The Clustering of Massive Halos

Abstract

The clustering properties of dark matter halos are a firm prediction of modern theories of structure formation. We use two large-volume, high-resolution N-body simulations to study how the correlation function of massive dark matter halos depends on their mass, assembly history, and recent merger activity. We find that halos with the lowest concentrations are currently more clustered than those of higher concentration, the size of the effect increasing with halo mass; this agrees with trends found in studies of lower mass halos. The clustering dependence on other characterizations of the full mass accretion history appears weaker than the effect with concentration. Using the integrated correlation function, marked correlation functions, and a power-law fit to the correlation function, we find evidence that halos that have recently undergone a major merger or a large mass gain have slightly enhanced clustering relative to a randomly chosen population with the same mass distribution.