Galaxy And Mass Assembly (GAMA): the large-scale structure of galaxies and comparison to mock universes

Alpaslan, M.; Robotham, A.S.G.; Driver, S.; Norberg, P.; Baldry, I.; Bauer, A.E.; Bland-Hawthorn, J.; Brown, M.; Cluver, M.; Colless, M.; Foster, C.; Hopkins, A.; Van Kampen, E.; Kelvin, L.; Lara-Lopez, M.A.; Liske, J.; Lopez-Sanchez, A.R.; Loveday, J.; McNaught-Roberts, T.; Merson, A.; Pimbblet, K.

Abstract

From a volume-limited sample of 45 542 galaxies and 6000 groups with z ≤ 0.213, we use an adapted minimal spanning tree algorithm to identify and classify large-scale structures within the Galaxy And Mass Assembly (GAMA) survey. Using galaxy groups, we identify 643 filaments across the three equatorial GAMA fields that span up to 200 h−1 Mpc in length, each with an average of eight groups within them. By analysing galaxies not belonging to groups, we identify a secondary population of smaller coherent structures composed entirely of galaxies, dubbed ‘tendrils’ that appear to link filaments together, or penetrate into voids, generally measuring around 10 h−1 Mpc in length and containing on average six galaxies. Finally, we are also able to identify a population of isolated void galaxies. By running this algorithm on GAMA mock galaxy catalogues, we compare the characteristics of large-scale structure between observed and mock data, finding that mock filaments reproduce observed ones extremely well. This provides a probe of higher order distribution statistics not captured by the popularly used two-point correlation function.

Citation

Alpaslan, M., Robotham, A., Driver, S., Norberg, P., Baldry, I., Bauer, A., …Pimbblet, K. (2014). Galaxy And Mass Assembly (GAMA): the large-scale structure of galaxies and comparison to mock universes. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 438(1), 177-194. https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stt2136

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Publication Date: Feb 11, 2014
• Deposit Date: Jun 3, 2014
• Publicly Available Date: Jun 5, 2014
• Journal: Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
• Print ISSN: 0035-8711
• Electronic ISSN: 1365-2966
• Publisher: Royal Astronomical Society
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 438
• Issue: 1
• Pages: 177-194
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stt2136
• Keywords: Methods: observational, Surveys, Large-scale structure of Universe.
• Public URL: https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1460437