Astron. Astrophys. 364, 349-368 (2000)

Evolution of faint galaxy clustering

The 2-point angular correlation function of 20,000 galaxies to V 23.5 and I 22.5 ^*

R.A. Cabanac ^{**  1}, V. de Lapparent ¹ and P. Hickson <sup>2

1</sup> Institut d'Astrophysique de Paris, CNRS, 98 bis bvd Arago, 75014 Paris, France
² Department of Physics and Astronomy, UBC, 2219 Main Mall, Vancouver, BC V6T1Z4, Canada

Received 6 March 2000 / Accepted 27 June 2000

Abstract

The UH8K wide field camera of the CFHT was used to image 0.68 deg² of sky. From these images, 20,000 galaxies were detected to completeness magnitudes and . The angular correlation function of these galaxies is well represented by the parameterization . The slope shows no significant variation over the range of magnitude. The amplitude decreases with increasing magnitude in a way that is most compatible with a CDM model () with a hierarchical clustering evolution parameter . We infer a best-fit spatial correlation length of Mpc at . The peak redshift of the survey () is estimated to be , using the blue-evolving luminosity function from the CFRS and the flat cosmology, and Mpc. We also detect a significant difference in clustering amplitude for the red and blue galaxies, quantitatively measured by correlation lengths of Mpc and Mpc respectively, at .

Key words: cosmology: large-scale structure of Universe galaxies: evolution

* Based on observations from the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope, operated by the National Research Council of Canada, the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique de France and the University of Hawaii
** Fellow of Fonds FCAR, Québec

Send offprint requests to: R.A. Cabanac (cabanac@iap.fr)

This article contains no SIMBAD objects.

Contents

• 1. Introduction
• 2. Observations
• 3. Data reduction
  • 3.1. Astrometry
  • 3.2. Photometry
  • 3.3. Magnitude and colour completeness
• 4. Stars and galaxies
  • 4.1. Star/galaxy separation
  • 4.2. Galaxy counts
  • 4.3. Galaxy colours
• 5. Analysis
  • 5.1. Estimation of
  • 5.2. Modeling of , and
  • 5.3. Estimation of errors
    • 5.3.1. Random errors
    • 5.3.2. Systematic errors
• 6. Results
  • 6.1. Variation of slope versus magnitude
  • 6.2. Variation of with magnitude
  • 6.3. Variation of with galaxy colour
• 7. Discussion
  • 7.1. Limber's formula
  • 7.2. The cosmological parameters
  • 7.3. The evolution of clustering
• 8. Conclusions
• Acknowledgements
• References

© European Southern Observatory (ESO) 2000

Online publication: January 29, 2001
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