The clustering of intermediate-redshift quasars as measured by the Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey

We measure the quasar two-point correlation function over the redshift range 2.2 < z < 2.8 using data from the Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey. We use a homogeneous subset of the data consisting of 27 129 quasars with spectroscopic redshifts -by far the largest such sample used for clustering measurements at these redshifts to date. The sample covers 3600 deg 2 , corresponding to a comoving volume of 9.7 (h -1 Gpc) 3 assuming a fiducial cold dark matter cosmology, and it has a median absolute i-band magnitude of -26, k-corrected to z = 2. After accounting for redshift errors we find that the redshift-space correlation function is fitted well by a power law of slope -2 and amplitude s 0 = (9.7 0.5) h -1 Mpc over the range 3 < s < 25 h -1 Mpc. The projected correlation function, which integrates out the effects of peculiar velocities and redshift errors, is fitted well by a power law of slope -1 and r 0 = (8.4 0.6) h -1 Mpc over the range 4 < R < 16 h -1 Mpc. There is no evidence for strong luminosity or redshift dependence to the clustering amplitude, in part because of the limited dynamic range