Implications of Spikes in the Redshift Distribution of $z\sim 3$ Galaxies

Abstract

We address the high peaks found by Steidel et al (1997) in the redshift distribution of ``Lyman-break'' objects (LBOs) at redshift z~3. The highest spike represents a relative overdensity of 2.6 in the distribution of LBOs in pixels of comoving size ~10Mpc/h. We examine the likelihood of such a spike in the redshift distribution within a suite of models for the evolution of structure in the Universe, including models with Omega=1 (SCDM and CHDM) and with Omega=0.4-0.5 (LCDM and OCDM). Using high-resolution dissipationless N-body simulations, we analyze deep pencil-beam surveys from these models in the same way that they are actually observed, identifying LBOs with the most massive dark matter halos. We find that all the models (with SCDM as a marginal exception) have a substantial probability of producing spikes similar to those observed, because the massive halos are much more clumped than the underlying matter -- i.e., they are biased. Therefore, the likelihood of such a spike is not a good discriminator among these models. We find in these models that the mean biasing parameter b of LBOs with respect to dark matter varies within a range b ~2-5 on a scale of ~10Mpc/h. We also compute the two-body correlation functions of LBOs predicted in these models. The LBO correlation functions are less steep than galaxies today (gamma ~1.4), but show similar or slightly longer correlation lengths.

12 pages, 7 EPS inlined figures, 1 inlined table, LaTex + emulateapj, multicol and graphics macro packages. Accepted for publication in the ApJ. Revised version includes new appendix, table, updated references. A version with higher quality inlined figures is available at http://fozzie.gsfc.nasa.gov/wgpbd97/spikes.html

References in corpus (8)

• A Large Structure of Galaxies At Redshift z~3 and its Cosmological Implications
• Evolution of structure in cold dark matter universes
• The Epoch of Galaxy Formation
• The Angular Clustering of Lyman-Break Galaxies at Redshift z=3
• A Counts-in-Cells Analysis of Lyman-break Galaxies at z~3
• The seeds of rich galaxy clusters in the Universe
• Confronting cold dark matter cosmologies with strong clustering of Lyman break galaxies at $z\sim 3$
• Galaxies at z=4 and the Formation of Population II

Cited by in corpus (46)

• Lyman Break Galaxies at z>4 and the Evolution of the UV Luminosity Density at High Redshift
• The Connection between Galaxies and their Dark Matter Halos
• Modeling Luminosity-Dependent Galaxy Clustering Through Cosmic Time
• The Nature of High-Redshift Galaxies
• Lyman Alpha Imaging of a Proto-Cluster Region at <z>=3.09
• Connecting Galaxies, Halos, and Star Formation Rates Across Cosmic Time
• EMERGE - An empirical model for the formation of galaxies since $z\sim 10$
• Stochastic Nonlinear Galaxy Biasing
• Planck 2013 results. XXX. Cosmic infrared background measurements and implications for star formation
• Clustering of Galaxies in a Hierarchical Universe: II. Evolution to High Redshift
• The Power Spectrum of Mass Fluctuations Measured from the Lyman-alpha Forest at Redshift z=2.5
• Non-Gravitational Heating in the Hierarchical Formation of X-ray Clusters
• Non-linear Stochastic Galaxy Biasing in Cosmological Simulations
• Evolution of bias in different cosmological models
• Galaxy Halo Occupation at High Redshift
• The Structure and Clustering of Lyman Break Galaxies
• Quasars Probing Quasars III: New Clues to Feedback, Quenching, and the Physics of Massive Galaxy Formation
• Time Evolution of Galaxy Formation and Bias in Cosmological Simulations
• Observational evidence for stochastic biasing
• The Clustering of High Redshift Galaxies in the Cold Dark Matter Scenario
• Galaxy Formation at z~3: Constraints from Spatial Clustering
• The Varied Fates of z~2 Star-forming Galaxies
• Damped Lyman alpha absorber and the faint end of the galaxy luminosity function at high redshift
• Young galaxies: what turns them on?
• A first step towards a direct inversion of the Lyman forest in QSO spectra
• The history of star formation from the cosmic infrared background anisotropies
• Observational signatures of feedback in QSO absorption spectra
• Empirical constraints on the formation of early-type galaxies
• Measuring the Nonlinear Biasing Function from a Galaxy Redshift Survey
• The galaxy-halo size relation of low-mass galaxies in FIRE
• Construct the emission line galaxy-host halo connection through auto and cross correlations
• Are Simulations of CDM Consistent with Galactic-Scale Observations at High Redshift?
• Photometric Objects around Cosmic Webs (PAC) Delineated in a Spectroscopic Survey. I. Methods
• The descendents of Lyman Break Galaxies in galaxy clusters: spatial distribution and orbital properties
• A Spectroscopic Study of the H-alpha Surface Brightness Profiles in the Outer Disks of Galaxies
• Galaxy Correlation Statistics of Mock Catalogs for the DEEP2 Survey
• Galactic Recycling: The HI Ring Around NGC 1533
• Downsizing of Star Formation Measured from the Clustered Infrared Background Correlated with Quasars
• Time evolution of the stochastic linear bias of interacting galaxies on linear scales
• Pairwise velocity dispersion of galaxies at high redshift: theoretical predictions
• On the accuracy of dark matter halo merger trees and the consequences for semi-analytic models of galaxy formation
• The Surface Mass Density and Structure of the Outer Disk of NGC 628
• Geometric Distortion of the Correlation function of Lyman-break Galaxies
• Galaxy Clustering at z~3
• ScamPy -- A sub-halo clustering & abundance matching based Python interface for painting galaxies on the dark matter halo/sub-halo hierarchy
• Outer Galactic Disks and a Quantitative Test of Gravity at Low Accelerations