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Early black holes in cosmological simulations: luminosity functions and clustering behaviour

Journal

MONTHLY NOTICES OF THE ROYAL ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY
Volume 424, Issue 3, Pages 1892-1898

Publisher

OXFORD UNIV PRESS
DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-2966.2012.21294.x

Keywords

black hole physics; methods: numerical; galaxies: active; galaxies: haloes; quasars: general

Funding

  1. NSF Petapps [OCI-0749212]
  2. NSF [AST-1009781]
  3. National Science Foundation
  4. Direct For Computer & Info Scie & Enginr
  5. Office of Advanced Cyberinfrastructure (OAC) [749212] Funding Source: National Science Foundation
  6. Division Of Astronomical Sciences
  7. Direct For Mathematical & Physical Scien [1009781] Funding Source: National Science Foundation

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We examine predictions for the quasar luminosity functions (QLFs) and quasar clustering at high redshift (z >= 4.75) using MassiveBlack, our new hydrodynamic cosmological simulation which includes a self-consistent model for black hole (BH) growth and feedback. We show that the model reproduces the Sloan QLF within observational constraints at z >= 5. We find that the high-z QLF is consistent with a redshift-independent occupation distribution of BHs among dark matter haloes (which we provide) such that the evolution of the QLF follows that of the halo mass function. The sole exception is the bright end at z = 6 and 7, where BHs in high-mass haloes tend to be unusually bright due to extended periods of Eddington growth caused by high-density cold flows into the halo centre. We further use these luminosity functions to make predictions for the number density of quasars in upcoming surveys, predicting that there should be similar to 119 +/- 28 (similar to 87 +/- 28) quasars detectable in the F125W band of the WIDE (DEEP) fields of the Cosmic Assembly Near-infrared Deep Extragalactic Legacy Survey (CANDELS) from z = 5 to 6, similar to 19 +/- 7 (similar to 18 +/- 9) from z = 6 to 7 and similar to 1.7 +/- 1.5 (similar to 1.5 +/- 1.5) from z = 7 to 8. We also investigate quasar clustering, finding that the correlation length is fully consistent with current constraints for Sloan quasars (r0 similar to 17?h-1?Mpc at z = 4 for quasars above mi = 20.2) and grows slowly with redshift up to z = 6 (r0 similar to 22?h-1?Mpc). Finally, we note that the quasar clustering strength depends weakly on luminosity for low LBH, but gets stronger at higher LBH as the BHs are found in higher mass haloes.

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