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Title: ON THE CLUSTERING OF SUBMILLIMETER GALAXIES

Abstract

We measure the angular two-point correlation function of submillimeter galaxies (SMGs) from 1.1 mm imaging of the COSMOS field with the AzTEC camera and ASTE 10 m telescope. These data yield one of the largest contiguous samples of SMGs to date, covering an area of 0.72 deg{sup 2} down to a 1.26 mJy beam{sup -1} (1{sigma}) limit, including 189 (328) sources with S/N {>=}3.5 (3). We can only set upper limits to the correlation length r{sub 0}, modeling the correlation function as a power law with pre-assigned slope. Assuming existing redshift distributions, we derive 68.3% confidence level upper limits of r{sub 0} {approx}< 6-8h{sup -1} Mpc at 3.7 mJy and r{sub 0} {approx}< 11-12 h{sup -1} Mpc at 4.2 mJy. Although consistent with most previous estimates, these upper limits imply that the real r{sub 0} is likely smaller. This casts doubts on the robustness of claims that SMGs are characterized by significantly stronger spatial clustering (and thus larger mass) than differently selected galaxies at high redshift. Using Monte Carlo simulations we show that even strongly clustered distributions of galaxies can appear unclustered when sampled with limited sensitivity and coarse angular resolution common to current submillimeter surveys. The simulations, however, alsomore » show that unclustered distributions can appear strongly clustered under these circumstances. From the simulations, we predict that at our survey depth, a mapped area of 2 deg{sup 2} is needed to reconstruct the correlation function, assuming smaller beam sizes of future surveys (e.g., the Large Millimeter Telescope's 6'' beam size). At present, robust measures of the clustering strength of bright SMGs appear to be below the reach of most observations.« less

Authors:
; ; ; ; ; ;  [1];  [2];  [3];  [4]; ;  [5]; ;  [6];  [7];  [8];  [9]
  1. Astronomy Department, University of Massachusetts, 710 North Pleasant Street, Amherst, MA 01003 (United States)
  2. Argelander-Institut fuer Astronomie der Universitaet Bonn, Auf dem Huegel 71, D-53121 Bonn (Germany)
  3. Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Pennsylvania, 209 South 33rd Street, Philadelphia, PA 19104 (United States)
  4. Center for Astrophysics and Space Astronomy, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO 80309 (United States)
  5. Instituto Nacional de Astrofisica, Optica y Electronica (INAOE), Aptdo. Postal 51 y 216, 72000 Puebla, Pue. (Mexico)
  6. Nobeyama Radio Observatory, Minamimaki, Minamisaku, Nagano 384-1805 (Japan)
  7. Yale Center for Astronomy and Astrophysics, Department of Physics, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06520 (United States)
  8. Institute of Astronomy, the University of Tokyo, 2-21-1 Osawa, Mitaka, Tokyo 181-0015 (Japan)
  9. Department of Physics, Illinois Wesleyan University, Bloomington, IL 61701 (United States)
Publication Date:
OSTI Identifier:
21576743
Resource Type:
Journal Article
Journal Name:
Astrophysical Journal
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Volume: 733; Journal Issue: 2; Other Information: DOI: 10.1088/0004-637X/733/2/92; Journal ID: ISSN 0004-637X
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
79 ASTROPHYSICS, COSMOLOGY AND ASTRONOMY; COMPUTERIZED SIMULATION; CORRELATION FUNCTIONS; GALACTIC EVOLUTION; GALAXIES; GALAXY CLUSTERS; MONTE CARLO METHOD; RED SHIFT; CALCULATION METHODS; EVOLUTION; FUNCTIONS; SIMULATION

Citation Formats

Williams, Christina C, Giavalisco, Mauro, Yun, Min S, Pope, Alexandra, Wilson, Grant W, Cybulski, Ryan, Schloerb, F Peter, Porciani, Cristiano, Scott, Kimberly S, Austermann, Jason E, Aretxaga, Itziar, Hughes, David H, Hatsukade, Bunyo, Kawabe, Ryo, Lee, Kyoung-Soo, Kohno, Kotaro, and Perera, Thushara. ON THE CLUSTERING OF SUBMILLIMETER GALAXIES. United States: N. p., 2011. Web. doi:10.1088/0004-637X/733/2/92.
Williams, Christina C, Giavalisco, Mauro, Yun, Min S, Pope, Alexandra, Wilson, Grant W, Cybulski, Ryan, Schloerb, F Peter, Porciani, Cristiano, Scott, Kimberly S, Austermann, Jason E, Aretxaga, Itziar, Hughes, David H, Hatsukade, Bunyo, Kawabe, Ryo, Lee, Kyoung-Soo, Kohno, Kotaro, & Perera, Thushara. ON THE CLUSTERING OF SUBMILLIMETER GALAXIES. United States. https://doi.org/10.1088/0004-637X/733/2/92
Williams, Christina C, Giavalisco, Mauro, Yun, Min S, Pope, Alexandra, Wilson, Grant W, Cybulski, Ryan, Schloerb, F Peter, Porciani, Cristiano, Scott, Kimberly S, Austermann, Jason E, Aretxaga, Itziar, Hughes, David H, Hatsukade, Bunyo, Kawabe, Ryo, Lee, Kyoung-Soo, Kohno, Kotaro, and Perera, Thushara. 2011. "ON THE CLUSTERING OF SUBMILLIMETER GALAXIES". United States. https://doi.org/10.1088/0004-637X/733/2/92.
@article{osti_21576743,
title = {ON THE CLUSTERING OF SUBMILLIMETER GALAXIES},
author = {Williams, Christina C and Giavalisco, Mauro and Yun, Min S and Pope, Alexandra and Wilson, Grant W and Cybulski, Ryan and Schloerb, F Peter and Porciani, Cristiano and Scott, Kimberly S and Austermann, Jason E and Aretxaga, Itziar and Hughes, David H and Hatsukade, Bunyo and Kawabe, Ryo and Lee, Kyoung-Soo and Kohno, Kotaro and Perera, Thushara},
abstractNote = {We measure the angular two-point correlation function of submillimeter galaxies (SMGs) from 1.1 mm imaging of the COSMOS field with the AzTEC camera and ASTE 10 m telescope. These data yield one of the largest contiguous samples of SMGs to date, covering an area of 0.72 deg{sup 2} down to a 1.26 mJy beam{sup -1} (1{sigma}) limit, including 189 (328) sources with S/N {>=}3.5 (3). We can only set upper limits to the correlation length r{sub 0}, modeling the correlation function as a power law with pre-assigned slope. Assuming existing redshift distributions, we derive 68.3% confidence level upper limits of r{sub 0} {approx}< 6-8h{sup -1} Mpc at 3.7 mJy and r{sub 0} {approx}< 11-12 h{sup -1} Mpc at 4.2 mJy. Although consistent with most previous estimates, these upper limits imply that the real r{sub 0} is likely smaller. This casts doubts on the robustness of claims that SMGs are characterized by significantly stronger spatial clustering (and thus larger mass) than differently selected galaxies at high redshift. Using Monte Carlo simulations we show that even strongly clustered distributions of galaxies can appear unclustered when sampled with limited sensitivity and coarse angular resolution common to current submillimeter surveys. The simulations, however, also show that unclustered distributions can appear strongly clustered under these circumstances. From the simulations, we predict that at our survey depth, a mapped area of 2 deg{sup 2} is needed to reconstruct the correlation function, assuming smaller beam sizes of future surveys (e.g., the Large Millimeter Telescope's 6'' beam size). At present, robust measures of the clustering strength of bright SMGs appear to be below the reach of most observations.},
doi = {10.1088/0004-637X/733/2/92},
url = {https://www.osti.gov/biblio/21576743}, journal = {Astrophysical Journal},
issn = {0004-637X},
number = 2,
volume = 733,
place = {United States},
year = {Wed Jun 01 00:00:00 EDT 2011},
month = {Wed Jun 01 00:00:00 EDT 2011}
}