Probing the Warm Dark Matter with High-z Quasar Luminosity Function

Abstract

In a warm dark matter (WDM) cosmology, the first objects to form at z>=20 are one dimensional filaments with mean length on the order of the WDM free-streaming scale. Gao and Theuns recently claimed by using high-resolution hydrodynamic simulations that the eventual collapse of these WDM filaments along their longest axes may seed the supermassive black holes that power high-z quasars. In this picture, it is supposed that the high-z quasar luminosity function should reflect how abundant the WDM filaments are in the early universe. We derive analytically the mass function of early-universe filaments with the help of the Zel'dovich approximation. Then, we determine the rate of its decrease in the mass section corresponding to the free streaming scale of a WDM particle of mass m_v. Adjusting the value of m_v, we fit the slope of the analytic model to that of the high-z quasar luminosity function measured from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey DR3. A new WDM constraint from this feasibility study is found to be consistent with the lightest super-symmetric partner.