Gravitational redshift of galaxies in clusters as predicted by general relativity

The theoretical framework of cosmology is mainly defined by gravity, of which general relativity is the current model. Recent tests of general relativity within the \Lambda Cold Dark Matter (CDM) model have found a concordance between predictions and the observations of the growth rate and clustering of the cosmic web. General relativity has not hitherto been tested on cosmological scales independent of the assumptions of the \Lambda CDM model. Here we report observation of the gravitational redshift of light coming from galaxies in clusters at the 99 per cent confidence level, based upon archival data. The measurement agrees with the predictions of general relativity and its modification created to explain cosmic acceleration without the need for dark energy (f(R) theory), but is inconsistent with alternative models designed to avoid the presence of dark matter.Comment: Published in Nature issued on 29 September 2011. This version includes the Letter published there as well as the Supplementary Information. 23 pages, 7 figure

nIFTy Cosmology: Comparison of Galaxy Formation Models

We present a comparison of 14 galaxy formation models: 12 different semi-analytical models and 2 halo-occupation distribution models for galaxy formation based upon the same cosmological simulation and merger tree information derived from it. The participating codes have proven to be very successful in their own right but they have all been calibrated independently using various observational data sets, stellar models, and merger trees. In this paper we apply them without recalibration and this leads to a wide variety of predictions for the stellar mass function, specific star formation rates, stellar-to- halo mass ratios, and the abundance of orphan galaxies. The scatter is much larger than seen in previous comparison studies primarily because the codes have been used outside of their native environment within which they are well tested and calibrated. The purpose of the `nIFTy comparison of galaxy formation models' is to bring together as many different galaxy formation modellers as possible and to investigate a common approach to model calibration. This paper provides a unified description for all participating models and presents the initial, uncalibrated comparison as a baseline for our future studies where we will develop a common calibration framework and address the extent to which that reduces the scatter in the model predictions seen here

PRIMUS: The EFFECT of PHYSICAL SCALE on the LUMINOSITY DEPENDENCE of GALAXY CLUSTERING VIA CROSS-CORRELATIONS

We report small-scale clustering measurements from the PRIsm MUlti-object Survey (PRIMUS) spectroscopic redshift survey as a function of color and luminosity. We measure the real-space cross-correlations between 62,106 primary galaxies with PRIMUS redshifts and a tracer population of ∼545,000 photometric galaxies over redshifts from z = 0.2 to z = 1. We separately fit a power-law model in redshift and luminosity to each of three independent color-selected samples of galaxies. We report clustering amplitudes at fiducial values of z = 0.5 and The clustering of the red galaxies is times as strong as that of the blue galaxies and as strong as that of the green galaxies. We also find that the luminosity dependence of the clustering is strongly dependent on physical scale, with greater luminosity dependence being found between and , compared to the to range. Moreover, over a range of two orders of magnitude in luminosity, a single power-law fit to the luminosity dependence is not sufficient to explain the increase in clustering at both the bright and faint ends at the smaller scales. We argue that luminosity-dependent clustering at small scales is a necessary component of galaxy-halo occupation models for blue, star-forming galaxies as well as for red, quenched galaxies

Velocity bias from the small-scale clustering of SDSS-III BOSS galaxies

We present the measurements and modelling of the projected and redshift-space clustering of CMASS galaxies in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey-III Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey Data Release 11. For a volume-limited luminous red galaxy sample in the redshift range of 0.48 < z < 0.55, we perform halo occupation distribution modelling of the small- and intermediate-scale (0.1-60 h-1 Mpc) projected and redshift-space two-point correlation functions, with an accurate model built on high-resolution N-body simulations. To interpret the measured redshift-space distortions, the distribution of galaxy velocities must differ from that of the dark matter inside haloes of ~1013-1014 h-1 M⊙, i.e. the data require the existence of galaxy velocity bias. Most notably, central galaxies on average are not at rest with respect to the core of their host haloes, but rather move around it with a 1D velocity dispersion of 0.22-0.04+0.03 times that of the dark matter, implying a spatial offset from the centre at the level of ≲1 per cent of the halo virial radius. The luminous satellite galaxies move more slowly than the dark matter, with velocities 0.86-0.03+0.08 times those of the dark matter, which suggests that the velocity and spatial distributions of these satellites cannot both be unbiased. The constraints mainly arise from the Fingers-of-God effect at non-linear scales and the smoothing to the Kaiser effect in the translinear regime; the robustness of the results is demonstrated by a variety of tests. We discuss the implications of the existence of galaxy velocity bias for investigations of galaxy formation and cosmology

PRIMUS: EFFECTS of GALAXY ENVIRONMENT on the QUIESCENT FRACTION EVOLUTION at z < 0.8

We investigate the effects of galaxy environment on the evolution of the quiescent fraction (fQ) from z = 0.8 to 0.0 using spectroscopic redshifts and multi-wavelength imaging data from the PRIsm MUlti-object Survey (PRIMUS) and the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS). Our stellar mass limited galaxy sample consists of ∼14,000 PRIMUS galaxies within z = 0.2-0.8 and ∼64,000 SDSS galaxies within z = 0.05-0.12. We classify the galaxies as quiescent or star-forming (SF) based on an evolving specific star formation cut, and as low or high density environments based on fixed cylindrical aperture environment measurements on a volume-limited environment defining population. For quiescent and SF galaxies in low or high density environments, we examine the evolution of their stellar mass function (SMF). Then using the SMFs we compute fQ (M∗) and quantify its evolution within our redshift range. We find that the quiescent fraction is higher at higher masses and in denser environments. The quiescent fraction rises with cosmic time for all masses and environments. At a fiducial mass of 1010.5 M⊙, from z ∼ 0.7 to 0.1, the quiescent fraction rises by 15% at the lowest environments and by 25% at the highest environments we measure. These results suggest that for a minority of galaxies their cessation of star formation is due to external influences on them. In other words, in the recent universe a substantial fraction of the galaxies that cease forming stars do so due to internal processes

DARK MATTER HALO MODELS OF STELLAR MASS-DEPENDENT GALAXY CLUSTERING IN PRIMUS+DEEP2 AT 0.2 < z < 1.2

We utilize ΛCDM halo occupation models of galaxy clustering to investigate the evolving stellar mass dependent clustering of galaxies in the PRIsm MUlti-object Survey (PRIMUS) and DEEP2 Redshift Survey over the past eight billion years of cosmic time, between 0.2 < z < 1.2. These clustering measurements provide new constraints on the connections between dark matter halo properties and galaxy properties in the context of the evolving largescale structure of the universe. Using both an analytic model and a set of mock galaxy catalogs, we find a strong correlation between central galaxy stellar mass and dark matter halo mass over the range Mhalo ∼ 10111013 h-1 M⊙, approximately consistent with previous observations and theoretical predictions. However, the stellarto-halo mass relation and the mass scale where star formation efficiency reaches a maximum appear to evolve more strongly than predicted by other models, including models based primarily on abundance-matching constraints. We find that the fraction of satellite galaxies in halos of a given mass decreases significantly from z ∼ 0.5 to z ∼ 0.9, partly due to the fact that halos at fixed mass are rarer at higher redshift and have lower abundances. We also find that the M1/Mmin ratio, a model parameter that quantifies the critical mass above which halos host at least one satellite, decreases from ≈20 at z ∼ 0 to ≈13 at z ∼ 0.9. Considering the evolution of the subhalo mass function vis-à-vis satellite abundances, this trend has implications for relations between satellite galaxies and halo substructures and for intracluster mass, which we argue has grown due to stripped and disrupted satellites between z ∼ 0.9 and z ∼ 0.5

Galaxy Zoo: An independent look at the evolution of the bar fraction over the last eight billion years from HST-COSMOS

We measure the redshift evolution of the bar fraction in a sample of 2380 visually selected disc galaxies found in Cosmic Evolution Survey (COSMOS) Hubble Space Telescope (HST) images. The visual classifications used to identify both the disc sample and to indicate the presence of stellar bars were provided by citizen scientists via the Galaxy Zoo: Hubble (GZH) project. We find that the overall bar fraction decreases by a factor of two, from 22+/-5% at z=0.4 (tlb = 4.2 Gyr) to 11+/-2% at z=1.0 (tlb = 7.8 Gyr), consistent with previous analysis. We show that this decrease, of the strong bar fraction in a volume limited sample of massive disc galaxies [stellar mass limit of log(Mstar/Msun) > 10.0], cannot be due to redshift dependent biases hiding either bars or disc galaxies at higher redshifts. Splitting our sample into three bins of mass we find that the decrease in bar fraction is most prominent in the highest mass bin, while the lower mass discs in our sample show a more modest evolution. We also include a sample of 98 red disc galaxies. These galaxies have a high bar fraction (45+/-5%), and are missing from other COSMOS samples which used SED fitting or colours to identify high redshift discs. Our results are consistent with a picture in which the evolution of massive disc galaxies begins to be affected by slow (secular) internal process at z~1. We discuss possible connections of the decrease in bar fraction to the redshift, including the growth of stable disc galaxies, mass evolution of the gas content in disc galaxies, as well as the mass dependent effects of tidal interactions

Clustering properties of g-selected galaxies at z ~ 0.8

Current and future large redshift surveys, as the Sloan Digital Sky Survey IV extended Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (SDSS-IV/eBOSS) or the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI), will use emission-line galaxies (ELGs) to probe cosmological models by mapping the large-scale structure of the Universe in the redshift range 0.6 < z < 1.7. With current data, we explore the halo-galaxy connection by measuring three clustering properties of g-selected ELGs as matter tracers in the redshift range 0.6 < z < 1: (i) the redshift-space two-point correlation function using spectroscopic redshifts from the BOSS ELG sample and VIPERS; (ii) the angular two-point correlation function on the footprint of the CFHT-LS; (iii) the galaxy-galaxy lensing signal around the ELGs using the CFHTLenS. We interpret these observations by mapping them on to the latest high-resolution MultiDark Planck N-body simulation, using a novel (Sub)Halo-Abundance Matching technique that accounts for the ELG incompleteness. ELGs at z ~ 0.8 live in haloes of (1 ± 0.5) × 1012 h-1M⊙ and 22.5 ± 2.5 per cent of them are satellites belonging to a larger halo. The halo occupation distribution of ELGs indicates that we are sampling the galaxies in which stars form in the most efficient way, according to their stellar-to-halo mass ratio