Chandra COSMOS Legacy Survey: Clustering dependence of Type 2 active galactic nuclei on host galaxy properties

Aims: we perform clustering measurements of 800 X-ray selected Chandra COSMOS Legacy (CCL) Type 2 active galactic nuclei (AGN) with known spectroscopic redshift to probe the halo mass dependence on AGN host galaxy properties, such as galaxy stellar mass Mstar, star formation rate (SFR), and specific black hole accretion rate (BHAR; λBHAR) in the redshift range z = [0−3]. Methods: we split the sample of AGN with known spectroscopic redshits according to Mstar, SFR and λBHAR, while matching the distributions in terms of the other parameters, including redshift. We measured the projected two-point correlation function wp(rp) and modeled the clustering signal, for the different subsamples, with the two-halo term to derive the large-scale bias b and corresponding typical mass of the hosting halo. Results: we find no significant dependence of the large-scale bias and typical halo mass on galaxy stellar mass and specific BHAR for CCL Type 2 AGN at mean z ∼ 1, while a negative dependence on SFR is observed, i.e. lower SFR AGN reside in richer environment. Mock catalogs of AGN, matched to have the same X-ray luminosity, stellar mass, λBHAR, and SFR of CCL Type 2 AGN, almost reproduce the observed Mstar − Mh, λBHAR − Mh and SFR–Mh relations, when assuming a fraction of satellite AGN fAGNsat ∼ 0.15. This corresponds to a ratio of the probabilities of satellite to central AGN of being active Q ∼ 2. Mock matched normal galaxies follow a slightly steeper Mstar − Mh relation, in which low mass mock galaxies reside in less massive halos than mock AGN of similar mass. Moreover, matched mock normal galaxies are less biased than mock AGN with similar specific BHAR and SFR, at least for Q >  1.