2006/06/30 by Ryan Quadri, Pieter van Dokkum, Eric Gawiser +12 · 7 citations
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology · Environmental Science · Physics and Astronomy · #Advanced Fluorescence Microscopy Techniques #Astronomy #Astrophysics #Brightest cluster galaxy #Elliptical galaxy #Galaxies: Formation, Evolution, Phenomena #Galaxy #Galaxy cluster #Galaxy group #Halo #Luminous infrared galaxy #Physics #Redshift #Remote Sensing in Agriculture #astro-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.1086/509065
published as Astrophys.J.654:138-152,2006 · 17 pages in emulateapj style, 14 figures. Resubmitted to ApJ after referee's report; minor clarifications and revisions. Update: accepted by ApJ
arxiv created 2006/12/23 · openalex publication_date 2006/12/29 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2016/06/24 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
We study the clustering properties of K -selected galaxies at 2 < z < 3.5 using deep multiwavelength imaging in three fields from the MUSYC survey. These are the first measurements to probe the spatial correlation function of K -selected galaxies in this redshift range on large scales, allowing for robust conclusions about the dark matter halos that host these galaxies. The K -selected galaxies with K < 21 have a correlation length r 0 ~ 6 h -1 Mpc, larger than typical values found for optically selected galaxies. The correlation length does not depend on K -band magnitude in our sample but does increase strongly with color; the J - K > 2.3 distant red galaxies (DRGs) have r 0 ~ 11 h -1 Mpc. Furthermore, contrary to findings for optically selected galaxies, K -selected galaxies that are faint in the R band cluster more strongly than brighter galaxies. These results suggest that a color-density relation was in place at z > 2; it will be interesting to see whether this relation is driven by galaxies with old stellar populations or by dusty star-forming galaxies. Irrespective of the cause, our results indicate that K -bright blue galaxies and K -bright red galaxies are fundamentally different, having different clustering properties. Using a simple model of one galaxy per halo, we infer halo masses ~5 × 10 12 M ☉ for K < 21 galaxies and ~2 × 10 13 M ☉ for DRGs. A comparison of the observed space density of DRGs to that of their host halos suggests large halo occupation numbers; however, this result conflicts with the lack of a strong small-scale excess in the angular correlation function. Using the predicted evolution of halo mass to investigate relationships between galaxy populations at different redshifts, we find that the z = 0 descendants of the galaxies considered here reside primarily in groups and clusters.