Masamune Oguri Nianyi Chen Tiziana Di Matteo Yueying Ni Simeon Bird Nadia Zakamska Xin Liu Yu-Ching Chen Kaitlin M. Kratter |
| author_sort | Yue Shen |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The statistics of galactic-scale quasar pairs can elucidate our understanding of the dynamical evolution of supermassive black hole (SMBH) pairs, the duty cycles of quasar activity in mergers, or even the nature of dark matter, but they have been challenging to measure at cosmic noon, the prime epoch of massive galaxy and SMBH formation. Here we measure a double quasar fraction of ∼6.2 ± 0.5 × 10 ^−4 integrated over ∼0.″3–3″ separations (projected physical separations of ∼3–30 kpc at z ∼ 2) in luminous ( L _bol > 10 ^45.8 erg s ^−1 ) unobscured quasars at 1.5 < z < 3.5 using Gaia EDR3-resolved pairs around SDSS DR16 quasars. The measurement was based on a sample of 60 Gaia-resolved double quasars (out of 487 Gaia pairs dominated by quasar+star superpositions) at these separations, corrected for pair completeness in Gaia, which we quantify as functions of pair separation, magnitude of the primary, and magnitude contrast. The double quasar fraction increases toward smaller separations by a factor of ∼5 over these scales. The division between physical quasar pairs and lensed quasars in our sample is currently unknown, requiring dedicated follow-up observations (in particular, deep, subarcsecond-resolution IR imaging for the closest pairs). Intriguingly, at this point, the observed pair statistics are in rough agreement with theoretical predictions both for the lensed quasar population in mock catalogs and for dual quasars in cosmological hydrodynamic simulations. Upcoming wide-field imaging/spectroscopic space missions such as Euclid, CSST, and Roman, combined with targeted follow-up observations, will conclusively measure the abundances and host galaxy properties of galactic-scale quasar pairs, offset AGNs, and subarcsecond lensed quasars across cosmic time. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-12T04:34:05Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-aac23531167243828a08120ba758992b |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1538-4357 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-12T04:34:05Z |
| publishDate | 2023-01-01 |
| publisher | IOP Publishing |
| record_format | Article |
| series | The Astrophysical Journal |
| spelling | doaj.art-aac23531167243828a08120ba758992b2023-09-03T09:58:13ZengIOP PublishingThe Astrophysical Journal1538-43572023-01-0194313810.3847/1538-4357/aca662Statistics of Galactic-scale Quasar Pairs at Cosmic NoonYue Shen0https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1659-7035Hsiang-Chih Hwang1https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4250-4437Masamune Oguri2https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3484-399XNianyi Chen3https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6627-2533Tiziana Di Matteo4Yueying Ni5Simeon Bird6https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5803-5490Nadia Zakamska7https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6100-6869Xin Liu8https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0049-5210Yu-Ching Chen9Kaitlin M. Kratter10https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5253-1338Department of Astronomy, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign , Urbana, IL 61801, USA ; shenyue@illinois.edu; National Center for Supercomputing Applications, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign , Urbana, IL 61801, USASchool of Natural Sciences, Institute for Advanced Study , 1 Einstein Drive, Princeton, NJ 08540, USACenter for Frontier Science, Chiba University , 1-33 Yayoi-cho, Inage-ku, Chiba 263-8522, Japan; Department of Physics, Graduate School of Science, Chiba University , 1-33 Yayoi-Cho, Inage-Ku, Chiba 263-8522, JapanMcWilliams Center for Cosmology, Department of Physics, Carnegie Mellon University , Pittsburgh, PA 15213, USAMcWilliams Center for Cosmology, Department of Physics, Carnegie Mellon University , Pittsburgh, PA 15213, USA; NSF AI Planning Institute for Physics of the Future, Carnegie Mellon University , Pittsburgh, PA 15213, USAMcWilliams Center for Cosmology, Department of Physics, Carnegie Mellon University , Pittsburgh, PA 15213, USA; NSF AI Planning Institute for Physics of the Future, Carnegie Mellon University , Pittsburgh, PA 15213, USADepartment of Physics & Astronomy, University of California, Riverside , 900 University Avenue, Riverside, CA 92521, USASchool of Natural Sciences, Institute for Advanced Study , 1 Einstein Drive, Princeton, NJ 08540, USA; Department of Physics and Astronomy, Johns Hopkins University , Baltimore, MD, USADepartment of Astronomy, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign , Urbana, IL 61801, USA ; shenyue@illinois.edu; National Center for Supercomputing Applications, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign , Urbana, IL 61801, USADepartment of Astronomy, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign , Urbana, IL 61801, USA ; shenyue@illinois.eduUniversity of Arizona , 933 North Cherry Avenue, Tucson, AZ 85721, USAThe statistics of galactic-scale quasar pairs can elucidate our understanding of the dynamical evolution of supermassive black hole (SMBH) pairs, the duty cycles of quasar activity in mergers, or even the nature of dark matter, but they have been challenging to measure at cosmic noon, the prime epoch of massive galaxy and SMBH formation. Here we measure a double quasar fraction of ∼6.2 ± 0.5 × 10 ^−4 integrated over ∼0.″3–3″ separations (projected physical separations of ∼3–30 kpc at z ∼ 2) in luminous ( L _bol > 10 ^45.8 erg s ^−1 ) unobscured quasars at 1.5 < z < 3.5 using Gaia EDR3-resolved pairs around SDSS DR16 quasars. The measurement was based on a sample of 60 Gaia-resolved double quasars (out of 487 Gaia pairs dominated by quasar+star superpositions) at these separations, corrected for pair completeness in Gaia, which we quantify as functions of pair separation, magnitude of the primary, and magnitude contrast. The double quasar fraction increases toward smaller separations by a factor of ∼5 over these scales. The division between physical quasar pairs and lensed quasars in our sample is currently unknown, requiring dedicated follow-up observations (in particular, deep, subarcsecond-resolution IR imaging for the closest pairs). Intriguingly, at this point, the observed pair statistics are in rough agreement with theoretical predictions both for the lensed quasar population in mock catalogs and for dual quasars in cosmological hydrodynamic simulations. Upcoming wide-field imaging/spectroscopic space missions such as Euclid, CSST, and Roman, combined with targeted follow-up observations, will conclusively measure the abundances and host galaxy properties of galactic-scale quasar pairs, offset AGNs, and subarcsecond lensed quasars across cosmic time.https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/aca662Black hole physicsActive galaxiesDouble quasars |
| spellingShingle | Yue Shen Hsiang-Chih Hwang Masamune Oguri Nianyi Chen Tiziana Di Matteo Yueying Ni Simeon Bird Nadia Zakamska Xin Liu Yu-Ching Chen Kaitlin M. Kratter Statistics of Galactic-scale Quasar Pairs at Cosmic Noon The Astrophysical Journal Black hole physics Active galaxies Double quasars |
| title | Statistics of Galactic-scale Quasar Pairs at Cosmic Noon |
| title_full | Statistics of Galactic-scale Quasar Pairs at Cosmic Noon |
| title_fullStr | Statistics of Galactic-scale Quasar Pairs at Cosmic Noon |
| title_full_unstemmed | Statistics of Galactic-scale Quasar Pairs at Cosmic Noon |
| title_short | Statistics of Galactic-scale Quasar Pairs at Cosmic Noon |
| title_sort | statistics of galactic scale quasar pairs at cosmic noon |
| topic | Black hole physics Active galaxies Double quasars |
| url | https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/aca662 |
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