286 research outputs found
Quasar-galaxy and AGN-galaxy cross-correlations
We compute quasar-galaxy and AGN-galaxy cross-correlation functions for
samples taken from the \cite{VCV98} catalog of quasars and active galaxies,
using tracer galaxies taken from the Edinburgh/Durham Southern Catalog. The
sample of active galaxy targets shows positive correlation at projected
separations consistent with the usual power-law. On the
other hand, we do not find a statistically significant positive quasar-galaxy
correlation signal except in the range
where we find similar AGN-galaxy and quasar-galaxy correlation amplitudes. At
separations a strong decline of quasar-galaxy correlations
is observed, suggesting a significant local influence of quasars in galaxy
formation. In an attempt to reproduce the observed cross-correlation between
quasars and galaxies, we have performed CDM cosmological hydrodynamical
simulations and tested the viability of a scenario based on the model developed
by \cite{silkrees98}. In this scheme a fraction of the energy released by
quasars is considered to be transferred into the baryonic component of the
intergalactic medium in the form of winds. The results of the simulations
suggest that the shape of the observed quasar-galaxy cross-correlation function
could be understood in a scenario where a substantial amount of energy is
transferred to the medium at the redshift of maximum quasar activity.Comment: 11 pages, 9 figures. Accepted for publication in Ap
A Quantitative Evaluation of the Galaxy Component of COSMOS and APM Catalogs
We have carried out an independent quantitative evaluation of the galaxy
component of the "COSMOS/UKST Southern Sky Object Catalogue" (SSC) and the
"APM/UKST J Catalogue" (APM). Using CCD observations our results corroborate
the accuracy of the photometry of both catalogs, which have an overall
dispersion of about 0.2 mag in the range 17 <= b_J <= 21.5. The SSC presents
externally calibrated galaxy magnitudes that follow a linear relation, while
the APM instrumental magnitudes of galaxies, only internally calibrated by the
use of stellar profiles, require second-order corrections. The completeness of
both catalogs in a general field falls rapidly fainter than b_J = 20.0, being
slightly better for APM. The 90% completeness level of the SSC is reached
between b_J = 19.5 and 20.0, while for APM this happens between b_J = 20.5 and
21.0. Both SSC and APM are found to be less complete in a galaxy cluster field.
Galaxies misclassified as stars in the SSC receive an incorrect magnitude
because the stellar ones take saturation into account besides using a different
calibration curve. In both cases, the misclassified galaxies show a large
diversity of colors that range from typical colors of early-types to those of
blue star-forming galaxies. A possible explanation for this effect is that it
results from the combination of low sampling resolutions with properties of the
image classifier for objects with characteristic sizes close to the
instrumental resolution. We find that the overall contamination by stars
misclassified as galaxies is < 5% to b_J = 20.5, as originally estimated for
both catalogs. Although our results come from small areas of the sky, they are
extracted from two different plates and are based on the comparison with two
independent datasets.Comment: 14 pages of text and tables, 8 figures; to be published in the
Astronomical Journal; for a single postscript version file see
ftp://danw.on.br/outgoing/caretta/caretta.p
A Bayesian approach to star-galaxy classification
Star-galaxy classification is one of the most fundamental data-processing
tasks in survey astronomy, and a critical starting point for the scientific
exploitation of survey data. For bright sources this classification can be done
with almost complete reliability, but for the numerous sources close to a
survey's detection limit each image encodes only limited morphological
information. In this regime, from which many of the new scientific discoveries
are likely to come, it is vital to utilise all the available information about
a source, both from multiple measurements and also prior knowledge about the
star and galaxy populations. It is also more useful and realistic to provide
classification probabilities than decisive classifications. All these
desiderata can be met by adopting a Bayesian approach to star-galaxy
classification, and we develop a very general formalism for doing so. An
immediate implication of applying Bayes's theorem to this problem is that it is
formally impossible to combine morphological measurements in different bands
without using colour information as well; however we develop several
approximations that disregard colour information as much as possible. The
resultant scheme is applied to data from the UKIRT Infrared Deep Sky Survey
(UKIDSS), and tested by comparing the results to deep Sloan Digital Sky Survey
(SDSS) Stripe 82 measurements of the same sources. The Bayesian classification
probabilities obtained from the UKIDSS data agree well with the deep SDSS
classifications both overall (a mismatch rate of 0.022, compared to 0.044 for
the UKIDSS pipeline classifier) and close to the UKIDSS detection limit (a
mismatch rate of 0.068 compared to 0.075 for the UKIDSS pipeline classifier).
The Bayesian formalism developed here can be applied to improve the reliability
of any star-galaxy classification schemes based on the measured values of
morphology statistics alone.Comment: Accepted 22 November 2010, 19 pages, 17 figure
The Northern Sky Optical Cluster Survey II: An Objective Cluster Catalog for 5800 Square Degrees
We present a new, objectively defined catalog of candidate galaxy clusters
based on the galaxy catalogs from the Digitized Second Palomar Observatory Sky
Survey (DPOSS). This cluster catalog, derived from the best calibrated plates
in the high latitude (|b|>30) Northern Galactic Cap region, covers 5,800 square
degrees, and contains 8,155 candidate clusters. A simple adaptive kernel
density mapping technique, combined with the SExtractor object detection
algorithm, is used to detect galaxy overdensities, which we identify as
clusters. Simulations of the background galaxy distribution and clusters of
varying richnesses and redshifts allow us to optimize detection parameters, and
measure the completeness and contamination rates for our catalog. Cluster
richnesses and photometric redshifts are measured, using integrated colors and
magnitudes for each cluster. An extensive spectroscopic survey is used to
confirm the photometric results.
This catalog, with well-characterized sample properties, provides a sound
basis for future studies of cluster physics and large scale structure.Comment: 49 pages, 16 figures. Accepted to AJ; appearing in April. Version
with full resolution figures, and full length tables available at
http://dposs.caltech.edu:8080/NoSOCS.htm
The Aquarius Superclusters - I. Identification of Clusters and Superclusters
We study the distribution of galaxies and galaxy clusters in a 10^deg x 6^deg
field in the Aquarius region. In addition to 63 clusters in the literature, we
have found 39 new candidate clusters using a matched-filter technique and a
counts-in-cells analysis. From redshift measurements of galaxies in the
direction of these cluster candidates, we present new mean redshifts for 31
previously unobserved clusters, while improved mean redshifts are presented for
35 other systems. About 45% of the projected density enhancements are due to
the superposition of clusters and/or groups of galaxies along the line of
sight, but we could confirm for 72% of the cases that the candidates are real
physical associations similar to the ones classified as rich galaxy clusters.
On the other hand, the contamination due to galaxies not belonging to any
concentration or located only in small groups along the line of sight is ~ 10%.
Using a percolation radius of 10 h^{-1} Mpc (spatial density contrast of about
10), we detect two superclusters of galaxies in Aquarius, at z = 0.086 and at z
= 0.112, respectively with 5 and 14 clusters. The latter supercluster may
represent a space overdensity of about 160 times the average cluster density as
measured from the Abell et al. (1989) cluster catalog, and is possibly
connected to a 40 h^{-1} Mpc filament from z ~ 0.11 to 0.14.Comment: LateX text (21 pages) and 12 (ps/eps/gif) figures; figures 5a, 5b and
6 are not included in the main LateX text; to be published in the
Astronomical Journal, March issu
The Nearby Optical Galaxy Sample: The Local Galaxy Luminosity Function
In this paper we derive the galaxy luminosity function from the Nearby
Optical Galaxy (NOG) sample, which is a nearly complete, magnitude-limited
(B<14 mag), all-sky sample of nearby optical galaxies (~6400 galaxies with
cz<5500 km/s). For this local sample, we use galaxy distance estimates based on
different peculiar velocity models. Therefore, the derivation of the luminosity
function is carried out using the locations of field and grouped galaxies in
real distance space.
The local field galaxy luminosity function in the B system is well described
by a Schechter function. The exact values of the Schechter parameters slightly
depend on the adopted peculiar velocity field models.
The shape of the luminosity function of spiral galaxies does not differ
significantly from that of E-S0 galaxies. On the other hand, the late-type
spirals and irregulars have a very steeply rising luminosity function towards
the faint end, whereas the ellipticals appreciably decrease in number towards
low luminosities.
The presence of galaxy systems in the NOG sample does not affect
significantly the field galaxy luminosity function, since environmental effects
on the total luminosity function appear to be marginal.Comment: 35 pages including 7 figures and 4 tables. Accepted for publication
in Ap
Observational Mass-to-Light Ratio of Galaxy Systems: from Poor Groups to Rich Clusters
We study the mass-to-light ratio of galaxy systems from poor groups to rich
clusters, and present for the first time a large database for useful
comparisons with theoretical predictions. We extend a previous work, where B_j
band luminosities and optical virial masses were analyzed for a sample of 89
clusters. Here we also consider a sample of 52 more clusters, 36 poor clusters,
7 rich groups, and two catalogs, of about 500 groups each, recently identified
in the Nearby Optical Galaxy sample by using two different algorithms. We
obtain the blue luminosity and virial mass for all systems considered. We
devote a large effort to establishing the homogeneity of the resulting values,
as well as to considering comparable physical regions, i.e. those included
within the virial radius. By analyzing a fiducial, combined sample of 294
systems we find that the mass increases faster than the luminosity: the linear
fit gives M\propto L_B^{1.34 \pm 0.03}, with a tendency for a steeper increase
in the low--mass range. In agreement with the previous work, our present
results are superior owing to the much higher statistical significance and the
wider dynamical range covered (about 10^{12}-10^{15} M_solar). We present a
comparison between our results and the theoretical predictions on the relation
between M/L_B and halo mass, obtained by combining cosmological numerical
simulations and semianalytic modeling of galaxy formation.Comment: 25 pages, 12 eps figures, accepted for publication in Ap
The Hawaii K-Band Galaxy Survey. II. Bright K-band Imaging
We present the results of a wide-field K-selected galaxy survey with
complementary optical I- and B-band imaging in six fields with a total coverage
of 9.8 square degrees. This survey establishes the bright-end K-band galaxy
number counts in the magnitude range 13<K<16 with high precision. We find that
our bright-end counts have a significantly steeper slope than the prediction of
a no-evolution model, which cannot be accounted for by known observational or
theoretical error. We also argue against the likelihood of sufficient evolution
at such low redshifts to account for this effect, we describe an alternative
picture in which there is a local deficiency of galaxies by a factor of 2 on
scale sizes of around 300 Mpc. Taken at face value, this would imply that local
measurements of \Omega_0 underestimate the true value of the cosmological mass
density by this factor and that local measurements of could be high by as
much as 33%.Comment: 24 pages Latex + 8 PostScript figures, to appear in Astrophysical
Journal(02/97
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