Document Type
Article
Publication Date
7-10-2004
Publication Title
Astrophysical Journal
Abstract
We present our results on the cross-correlation of Lyman break galaxies (LBGs) around three damped Lyα absorbers (DLAs) at z ≃ 3 from deep [μ (sky) ≃ 27.6 mag arcsec ] UBVI KPNO 4 m/MOSAIC images. The large area of the MOSAIC images, 0.31 deg or ∼65 × 65 h Mpc comoving at redshift z = 3, allows us to probe the clustering of LBGs on scales up to 20 Mpc comoving. Our survey covers a total of 1 deg and contains ∼3000 LBGs with photometric redshifts between 2.8 and 3.5. Using the redshift likelihood distributions with m as a prior, we selected LBGs within a redshift slice of width W = 0.15 (corresponding to σ , the uncertainty in photometric redshifts) centered on the redshift of the absorbers. Within that redshift slice, we find that the DLALBG cross-correlation w is w = (1.62 ±1.32) × w , where w is the LBG autocorrelation. This corresponds to a correlation length of r = 5 ± 4.5 h (comoving) (or r = 7 ±6.8 h Mpc). The cross-correlation is most significant on scales 5-10 Mpc. Through Monte Carlo simulations, we find that w is significantly greater than zero at the greater than 95% level. In three other redshift slices that do not contain a DLA, we do not find any evidence of clustering. A larger sample will enable us to discriminate between W /w < 1 and W /w > 1, i.e., to test whether DLA halos are more or less massive than LBG halos. abs I,AB 71 I z z dg dg gg gg 0 -1 0 71 dg dg gg dg gg -2 2 -1 2 -1
Keywords
Cosmology: Observations, Galaxies: Evolution, Galaxies: High-redshift -quasars: Absorption lines
Volume
609
Issue
2 I
First Page
513
Last Page
524
DOI
10.1086/421319
ISSN
0004637X
Recommended Citation
Bouché, Nicolas and Lowenthal, James D., "The Clustering of Galaxies Around Three z ∼ 3 Damped Lyα Absorbers" (2004). Astronomy: Faculty Publications, Smith College, Northampton, MA.
https://scholarworks.smith.edu/ast_facpubs/42
Comments
Peer reviewed accepted manuscript.