PRIMUS: Galaxy clustering as a function of luminosity and color at 0.2 < z < 1

Journal Article · Tue Apr 01 04:00:00 EDT 2014 · Astrophysical Journal

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1088/0004-637X/784/2/128· OSTI ID:22357249

Skibba, Ramin A.; Smith, M. Stephen M.; Coil, Alison L.; Mendez, Alexander J. ^[1]; Moustakas, John ^[2]; Aird, James ^[3]; Blanton, Michael R. ^[4]; Bray, Aaron D.; Eisenstein, Daniel J. ^[5]; Cool, Richard J. ^[6]; Wong, Kenneth C. ^[7]; Zhu, Guangtun ^[8]

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1. Department of Physics, Center for Astrophysics and Space Sciences, University of California, 9500 Gilman Drive, La Jolla, San Diego, CA 92093 (United States)
2. Department of Physics and Astronomy, Siena College, 515 Loudon Road, Loudonville, NY 12211 (United States)
3. Department of Physics, Durham University, Durham DH1 3LE (United Kingdom)
4. Center for Cosmology and Particle Physics, Department of Physics, New York University, 4 Washington Place, New York, NY 10003 (United States)
5. Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138 (United States)
6. MMT Observatory, 1540 E Second Street, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721 (United States)
7. Steward Observatory, The University of Arizona, 933 North Cherry Avenue, Tucson, AZ 85721 (United States)
8. Department of Physics and Astronomy, Johns Hopkins University, 3400 North Charles Street, Baltimore, MD 21218 (United States)

We present measurements of the luminosity and color-dependence of galaxy clustering at 0.2 < z < 1.0 in the Prism Multi-object Survey. We quantify the clustering with the redshift-space and projected two-point correlation functions, ξ(r{sub p} , π) and w{sub p} (r{sub p} ), using volume-limited samples constructed from a parent sample of over ∼130, 000 galaxies with robust redshifts in seven independent fields covering 9 deg{sup 2} of sky. We quantify how the scale-dependent clustering amplitude increases with increasing luminosity and redder color, with relatively small errors over large volumes. We find that red galaxies have stronger small-scale (0.1 Mpc h {sup –1} < r{sub p} < 1 Mpc h {sup –1}) clustering and steeper correlation functions compared to blue galaxies, as well as a strong color dependent clustering within the red sequence alone. We interpret our measured clustering trends in terms of galaxy bias and obtain values of b {sub gal} ≈ 0.9-2.5, quantifying how galaxies are biased tracers of dark matter depending on their luminosity and color. We also interpret the color dependence with mock catalogs, and find that the clustering of blue galaxies is nearly constant with color, while redder galaxies have stronger clustering in the one-halo term due to a higher satellite galaxy fraction. In addition, we measure the evolution of the clustering strength and bias, and we do not detect statistically significant departures from passive evolution. We argue that the luminosity- and color-environment (or halo mass) relations of galaxies have not significantly evolved since z ∼ 1. Finally, using jackknife subsampling methods, we find that sampling fluctuations are important and that the COSMOS field is generally an outlier, due to having more overdense structures than other fields; we find that 'cosmic variance' can be a significant source of uncertainty for high-redshift clustering measurements.

• OSTI ID: 22357249
• Journal Information: Astrophysical Journal, Journal Name: Astrophysical Journal Journal Issue: 2 Vol. 784; ISSN ASJOAB; ISSN 0004-637X
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS
AMPLITUDES
CATALOGS
COLOR
COMPARATIVE EVALUATIONS
CORRELATION FUNCTIONS
COSMOLOGY
COVERINGS
EVOLUTION
FLUCTUATIONS
GALAXIES
LUMINOSITY
MASS
NONLUMINOUS MATTER
RED SHIFT
SAMPLING
SATELLITES
UNIVERSE