Redshift distortions of galaxy correlation functions
- Fermi National Accelerator Lab., Batavia, IL (United States) Florida Univ., Gainesville, FL (United States). Dept. of Physics
- Fermi National Accelerator Lab., Batavia, IL (United States) Oxford Univ. (United Kingdom). Dept. of Physics
To examine how peculiar velocities can affect the 2-, 3-, and 4-point correlation functions, we evaluate volume-average correlations for configurations that emphasize and minimize distortions for four different volume-limited samples from each of the CfA, SSRS, and IRAS redshift catalogs. We present the results as the correlation length r[sub 0] and power index [gamma] of the 2-point correlation, [anti [Xi]][sub 2] = (r[sub 0]/r)[sup [gamma]], and as the hierarchical amplitudes of the 3- and 4-point functions, S[sub 3] = [anti [Xi]][sub 3]/[anti [Xi]][sub 2][sup 2] and S[sub 4] = [anti [Xi]]/[anti [Xi]][sub 2][sup 3]. We find a characteristic distortion for [anti [Xi]][sub 2]: The slope [gamma] is flatter and the correlation length is larger in redshift space than in real space; that is, redshift distortions move'' correlations from small to large scales. At the largest scales, extra power in the redshift distribution is compatible with [Omega][sup 4/7]/b [approx] 1; we find 0.53 [plus minus] 0.15, 1.10 [plus minus] 0.16 and 0.84 [plus minus] 0.45 for the CfA, SSRS and IRAS catalogs. Higher order correlations [anti [Xi]][sub 3] and [anti [Xi]][sub 4] suffer similar redshift distortions, but in such a way that, within the accuracy of our analysis, the normalized amplitudes S[sub 3] and S[sub 4] are insensitive to this effect. The hierarchical amplitudes S[sub 3] and S[sub 4] are constant as a function of scale between 1-12 h[sup [minus]1] Mpc and have similar values in all samples and catalogues, S[sub 3] [approx] 2 and S[sub 4] [approx] 6, despite the fact that [anti [Xi]][sub 2], [anti [Xi]][sub 3], and [anti [Xi]][sub 4] differ from one sample to another by large factors. The agreement between the independent estimations of S[sub 3] and S[sub 4] is remarkable given the different criteria in the selection of galaxies and also the difference in the resulting range of densities, luminosities and locations between samples.
- Research Organization:
- Fermi National Accelerator Lab. (FNAL), Batavia, IL (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE; National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA); USDOE, Washington, DC (United States); National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Washington, DC (United States)
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC02-76CH03000
- OSTI ID:
- 6519142
- Report Number(s):
- FNAL/Pub-93-097-A; ON: DE93014007; CNN: NAGW-2381
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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