Simulations of deep redshift surveys

Abstract

Magnitude-limited redshift samples drawn from numerical simulations of the biased cold dark matter model are presented, with geometry matched to the recent survey by Geller and Huchra. At an apparent magnitude limit of 15.5, declination slices 20-deg thick have a frothy appearance; the visually dominant features in these slices are walls and filaments, the longest of which covers nearly half of the sky. Gravitational instability of Gaussian density fluctuations with a cold dark matter power spectrum can generate structures comparable in linear extent to the largest existing redshift surveys. Surveys to an apparent magnitude of 16.5 should reveal an even greater wealth of structure. 25 refs.