The clustering of active galactic nuclei in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey

We present the two-point correlation function (2PCF) of narrow-line active galactic nuclei (AGNs) selected within the First Data Release of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. Using a sample of 13,605 AGNs in the redshift range , we find that the AGN autocorrelation function is consistent with the observed galaxy 0.055 ! z ! 0.2 autocorrelation function on scales from 0.2 to greater than 100 h 1 Mpc. The AGN hosts trace an intermediate population of galaxies and are not detected in either the bluest (youngest) disk-dominated galaxies or many of the reddest (oldest) galaxies. We show that the AGN 2PCF is dependent on the luminosity of the narrow [O iii] emission line ( ), with low AGNs having a higher clustering amplitude than high AGNs. This L L L [O iii] [O iii] [O iii] is consistent with lower activity AGNs residing in more massive galaxies than higher activity AGNs, and providing a good indicator of the fueling rate. Using a model relating halo mass to black hole mass in L [O iii] cosmological simulations, we show that AGNs hosted by ∼1012 M, dark matter halos have a 2PCF that matches that of the observed sample. This mass scale implies a mean black hole mass for the sample of M,. 8 M ∼ 10 BH Subject headings: galaxies: active — galaxies: statistics