Projected Distribution Of Galaxies Research Articles

2D k-th nearest neighbour statistics: a highly informative probe of galaxy clustering

ABSTRACT Beyond standard summary statistics are necessary to summarize the rich information on non-linear scales in the era of precision galaxy clustering measurements. For the first time, we introduce the 2D k-th nearest neighbour (kNN) statistics as a summary statistic for discrete galaxy fields. This is a direct generalization of the standard 1D kNN by disentangling the projected galaxy distribution from the redshift-space distortion signature along the line-of-sight. We further introduce two different flavours of 2D kNNs that trace different aspects of the galaxy field: the standard flavour which tabulates the distances between galaxies and random query points, and a ‘DD’ flavour that tabulates the distances between galaxies and galaxies. We showcase the 2D kNNs’ strong constraining power both through theoretical arguments and by testing on realistic galaxy mocks. Theoretically, we show that 2D kNNs are computationally efficient and directly generate other statistics such as the popular two-point correlation function (2PCF), voids probability function, and counts-in-cell statistics. In a more practical test, we apply the 2D kNN statistics to simulated galaxy mocks that fold in a large range of observational realism and recover parameters of the underlying extended halo occupation distribution (HOD) model that includes velocity bias and galaxy assembly bias. We find unbiased and significantly tighter constraints on all aspects of the HOD model with the 2D kNNs, both compared to the standard 1D kNN, and the classical redshift-space 2PCF.

GALAXY LUMINOSITY FUNCTION OF THE DYNAMICALLY YOUNG ABELL 119 CLUSTER: PROBING THE CLUSTER ASSEMBLY

ABSTRACT We present the galaxy luminosity function (LF) of the Abell 119 cluster down to mag based on deep images in the u, g, and r bands taken by using MOSAIC II CCD mounted on the Blanco 4 m telescope at the CTIO. The cluster membership was accurately determined based on the radial velocity information and on the color–magnitude relation for bright galaxies and the scaling relation for faint galaxies. The overall LF exhibits a bimodal behavior with a distinct dip at mag ( mag), which is more appropriately described by a two-component function. The shape of the LF strongly depends on the clustercentric distance and on the local galaxy density. The LF of galaxies in the outer, low-density region exhibits a steeper slope and more prominent dip compared with that of counterparts in the inner, high-density region. We found evidence for a substructure in the projected galaxy distribution in which several overdense regions in the Abell 119 cluster appear to be closely associated with the surrounding, possible filamentary structure. The combined LF of the overdense regions exhibits a two-component function with a distinct dip, while the LF of the central region is well described by a single Schechter function. We suggest that, in the context of the hierarchical cluster formation scenario, the observed overdense regions are the relics of galaxy groups, retaining their two-component LFs with a dip, which acquired their shapes through a galaxy merging process in group environments, before they fall into a cluster.

Recovering the tidal field in the projected galaxy distribution

We present a method to recover and study the projected gravitational tidal forces from a galaxy survey containing little or no redshift information. The method and the physical interpretation of the recovered tidal maps as a tracer of the cosmic web are described in detail. We first apply the method to a simulated galaxy survey and study the accuracy with which the cosmic web can be recovered in the presence of different observational effects, showing that the projected tidal field can be estimated with reasonable precision over large regions of the sky. We then apply our method to the 2MASS survey and present a publicly available full-sky map of the projected tidal forces in the local Universe. As an example of an application of these data we further study the distribution of galaxy luminosities across the different elements of the cosmic web, finding that, while more luminous objects are found preferentially in the most dense environments, there is no further segregation by tidal environment.

Measuring the transition to homogeneity with photometric redshift surveys

Abstract We study the possibility of detecting the transition to homogeneity using photometric redshift catalogues. Our method is based on measuring the fractality of the projected galaxy distribution, using angular distances, and relies only on observable quantities. It thus provides a way to test the cosmological principle in a model-independent unbiased way. We have tested our method on different synthetic inhomogeneous catalogues and shown that it is capable of discriminating some fractal models with relatively large fractal dimensions, in spite of the loss of information due to the radial projection. We have also studied the influence of the redshift bin width, photometric redshift errors, bias, non-linear clustering, and surveyed area on the angular homogeneity index H2(θ) in a Λ cold dark matter cosmology. The level to which an upcoming galaxy survey will be able to constrain the transition to homogeneity will depend mainly on the total surveyed area and the compactness of the surveyed region. In particular, a Dark Energy Survey (DES)-like survey should be able to easily discriminate certain fractal models with fractal dimensions as large as D2 = 2.95. We believe that this method will have relevant applications for upcoming large photometric redshift surveys, such as DES or the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope.

Witnessing the Formation of a Galaxy Cluster atz= 0.485: Optical and X‐Ray Properties of RX J1117.4+0743 ([VMF 98] 097)

We present a multiwavelength study of the poor cluster RX J1117.4+0743 ([VMF 98] 097) at z = 0.485, based on GMOS/Gemini South g' and r' photometry and spectroscopy, and XMM-Newton observations. We examine its nature and surroundings by analyzing the projected galaxy distribution, the galaxy velocity distribution, the weak-lensing mass reconstruction, and the X-ray spectroscopy and imaging. The cluster is composed by at least two structures along the line of sight, with ?V = 592 ? 82 and 391 ? 85 km s-1, respectively. Other structures are also detected in X-ray, in the galaxy projected number density map, and by weak lensing. The derived temperature and bolometric X-ray luminosity reveal that [VMF 98] 097 behaves like a normal cluster, in agreement with LX-TX correlation found for z = 0 and at z ~ 0.4 clusters. The mass determination inferred from weak lensing is on average 3-4.8 times higher than the X-ray mass. We have two possible explanations for this discrepancy: (1) the cluster is in nonequilibrium, then the deviation of the X-ray estimated mass from the true value can be as high as a factor of 2; (2) the intervening mass along the line of sight of the cluster is producing an overestimation of the weak-lensing mass. Based on the analysis, we conclude that [VMF 98] 097 is a perturbed cluster with at least two substructures in velocity space and with other nearby structures at projected distances of about 1 h Mpc. This is an example of a poor cluster caught in the process of accreting substructures to become a rich cluster.

XMM‐NewtonObserves Cl J0152.7−1357: A Massive Galaxy Cluster Forming at Merger Crossroads atz = 0.83

We present an analysis of a 50 ks XMM-Newton observation of the merging galaxy cluster Cl J0152.7-1357 at z = 0.83. In addition to the two main subclusters and an infalling group detected in an earlier Chandra observation of the system, XMM-Newton detects another group of galaxies possibly associated with the cluster. This group may be connected to the northern subcluster by a filament of cool (1.4 keV) X-ray-emitting gas and lies outside the estimated virial radius of the northern subcluster. The X-ray morphology agrees well with the projected galaxy distribution in new K-band imaging data presented herein. We use detailed spectral and imaging analysis of the X-ray data to probe the dynamics of the system and find evidence that another subcluster or group has recently passed through the northern subcluster. Cl J0152.7-1357 is an extremely dynamically active system, with mergers at different stages occurring along two perpendicular merger axes.

Karhunen‐Loeve Estimation of the Power Spectrum Parameters from the Angular Distribution of Galaxies in Early Sloan Digital Sky Survey Data

We present measurements of parameters of the three-dimensional power spectrum of galaxy clustering from 222 square degrees of early imaging data in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS). The projected galaxy distribution on the sky is expanded over a set of Karhunen-Loeve (KL) eigenfunctions, which optimize the signal-to-noise ratio in our analysis. A maximum likelihood analysis is used to estimate parameters that set the shape and amplitude of the three-dimensional power spectrum of galaxies in the SDSS magnitude-limited sample with r* less than 21. Our best estimates are gamma = 0.188 +/- 0.04 and sigma(sub 8L) = 0.915 +/- 0.06 (statistical errors only), for a flat universe with a cosmological constant. We demonstrate that our measurements contain signal from scales at or beyond the peak of the three-dimensional power spectrum. We discuss how the results scale with systematic uncertainties, like the radial selection function. We find that the central values satisfy the analytically estimated scaling relation. We have also explored the effects of evolutionary corrections, various truncations of the KL basis, seeing, sample size, and limiting magnitude. We find that the impact of most of these uncertainties stay within the 2 sigma uncertainties of our fiducial result.

A deep cluster survey in Chandra archival data. First results

I present the first results of a search for clusters of galaxies in Chandra ACIS pointed observations at high galactic latitude with exposure times larger than 10 ks. The survey is being carried out using the Voronoi Tessellation and Percolation technique, which is particularly suited for the detection and accurate quantification of extended and/or low surface brightness emission in X-ray imaging observations. A new catalogue of 36 cluster candidates has been created from 5.55 deg 2 of surveyed area. Five of these candidates have already been associated to visible enhancements of the projected galaxy distribution in low deepness DSS-II fields and are probably low-to moderate redshift systems. Three of the candidates have been identified in previous ROSAT-based surveys. I show that a significative fraction (30-40%) of the candidate clusters are probably intermediate to high redshift systems. In this paper I publish the catalogue of these first candidate clusters. I also derive the number counts of clusters and compare it with the results of deep ROSAT-based cluster surveys.

Sunyaev-Zeldovich effect from hydrodynamical simulations: Maps and low order statistics

We use moving mesh hydrodynamical simulations to make maps of the Sunyaev-Zeldovich effect. We present these maps for several cosmological models and explore their lowest moments. We find that the first moment, the mean Compton y parameter, is typically between $1\ensuremath{-}3\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}{10}^{\ensuremath{-}6}$ for cluster abundance normalized models, the lower value corresponding to the high density models, and scales as ${\ensuremath{\sigma}}_{8}^{3\ensuremath{-}4}.$ Power spectra at $l\ensuremath{\sim}1000$ have an amplitude between 1 and $3\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}{10}^{\ensuremath{-}6}$ in the Rayleigh-Jeans regime, with a similar depedendence on the background cosmology. The amplitude of the power spectrum strongly depends on the power spectrum normalization and scales as ${\ensuremath{\sigma}}_{8}^{6\ensuremath{-}9}.$ On smaller scales $(lg1000)$ the spectrum is dominated by halos below ${10}^{13}{M}_{\ensuremath{\bigodot}}$ and so is sensitive to the thermal history of galactic halo gas. On larger scales $(ll1000)$ the power spectrum is less sensitive to nongravitational energy injection, but becomes very noisy, with large field to field variations in the power spectrum caused by rare bright sources in the maps, which dominate the spectrum over the large scale structure correlations. The cross-correlation power spectrum with weak lensing or projected galaxy distribution is significant and the cross-correlation coefficient is around 0.5 over a wide range of scales. A comparison with Press-Schechter predictions gives very good agreement for all statistics, indicating that there is no significant contribution to SZ from nonvirialized structures. The one point distribution function shows clear deviations from Gaussianity and can be well approximated as log-normal on small scales.

A study of the rich cluster of galaxies A 119

We use Einstein Observatory x-ray images, galaxy photometry, and galaxy redshifts to study the cluster of galaxies Abell 119. We report 60 new radial velocities, as well as new photographic and CCD photometry. We find corresponding evidence for substructure in the projected galaxy distribution and the x-ray surface brightness profile. A multiple clump model, in which galaxies trace the condensations in the dark matter, reproduces the main features of the photometric and x-ray data. The galaxy velocity histogram of A 119 is Gaussian (with the exception of a superposed foreground group), but the velocity data do not sample the subclumps adequately