Year: 2006
Type: article
Abstract: We present the small-scale (0.01 Mpc < r < 8 h -1 Mpc) projected correlation function w p ( r p ) and real-space correlation function ξ( r ) of 24,520 luminous early-type galaxies from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) Luminous Red Galaxy (LRG) sample (0.16 < z < 0.36). "Fiber collision" incompleteness of the SDSS spectroscopic sample at scales smaller than 55'' prevents measurements of the correlation function for LRGs on scales smaller than ~0.3 Mpc by the usual methods. In this work, we cross-correlate the spectroscopic sample with the imaging sample, with a weighting scheme to account for the collisions, extensively tested against mock catalogs. We correct for photometric biases in the SDSS imaging of close galaxy pairs. We find that the correlation function ξ( r ) is surprisingly close to a r -2 power law over more than 4 orders of magnitude in separation r . This result is too steep at small scales to be explained in current versions of the halo model for galaxy clustering. We infer an LRG-LRG merger rate of ≲0.6 × 10 4 Gyr -1 Gpc -3 for this sample. This result suggests that the LRG-LRG mergers are not the main mode of mass growth for LRGs at z < 0.36.
Source: The Astrophysical Journal
DOI: 10.1086/503536
Authors: Morad Masjedi, David W. Hogg, Richard J. Cool, Daniel J. Eisenstein, Michael R. Blanton, Idit Zehavi, Andreas A. Berlind, Eric F. Bell, Donald P. Schneider, Michael S. Warren, Jon Brinkmann
Language: English
Subfield: Astronomy and Astrophysics
Field: Physics and Astronomy
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: bronze
Funders: National Science Foundation, U.S. Department of Energy, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, Princeton University, University of Washington, Johns Hopkins University, University of Pittsburgh, University of Portsmouth, New Mexico State University, Max-Planck-Gesellschaft, U.S. Naval Observatory, Fermilab, Los Alamos National Laboratory
OpenAlex ID: W2010057044