Radio-quiet quasar environments at 0.5 ≤ z ≤ 0.8 |
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| Authors: | Margrethe Wold Mark Lacy Per B Lilje Stephen Serjeant |
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| Institution: | Stockholm Observatory, SE-133 36 Saltsjöbaden, Sweden;IGPP, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, 7000 East Avenue, Livermore, CA 94550, USA;Department of Physics, University of California, 1 Shields Avenue, Davis, CA 95616, USA;Institute of Theoretical Astrophysics, University of Oslo, PO Box 1029 Blindern, N-0315 Oslo, Norway;Astrophysics Group, Imperial College London, Blackett Laboratory, Prince Consort Road, London SW7 2BZ |
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| Abstract: | We quantify the galaxy environments around a sample of 0.5≤ z ≤0.8 radio-quiet quasars using the amplitude of the spatial galaxy–quasar correlation function, B gq. The quasars exist in a wide variety of environments; some sources are located in clusters as rich as Abell class 1–2 clusters, whereas others exist in environments comparable to the field. We find that, on average, the quasars prefer poorer clusters of ≈Abell class 0, which suggests that quasars are biased tracers of mass compared with galaxies. The mean B gq for the sample is found to be indistinguishable from the mean amplitude for a sample of radio-loud quasars matched in redshift and optical luminosity. These observations are consistent with recent studies of the hosts of radio-quiet quasars at low to intermediate redshifts, and suggest that the mechanism for the production of powerful radio jets in radio-loud quasars is controlled by processes deep within the active galactic nucleus itself, and is unrelated to the nature of the hosts or their environments. |
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| Keywords: | galaxies: active galaxies: clusters: general quasars: general |
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