QSO obscuration at high redshift ($z \gtrsim 7$): Predictions from the
  BlueTides simulation
  High-$z$ AGNs hosted in gas rich galaxies are expected to grow through
significantly obscured accretion phases. This may limit or bias their
observability. In this work, we use \textsc{BlueTides}, a large volume
cosmological simulation of galaxy formation to examine quasar obscuration for
the highest-redshift ($z \geq 7$) supermassive black holes residing in the
center of galaxies. We find that for the bright quasars, most of the high
column density gas ($>90\%$) resides in the innermost regions of the host
galaxy, (typically within $< 10$ ckpc), while the gas in the outskirts is a
minor contributor to the $N_\mathrm H$. The brightest quasars can have large
angular variations in galactic obscuration, over 2 orders of magnitude, where
the lines of sight with the lowest obscuration are those formed via strong gas
outflows driven by AGN feedback. We find that for the overall AGN population,
the mean $N_\mathrm H$ is generally larger for high luminosity and BH mass,
while the $N_\mathrm H$ distribution is significantly broadened, developing a
low $N_\mathrm H $ wing due to the angular variations driven by the AGN
outflows/feedback. The obscured fraction P($N_{\rm H} > 10^{23} {\rm cm}^{-2}$)
typically range from 0.6 to 1.0 for increasing $L_{X}$ (with $L_X > 10^{43}
\rm{ergs/s}$), with no clear trend of redshift evolution. With respect to the
galaxy host property, we find a linear relation between $N_{\rm H}$, $M_*$ and
$M_{\rm H_2}$ with $\log N_{\rm H} = (0.24 \pm 0.03) \log M_{*} + (20.7 \pm
0.3)$ and $\log N_{\rm H} = (0.47 \pm 0.03) \log M_{\rm H_2} + (18.4 \pm 0.3)$.
The dust optical depth in the UV band $\tau_{\mathrm UV}$ has tight positive
correlation with $N_{\rm H}$. Our dust extincted UVLF is about 1.5 dex lower
than the intrinsic UVLF, implying that more than 99\% of the $z \sim 7$ AGNs
are heavily dust extincted and therefore would be missed by the UV band
observation.
