Moderate CIV absorber systems require 1012 M dark matter halos at z ∼ 2.3: A cross-correlation study of CIV absorber systems and quasars in SDSS-III boss DR9

Shailendra Vikas, W. Michael Wood-Vasey, Britt Lundgren, Nicholas P. Ross, Adam D. Myers, Yusra Alsayyad, Donald G. York, Donald P. Schneider, J. Brinkmann, Dmitry Bizyaev, Howard Brewington, Jian Ge, Elena Malanushenko, Viktor Malanushenko, Demitri Muna, Daniel Oravetz, Kaike Pan, Isabelle Pâris, Patrick Petitjean, Stephanie SneddenAlaina Shelden, Audrey Simmons, Benjamin A. Weaver

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Abstract

We measure the two-point cross-correlation function of C IV absorber systems and quasars, using spectroscopic data from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey III Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (BOSS; Data Release 9). The 19,701 quasars and 6149 C IV "moderate" absorbers, 0.28 Å < rest-frame equivalent width (EW) < 5 Å, in our study cover a redshift range of 2.1 < z < 2.5 over 3300 deg2 and represent a factor of two increase in sample size over previous investigations. We find a correlation scale length and slope of the redshift-space cross-correlation function of s 0 = 8.46 ± 1.24 Mpc, γ = 1.68 ± 0.19, in the redshift-space range 10 < s < 100 Mpc. We find a projected cross-correlation function of C IV absorption systems and quasars of r 0 = 7.76 ± 2.80 Mpc, γ = 1.74 ± 0.21. We measure the combined quasar and C IV bias to be b QSO b C IV = 8.81 ± 2.28. Using an estimate of b QSO from the quasar auto-correlation function we find bCIV = 2.38 ± 0.62. This bCIV implies that EW > 0.28 Å C IV absorbers at z ∼ 2.3 are typically found in dark matter halos that have masses ≥1011.3-1013.4 M at that redshift. The complete BOSS sample will triple the number of both quasars and absorption systems and increase the power of this cross-correlation measurement by a factor of two.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Article number38
JournalAstrophysical Journal
Volume768
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - May 1 2013

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • Astronomy and Astrophysics
  • Space and Planetary Science

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