The 2dF Galaxy Redshift Survey: hierarchical galaxy clustering

Baugh, C.M.; Croton, D.J.; Gaztañaga, E.; Norberg, P.; Colless, M.; Baldry, I.K.; Bland-Hawthorn, J.; Bridges, T.; Cannon, R.; Cole, S.; Collins, C.; Couch, W.; Dalton, G.; De Propris, R.; Driver, S.P.; Efstathiou, G.; Ellis, R.S.; Frenk, C.S.; Glazebrook, K.; Jackson, C.; Lahav, O.; Lewis, I.; Lumsden, S.; Maddox, S.; Madgwick, D.; Peacock, J.A.; Peterson, B.A.; Sutherland, W.; Taylor, K.

Abstract

We use the Two-Degree Field Galaxy Redshift Survey (2dFGRS) to test the hierarchical scaling hypothesis: namely, that the p-point galaxy correlation functions can be written in terms of the two-point correlation function or variance. This scaling is expected if an initially Gaussian distribution of density fluctuations evolves under the action of gravitational instability. We measure the volume-averaged p-point correlation functions using a counts-in-cells technique applied to a volume-limited sample of 44 931 L* galaxies. We demonstrate that L* galaxies display hierarchical clustering up to order p= 6 in redshift space. The variance measured for L* galaxies is in excellent agreement with the predictions from a Λ-cold dark matter N-body simulation. This applies to all cell radii considered, 0.3 < (R/h−1 Mpc) < 30. However, the higher order correlation functions of L* galaxies have a significantly smaller amplitude than is predicted for the dark matter for R < 10 h−1 Mpc. This disagreement implies that a non-linear bias exists between the dark matter and L* galaxies on these scales. We also show that the presence of two rare, massive superclusters in the 2dFGRS has an impact on the higher-order clustering moments measured on large scales.

Citation

Baugh, C., Croton, D., Gaztañaga, E., Norberg, P., Colless, M., Baldry, I., …Taylor, K. (2004). The 2dF Galaxy Redshift Survey: hierarchical galaxy clustering. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 351(2), L44-L48. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2966.2004.07962.x

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Publication Date: 2004-06
• Deposit Date: Apr 19, 2011
• 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: 351
• Issue: 2
• Pages: L44-L48
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2966.2004.07962.x