Luminosity‐ and Morphology‐dependent Clustering of Galaxies

Abstract

How does the clustering of galaxies depend on their inner properties like morphological type and luminosity? We address this question in the mathematical framework of marked point processes and clarify the notion of luminosity and morphological segregation. A number of test quantities such as conditional mark-weighted two-point correlation functions are introduced. These descriptors allow for a scale-dependent analysis of luminosity and morphology segregation. Moreover, they break the degeneracy between an inhomogeneous fractal point set and actual present luminosity segregation. Using the Southern Sky Redshift Survey 2, we find both luminosity and morphological segregation at a high level of significance, confirming claims by Benoist and colleagues in 1996 and Willmer and colleagues in 1998 using these data. Specifically, the average luminosity and the fluctuations in the luminosity of pairs of galaxies are enhanced out to separations of 15 h-1 Mpc. On scales smaller than 3 h-1 Mpc the luminosities on galaxy pairs show a tight correlation. A comparison with the random field model indicates that galaxy luminosities depend on the spatial distribution and galaxy-galaxy interactions. Early-type galaxies are also more strongly correlated, indicating morphological segregation. The galaxies in the PSCz catalog do not show significant luminosity segregation. This again illustrates that mainly early-type galaxies contribute to luminosity segregation. However, based on several independent investigations we show that the observed luminosity segregation cannot be explained by the morphology-density relation alone.