Showing papers by "Ravi K. Sheth published in 2006"

Cosmological constraints from the SDSS luminous red galaxies

Abstract: We measure the large-scale real-space power spectrum P(k) using luminous red galaxies (LRGs) in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) and use this measurement to sharpen constraints on cosmological parameters from the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP). We employ a matrix-based power spectrum estimation method using Pseudo-Karhunen-Loeve eigenmodes, producing uncorrelated minimum-variance measurements in 20 k-bands of both the clustering power and its anisotropy due to redshift-space distortions, with narrow and well-behaved window functions in the range 0.01h/Mpc 0.1h/Mpc and associated nonlinear complications, yet agree well with more aggressive published analyses where nonlinear modeling is crucial.

Evolution and Environment of Early-Type Galaxies

Abstract: Chemical abundance indicators are studied using composite spectra, which we provide in tabular form. Tables of line strengths measured from these spectra and parameters derived from these line strengths are also provided. From these we find that at fixed luminosity, early-type galaxies in low-density environments are slightly bluer, with stronger O II emission and stronger Hδ and Hγ Balmer absorption lines, indicative of star formation in the not very distant past. These galaxies also tend to have systematically weaker D4000 indices. The Lick indices and α-element abundance indicators correlate weakly but significantly with environment. For example, at fixed velocity dispersion, Mg is weaker in early-type galaxies in low-density environments by 30% of the rms scatter across the full sample, whereas most Fe indicators show no significant environmental dependence. The galaxies in our sample span a redshift range that corresponds to look-back times of ~1 Gyr. We see clear evidence for evolution of line-index strengths over this time. Since the low-redshift population is almost certainly a passively aged version of the more distant population, age is likely the main driver for any observed evolution. We use the observed redshift evolution as a model-independent clock to identify indicators that are more sensitive to age than to other effects such as metallicity. In principle, for a passively evolving population, comparison of the trends with redshift and environment constrain how strongly the luminosity-weighted ages and metallicities depend on environment. We develop a method for doing this that does not depend on the details of stellar population synthesis models. Our analysis suggests that the galaxies that populate the densest regions in our sample are older by ~1 Gyr than objects of the same luminosity in the least dense regions, and that metallicity differences are negligible. We also use single-burst stellar population synthesis models, which allow for nonsolar α-element abundance ratios, to interpret our data. The combination of Hβ, Mg b, and Fe lines suggests that age, metallicity, and α-enhancement all increase with velocity dispersion. The objects at lower redshifts are older but have the same metallicities and α-enhancements as their counterparts of the same σ at higher redshifts, as expected if the low-redshift sample is a passively aged version of the sample at higher redshifts. In addition, objects in dense environments are less than 1 Gyr older and α-enhanced by ~0.02 relative to their counterparts of the same velocity dispersion in less dense regions, but the metallicities show no dependence on environment. This suggests that in dense regions, the stars in early-type galaxies formed at slightly earlier times and on a slightly shorter timescale than in less dense regions. Using HγF instead of Hβ leads to slightly younger ages but the same qualitative differences between environments. In particular, we find no evidence that objects in low-density regions are more metal-rich.

The luminosity‐weighted or ‘marked’ correlation function

Abstract: We present measurements of the redshift-space luminosity-weighted or ‘marked’ correlation function in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS). These are compared with a model in which the luminosity function and luminosity dependence of clustering are the same as that observed, and in which the form of the luminosity-weighted correlation function is entirely a consequence of the fact that massive haloes populate dense regions. We do this by using mock catalogues which are constrained to reproduce the observed luminosity function and the luminosity dependence of clustering, as well as by using the language of the redshift-space halo model. These analyses show that marked correlations may show a signal on large scales even if there are no large-scale physical effects – the statistical correlation between haloes and their environment will produce a measurable signal. Our model is in good agreement with the measurements, indicating that the halo mass function in dense regions is top heavy; the correlation between halo mass and large-scale environment is the primary driver for correlations between galaxy properties and environment; and the luminosity of the central galaxy in a halo is different from (in general, brighter than) that of the other objects in the halo. Thus our measurement provides strong evidence for the accuracy of these three standard assumptions of galaxy formation models. These assumptions also form the basis of current halo-model-based interpretations of galaxy clustering. When the same galaxies are weighted by their u-, g- or r-band luminosities, then the marked correlation function is stronger in the redder bands. When the weight is galaxy colour rather than luminosity, then the data suggest that close pairs of galaxies tend to have redder colours. This wavelength dependence of marked correlations is in qualitative agreement with galaxy formation models, and reflects the fact that the mean luminosity of galaxies in a halo depends more strongly on halo mass in the r-band than in u. The luminosity and colour dependence we find are consistent with models in which the galaxy population in clusters is more massive than the population in the field. If the u-band luminosity is a reliable tracer of star formation, then our results suggest that cluster galaxies have lower star formation rates. The virtue of this measurement of environmental trends is that it does not require classification of galaxies into field, group and cluster environments.

On the inconsistency between the black hole mass function inferred from M_bh-sigma and M_bh-L correlation

Abstract: Black hole masses are tightly correlated with the stellar velocity dispersions of the bulges which surround them, and slightly less-well correlated with the bulge luminosity It is common to use these correlations to estimate the expected abundance of massive black holes This is usually done by starting from an observed distribution of velocity dispersions or luminosities and then changing variables This procedure neglects the fact that there is intrinsic scatter in these black hole mass--observable correlations Accounting for this scatter results in estimates of black hole abundances which are larger by almost an order of magnitude at masses >10^9 M_sun Including this scatter is particularly important for models which seek to infer quasar lifetimes and duty cycles from the local black hole mass function However, even when scatter has been accounted for, the M_bh-sigma relation predicts fewer massive black holes than does the M_bh-L relation This is because the sigma-L relation in the black hole samples currently available is inconsistent with that in the SDSS sample from which the distributions of L or sigma are based: the black hole samples have smaller L for a given sigma, or larger sigma for a given L The sigma-L relation in the black hole samples is similarly discrepant with that in other samples of nearby early-type galaxies This suggests that current black hole samples are biased: if this is a selection rather than physical effect, then the M_bh-sigma and M_bh-L relations currently in the literature are also biased from their true values

The Effect of Large-Scale Structure on the SDSS Galaxy Three-Point Correlation Function

Abstract: We present measurements of the normalized redshift-space three-point correlation function (3PCF) (Q(z)) of galaxies from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) main galaxy sample. These measurements were possible because of a fast new N-point correlation function algorithm (called npt) based on multiresolutional k-d trees. We have applied npt to both a volume-limited (36 738 galaxies with 0.05 = 10 h(-1)Mpc). If we exclude this supercluster, our observed Q(z) is in better agreement with that obtained from the 2-degree Field Galaxy Redshift Survey (2dFGRS) by other authors, thus demonstrating the sensitivity of these higher order correlation functions to large-scale structures in the Universe. This analysis highlights that the SDSS data sets used here are not 'fair samples' of the Universe for the estimation of higher order clustering statistics and larger volumes are required. We study the shape dependence of Q(z)(s, q, theta) as one expects this measurement to depend on scale if the large-scale structure in the Universe has grown via gravitational instability from Gaussian initial conditions. On small scales (s 10 h(-1)Mpc, we see considerable shape dependence in Q(z). However, larger samples are required to improve the statistical significance of these measurements on all scales.

An Excursion Set Model of the Cosmic Web: the Abundance of Sheets, Filaments And Halos

Abstract: We discuss an analytic approach for modeling structure formation in sheets, filaments, and knots. This is accomplished by combining models of triaxial collapse with the excursion set approach: sheets are defined as objects that have collapsed along only one axis, filaments have collapsed along two axes, and halos are objects in which triaxial collapse is complete. In the simplest version of this approach, which we develop here, large-scale structure shows a clear hierarchy of morphologies: the mass in large-scale sheets is partitioned up among lower mass filaments, which themselves are made up of still lower mass halos. Our approach provides analytic estimates of the mass fraction in sheets, filaments, and halos and its evolution, for any background cosmological model and any initial fluctuation spectrum. In the currently popular ΛCDM model, our analysis suggests that more than 99% of the cosmic mass is in sheets, and 72% in filaments, with mass larger than 1010 M☉ at the present time. For halos, this number is only 46%. Our approach also provides analytic estimates of how halo abundances at any given time correlate with the morphology of the surrounding large-scale structure and how halo evolution correlates with the morphology of large-scale structure.

Selection bias in the M_BH-sigma and M_BH-L correlations and its consequences

Abstract: It is common to estimate black hole abundances by using a measured correlation between black hole mass and another more easily measured observable such as the velocity dispersion or luminosity of the surrounding bulge. The correlation is used to transform the distribution of the observable into an estimate of the distribution of black hole masses. However, different observables provide different estimates: the Mbh-sigma relation predicts fewer massive black holes than does the Mbh-L relation. This is because the sigma-L relation in black hole samples currently available is inconsistent with that in the SDSS sample, from which the distributions of L or sigma are based: the black hole samples have smaller L for a given sigma or have larger sigma for a given L. This is true whether L is estimated in the optical or in the NIR. If this is a selection rather than physical effect, then the Mbh-sigma and Mbh-L relations currently in the literature are also biased from their true values. We provide a framework for describing the effect of this bias. We then combine it with a model of the bias to make an estimate of the true intrinsic relations. While we do not claim to have understood the source of the bias, our simple model is able to reproduce the observed trends. If we have correctly modeled the selection effect, then our analysis suggests that the bias in the relation is likely to be small, whereas the relation is biased towards predicting more massive black holes for a given luminosity. In addition, it is likely that the Mbh-L relation is entirely a consequence of more fundamental relations between Mbh and sigma, and between sigma and L. The intrinsic relation we find suggests that at fixed luminosity, older galaxies tend to host more massive black holes.

The environmental dependence of galaxy clustering in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey

Abstract: A generic prediction of hierarchical clustering models is that the mass function of dark haloes in dense regions in the Universe should be top-heavy. We provide a novel test of this prediction using a sample of galaxies drawn from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS). To perform the test, we compare measurements of galaxy clustering in dense and underdense regions. We find that galaxies in dense regions cluster significantly more strongly than those in less dense regions. This is true over the entire 0.1-30 Mpc pair separation range for which we can make accurate measurements. We make similar measurements in realistic mock catalogues in which the only environmental effects are those which arise from the predicted correlation between halo mass and environment. We also provide an analytic halo model based calculation of the effect. Both the mock catalogues and the analytic calculation provide rather good descriptions of the SDSS measurements. Thus, our results provide strong support for hierarchical models. They suggest that, unless care is taken to study galaxies at fixed mass, correlations between galaxy properties and the surrounding environment are almost entirely due to more fundamental correlations between galaxy properties and host halo mass, and between halo mass and environment.

A search for the most massive galaxies: double trouble?

Abstract: We describe the results of a search for galaxies with large (≥350 km s-1) velocity dispersions. The largest systems we have found appear to be the extremes of the early-type galaxy population: compared to other galaxies with similar luminosities, they have the largest velocity dispersions and the smallest sizes. However, they are not distant outliers from the fundamental plane and mass-to-light scaling relations defined by the bulk of the early-type galaxy population. They may host the most massive black holes in the universe, and their abundance and properties can be used to constrain galaxy formation models. Clear outliers from the scaling relations tend to be objects in superposition (angular separations smaller than 1''), evidence for which comes sometimes from the spectra, sometimes from the images, and sometimes from both. The statistical properties of the superposed pairs, e.g., the distribution of pair separations and velocity dispersions, can be used to provide useful information about the expected distribution of image multiplicities, separations, and flux ratios due to gravitational lensing by multiple lenses, and may also constrain models of their interaction rates.

Environment and the cosmic evolution of star formation

Abstract: We present a mark correlation analysis of the galaxies in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey using weights provided by MOPED. The large size of the sample permits statistically significant statements about how galaxies with different metallicities and star formation histories are spatially correlated. Massive objects formed a larger fraction of their stars at higher redshifts and over shorter timescales than did less massive objects (sometimes called downsizing). We find that galaxies in clusters today formed stars at above average rates at z > 3 but have had below average star formation rates for the last 5 Gyr. Hence, our results indicate that star formation and chemical enrichment have occurred at above average rates in the denser regions of the universe. Our conclusions about the environment did not require classification of the galaxies into "cluster" and "field" populations, and our conclusions about evolution did not require a galaxy sample that spans a wide redshift range.

The impact of halo shapes on the bispectrum in cosmology

Abstract: We use the triaxial halo model formalism of Smith & Watts to investigate the impact of dark matter halo shapes on the cosmological bispectrum. Analytical expressions for the dark matter distribution are derived and subsequently evaluated through numerical integration. Two models for the ellipsoidal halo profiles are considered: a toy model designed to isolate the effects of halo shape on the clustering alone; and the more realistic model of Jing & Suto. For equilateral k-space triangles, we show that the predictions of the triaxial model are suppressed, relative to the spherical model, by up to ∼7 and ∼4 per cent for the two profiles, respectively. When the reduced bispectrum is considered as a function of triangle configuration, it is found to be highly sensitive to halo shapes on small scales. The generic features of our predictions are that, relative to the spherical halo model, the signal is suppressed for k-vector configurations that are close to equilateral triangles and boosted for configurations that are colinear. This appears to be a unique signature of halo triaxiality and potentially provides a means for measuring halo shapes in forthcoming cosmic shear surveys. The galaxy bispectrum is also explored. Two models for the halo occupation distribution (HOD) are considered: the binomial distribution of Scoccimarro et al. and the Poisson satellite model of Kravtsov et al. Our predictions show that the galaxy bispectrum is also sensitive to halo shapes, although relative to the mass the effects are reduced. The HOD of Kravtsov et al. is found to be more sensitive. This owes to the fact that the first moment of the occupation probability is a steeper function of mass in this model, and hence the high-mass (more triaxial) haloes are more strongly weighted. Interestingly, the functional form of the configuration-dependent bispectrum is, modulo an amplitude shift, not strongly sensitive to the exact form of the HOD, but is mainly determined by the halo shape. However, a combination of measurements made on different scales and for different k-space triangle configurations is sensitive to both halo shape and the HOD.

The Probability Distribution of the Lya transmitted flux from a sample of SDSS quasars

Abstract: We present a measurement of the probability distribution function (PDF) of the transmitted flux in the Lya forest from a sample of 3492 quasars included in the SDSS DR3 data release. Our intention is to investigate the sensitivity of the Lya flux PDF as measured from low resolution and low signal-to-noise data to a number of systematic errors such as uncertainties in the mean flux, continuum and noise estimate. The quasar continuum is described by the superposition of a power law and emission lines. We perform a power law continuum fitting on a spectrum-by-spectrum basis, and obtain an average continuum slope of 0.59 +/- 0.36 in the redshift range 2.5

The luminosities, sizes and velocity dispersions of Brightest Cluster Galaxies: Implications for formation history

Abstract: The size-luminosity relation of early-type Brightest Cluster Galaxies (BCGs), R_e ~ L^0.88, is steeper than that for the bulk of the early-type galaxy population, for which R_e ~ L^0.68. In addition, although BCGs are hardly offset from the Fundamental Plane defined by the bulk of the early-type population, they show considerably smaller scatter. The larger than expected sizes of BCGs, and the increased homogeneity, are qualitatively consistent with models which seek to explain the colors of the most massive galaxies by invoking dry dissipationless mergers, since dissipation tends to reduce the sizes of galaxies, and wet mergers which result in star formation would tend to increase the scatter in luminosity at fixed size and velocity dispersion. Furthermore, BCGs define the same g-r color-magnitude relation as the bulk of the early-type population. If BCGs formed from dry mergers, then BCG progenitors must have been red for their magnitudes, suggesting that they hosted older stellar populations than typical for their luminosities. Our findings have two other consequences. First, the R_e-L relation of the early-type galaxy population as a whole (i.e., normal plus BCG) exhibits some curvature. Some of this curvature must be a consequence of the fact that an increasing fraction of the most luminous galaxies are BCGs. The second consequence is suggested by the fact that, despite following a steeper size-luminosity relation, BCGs tend to define a tight relation between dynamical mass R_e sigma^2/G and luminosity. As consequence, we find that BCGs define a shallower sigma-L relation than the bulk of the early-type galaxy population.

A random walk through models of nonlinear clustering.

Abstract: The authors present a few simple models of the mass function of collapsed objects. The emphasis is on apparently unrelated models which end up giving the same answer for the number density and merger histories of virialized clumps. They also comment briefly on models of the spatial distribution of the clumps, and how they can be used to model the spatial distribution of the mass.

Bispectrum and Nonlinear Biasing of Galaxies: Perturbation Analysis, Numerical Simulation and SDSS Galaxy Clustering

Abstract: We consider nonlinear biasing models of galaxies with particular attention to a correlation between linear and quadratic biasing coefficients, b_1 and b_2. We first derive perturbative expressions for b_1 and b_2 in halo and peak biasing models. Then we compute power spectra and bispectra of dark matter particles and halos using N-body simulation data and of volume-limited subsamples of Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) galaxies, and determine their b_1 and b_2. We find that the values of those coefficients at linear regimes (k<0.2h/Mpc) are fairly insensitive to the redshift-space distortion and the survey volume shape. The resulting normalized amplitudes of bispectra, Q, for equilateral triangles, are insensitive to the values of b_1 implying that b_2 indeed correlates with b_1. The present results explain the previous finding of Kayo et al. (2004) for the hierarchical relation of three-point correlation functions of SDSS galaxies. While the relations between b_1 and b_2 are quantitatively different for specific biasing models, their approximately similar correlations indicate a fairly generic outcome of the biasing due to the gravity in primordial Gaussian density fields.

The Effect of Large-Scale Structure on the SDSS Galaxy Three-Point Correlation Function

Abstract: We present measurements of the normalised redshift-space three-point correlation function (Q_z) of galaxies from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) main galaxy sample. We have applied our "npt" algorithm to both a volume-limited (36738 galaxies) and magnitude-limited sample (134741 galaxies) of SDSS galaxies, and find consistent results between the two samples, thus confirming the weak luminosity dependence of Q_z recently seen by other authors. We compare our results to other Q_z measurements in the literature and find it to be consistent within the full jack-knife error estimates. However, we find these errors are significantly increased by the presence of the ``Sloan Great Wall'' (at z ~ 0.08) within these two SDSS datasets, which changes the 3-point correlation function (3PCF) by 70% on large scales (s>=10h^-1 Mpc). If we exclude this supercluster, our observed Q_z is in better agreement with that obtained from the 2dFGRS by other authors, thus demonstrating the sensitivity of these higher-order correlation functions to large-scale structures in the Universe. This analysis highlights that the SDSS datasets used here are not ``fair samples'' of the Universe for the estimation of higher-order clustering statistics and larger volumes are required. We study the shape-dependence of Q_z(s,q,theta) as one expects this measurement to depend on scale if the large scale structure in the Universe has grown via gravitational instability from Gaussian initial conditions. On small scales (s 10h^-1 Mpc, we see considerable shape-dependence in Q_z.

Environment and the cosmic evolution of star formation

Abstract: We present a mark correlation analysis of the galaxies in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey using weights provided by MOPED. The large size of the sample permits statistically significant statements about how galaxies with different metallicities and star formation histories are spatially correlated. Massive objects formed a larger fraction of their stars at higher redshifts and over shorter timescales than did less massive objects (sometimes called down-sizing). We find that those galaxies which dominated the cosmic star formation at z~3 are predominantly in clusters today, whereas galaxies which dominate the star formation at z~0 inhabit substantially lower mass objects in less dense regions today. Hence, our results indicate that star formation and chemical enrichment occured first in the denser regions of the Universe, and moved to less dense regions at later times.

The environmental dependence of galaxy clustering in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey

Abstract: A generic prediction of hierarchical clustering models is that the mass function of dark haloes in dense regions in the Universe should be top-heavy. We provide a novel test of this prediction using a sample of galaxies drawn from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. To perform the test, we compare measurements of galaxy clustering in dense and underdense regions. We find that galaxies in dense regions cluster significantly more strongly than those in less dense regions. This is true over the entire 0.1--30 Mpc pair separation range for which we can make accurate measurements. We make similar measurements in realistic mock catalogs in which the only environmental effects are those which arise from the predicted correlation between halo mass and environment. We also provide an analytic halo-model based calculation of the effect. Both the mock catalogs and the analytic calculation provide rather good descriptions of the SDSS measurements. Thus, our results provide strong support for hierarchical models. They suggest that, unless care is taken to study galaxies at fixed mass, correlations between galaxy properties and the surrounding environment are almost entirely due to more fundamental correlations between galaxy properties and host halo mass, and between halo mass and environment.

An improved model for the formation times of dark matter haloes

Abstract: A dark matter halo is said to have formed when at least half its mass hass been assembled into a single progenitor. With this definition, it is possible to derive a simple but useful analytic estimate of the distribution of halo formation times. The standard estimate of this distribution depends on the shape of the conditional mass function--the distribution of progenitor masses of a halo as a function of time. If the spherical collapse model is used to estimate the progenitor mass function, then the formation times one infers systematically underestimate those seen in numerical simulations of hierarchical gravitational clustering. We provide estimates of halo formation which may be related to an ellipsoidal collapse model. These estimates provide a substantially better description of the simulations. We also provide an alternative derivation of the formation time distribution which is based on the assumption that haloes increase their mass through binary mergers only. Our results are useful for models which relate halo structure to halo formation.