1,770 research outputs found
The APM Galaxy Survey III: An Analysis of Systematic Errors in the Angular Correlation Function and Cosmological Implications
We present measurements of the angular two-point galaxy correlation function,
, from the APM Galaxy Survey. The performance of various estimators
of is assessed using simulated galaxy catalogues and analytic arguments.
Several error analyses show that residual plate-to-plate errors do not bias our
estimates of by more than . Direct comparison between our
photometry and external CCD photometry of over 13,000 galaxies from the Las
Campanas Deep Redshift Survey shows that the rms error in the APM plate zero
points lies in the range 0.04-0.05 magnitudes, in agreement with our previous
estimates. We estimate the effects on of atmospheric extinction and
obscuration by dust in our Galaxy and conclude that these are negligible. We
use our best estimates of the systematic errors in the survey to calculate
corrected estimates of . Deep redshift surveys are used to determine the
selection function of the APM Galaxy Survey, and this is applied in Limber's
equation to compute how scales as a function of limiting magnitude. Our
estimates of are in excellent agreement with the scaling relation,
providing further evidence that systematic errors in the APM survey are small.
We explicitly remove large-scale structure by applying filters to the APM
galaxy maps and conclude that there is still strong evidence for more
clustering at large scales than predicted by the standard scale-invariant cold
dark matter (CDM) model. We compare the APM and the three dimensional power
spectrum derived by inverting , with the predictions of scale-invariant CDM
models. We show that the observations require in the range
0.2-0.3 and are incompatible with the value of the standard CDM
model.Comment: 102 pages, plain TeX plus 41 postscript figures. Submitted to MNRA
The local space density of dwarf galaxies
We estimate the luminosity function of field galaxies over a range of ten
magnitudes (-22 < M_{B_J} < -12 for H_0 = 100 km/s/Mpc) by counting the number
of faint APM galaxies around Stromlo-APM redshift survey galaxies at known
distance. The faint end of the luminosity function rises steeply at M_{B_J}
\approx -15, implying that the space density of dwarf galaxies is at least two
times larger than predicted by a Schechter function with flat faint-end slope.
Such a high abundance of dwarf galaxies at low redshift can help explain the
observed number counts and redshift distributions of faint galaxies without
invoking exotic models for galaxy evolution.Comment: 20 pages, 5 included postscript figures, uses AAS LaTex macros.
Accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journal. Two figures and
associated discussion added; results and conclusions unchange
The Apm Galaxy Survey IV: Redshifts of Rich Clusters of Galaxies
We present redshifts for a sample of 229 clusters selected from the APM
Galaxy Survey, 189 of which are new redshift determinations. Non-cluster galaxy
redshifts have been rejected from this sample using a likelihood ratio test
based on the projected and apparent magnitude distributions of the cluster
fields. We test this technique using cluster fields in which redshifts have
been measured for more than 10 galaxies. Our redshift sample is nearly complete
and has been used in previous papers to study the three dimensional
distribution of rich clusters of galaxies. 157 of the clusters in our sample
are listed in the Abell catalogue or supplement, and the remainder are new
cluster identifications.Comment: 15 pages UUencoded compressed postscript. Submitted to Monthly
Notices of the R.A.
Clustering of the Diffuse Infrared Light from the COBE DIRBE maps. III. Power spectrum analysis and excess isotropic component of fluctuations
The cosmic infrared background (CIB) radiation is the cosmic repository for
energy release throughout the history of the universe. Using the all-sky data
from the COBE DIRBE instrument at wavelengths 1.25 - 100 mic we attempt to
measure the CIB fluctuations. In the near-IR, foreground emission is dominated
by small scale structure due to stars in the Galaxy. There we find a strong
correlation between the amplitude of the fluctuations and Galactic latitude
after removing bright foreground stars. Using data outside the Galactic plane
() and away from the center () we extrapolate
the amplitude of the fluctuations to cosec. We find a positive intercept
of nW/m2/sr at 1.25, 2.2,3.5 and 4.9 mic
respectively, where the errors are the range of 92% confidence limits. For
color subtracted maps between band 1 and 2 we find the isotropic part of the
fluctuations at nW/m2/sr. Based on detailed numerical and
analytic models, this residual is not likely to originate from the Galaxy, our
clipping algorithm, or instrumental noise. We demonstrate that the residuals
from the fit used in the extrapolation are distributed isotropically and
suggest that this extra variance may result from structure in the CIB. For
2\deg< \theta < 15^\deg, a power-spectrum analysis yields firm upper limits
of (\theta/5^\deg) \times\delta F_{\rm rms} (\theta) < 6, 2.5, 0.8, 0.5
nW/m2/sr at 1.25, 2.2, 3.5 and 4.9 mic respectively. From 10-100 mic, the upper
limits <1 nW/m2/sr.Comment: Ap.J., in press. 69 pages including 24 fig
Two-Dimensional Topology of the 2dF Galaxy Redshift Survey
We study the topology of the publicly available data released by the 2dFGRS.
The 2dFGRS data contains over 100,000 galaxy redshifts with a magnitude limit
of b_J=19.45 and is the largest such survey to date. The data lie over a wide
range of right ascension (75 degree strips) but only within a narrow range of
declination (10 degree and 15 degree strips). This allows measurements of the
two-dimensional genus to be made.
The NGP displays a slight meatball shift topology, whereas the SGP displays a
bubble like topology. The current SGP data also have a slightly higher genus
amplitude. In both cases, a slight excess of overdense regions are found over
underdense regions. We assess the significance of these features using mock
catalogs drawn from the Virgo Consortium's Hubble Volume LCDM z=0 simulation.
We find that differences between the NGP and SGP genus curves are only
significant at the 1 sigma level. The average genus curve of the 2dFGRS agrees
well with that extracted from the LCDM mock catalogs.
We compare the amplitude of the 2dFGRS genus curve to the amplitude of a
Gaussian random field with the same power spectrum as the 2dFGRS and find,
contradictory to results for the 3D genus of other samples, that the amplitude
of the GRF genus curve is slightly lower than that of the 2dFGRS. This could be
due to a a feature in the current data set or the 2D genus may not be as
sensitive as the 3D genus to non-linear clustering due to the averaging over
the thickness of the slice in 2D. (Abridged)Comment: Submitted to ApJ A version with Figure 1 in higher resolution can be
obtained from http://www.physics.drexel.edu/~hoyle
The Power Spectrum of the PSC Redshift Survey
We measure the redshift-space power spectrum P(k) for the recently completed
IRAS Point Source Catalogue (PSC) redshift survey, which contains 14500
galaxies over 84% of the sky with 60 micron flux >= 0.6 Jansky. Comparison with
simulations shows that our estimated errors on P(k) are realistic, and that
systematic errors due to the finite survey volume are small for wavenumbers k
>~ 0.03 h Mpc^-1. At large scales our power spectrum is intermediate between
those of the earlier QDOT and 1.2 Jansky surveys, but with considerably smaller
error bars; it falls slightly more steeply to smaller scales. We have fitted
families of CDM-like models using the Peacock-Dodds formula for non-linear
evolution; the results are somewhat sensitive to the assumed small-scale
velocity dispersion \sigma_V. Assuming a realistic \sigma_V \approx 300 km/s
yields a shape parameter \Gamma ~ 0.25 and normalisation b \sigma_8 ~ 0.75; if
\sigma_V is as high as 600 km/s then \Gamma = 0.5 is only marginally excluded.
There is little evidence for any `preferred scale' in the power spectrum or
non-Gaussian behaviour in the distribution of large-scale power.Comment: Latex, uses mn.sty, 14 pages including 11 Postscript figures.
Accepted by MNRA
A Local Hubble Bubble from SNe Ia?
We analyze the monopole in the peculiar velocities of 44 Type Ia supernovae
(SNe Ia) to test for a local void. The sample extends from 20 to 300 Mpc/h,
with distances, deduced from light-curve shapes, accurate to ~6%. Assuming
Omega_m=1 and Omega_lambda=0, the most significant deviation we find from the
Hubble law is an outwards flow of (6.6+/-2.2)% inside a sphere of radius 70
Mpc/h as would be produced by a void of ~20% underdensity surrounded by a dense
shell. This shell roughly coincides with the local Great Walls. Monte Carlo
analyses, using Gaussian errors or bootstrap resampling, show the probability
for chance occurrence of this result out of a pure Hubble flow to be ~2%. The
monopole could be contaminated by higher moments of the velocity field,
especially a quadrupole, which are not properly probed by the current limited
sky coverage. The void would be less significant if Omega_m is low and
Omega_lambda is high. It would be more significant if one outlier is removed
from the sample, or if the size of the void is constrained a-priori. This
putative void is not in significant conflict with any of the standard
cosmological scenarios. It suggests that the Hubble constant as determined
within 70 Mpc/h could be overestimated by ~6% and the local value of Omega may
be underestimated by ~20%. While the present evidence for a local void is
marginal in this data set, the analysis shows that the accumulation of SNe Ia
distances will soon provide useful constraints on elusive and important aspects
of regional cosmic dynamics.Comment: 21 pages, 3 figures. Slightly revised version. To appear in ApJ, 503,
Aug. 20, 199
TASS Mark IV Photometric Survey of the Northern Sky
The Amateur Sky Survey (TASS) is a loose confederation of amateur and
professional astronomers. We describe the design and construction of our Mark
IV systems, a set of wide-field telescopes with CCD cameras which take
simultaneous images in the and passbands. We explain our
observational procedures and the pipeline which processes and reduces the
images into lists of stellar positions and magnitudes. We have compiled a large
database of measurements for stars in the northern celestial hemisphere with
-band magnitudes in the range 7 < V < 13. This paper describes data taken
over the four-year period starting November, 2001. One of our results is a
catalog of repeated measurements on the Johnson-Cousins system for over 4.3
million stars.Comment: Accepted for publication in December, 2006, issue of PASP. 44 pages
including 20 figures. Patches catalog available at
http://spiff.rit.edu/tass/patches
The Apparent and Intrinsic Shape of the APM Galaxy Clusters
We estimate the distribution of intrinsic shapes of APM galaxy clusters from
the distribution of their apparent shapes. We measure the projected cluster
ellipticities using two alternative methods. The first method is based on
moments of the discrete galaxy distribution while the second is based on
moments of the smoothed galaxy distribution. We study the performance of both
methods using Monte Carlo cluster simulations covering the range of APM cluster
distances and including a random distribution of background galaxies. We find
that the first method suffers from severe systematic biases, whereas the second
is more reliable. After excluding clusters dominated by substructure and
quantifying the systematic biases in our estimated shape parameters, we recover
a corrected distribution of projected ellipticities. We use the non-parametric
kernel method to estimate the smooth apparent ellipticity distribution, and
numerically invert a set of integral equations to recover the corresponding
distribution of intrinsic ellipticities under the assumption that the clusters
are either oblate or prolate spheroids. The prolate spheroidal model fits the
APM cluster data best.Comment: 8 pages, including 7 figures, accepted for publication in MNRA
- âŠ