Galaxy And Mass Assembly (GAMA): the large-scale structure of galaxies and comparison to mock universes

Alpaslan, M.; Robotham, A.S.G.; Driver, S.; Norberg, P.; Baldry, I.; Bauer, A.E.; Bland-Hawthorn, J.; Brown, M.; Cluver, M.; Colless, M.; Foster, C.; Hopkins, A.; Van Kampen, E.; Kelvin, L.; Lara-Lopez, M.A.; Liske, J.; Lopez-Sanchez, A.R.; Loveday, J.; McNaught-Roberts, T.; Merson, A.; Pimbblet, K.

doi:10.1093/mnras/stt2136

Galaxy And Mass Assembly (GAMA): the large-scale structure of galaxies and comparison to mock universes

Alpaslan, M.; Robotham, A.S.G.; Driver, S.; Norberg, P.; Baldry, I.; Bauer, A.E.; Bland-Hawthorn, J.; Brown, M.; Cluver, M.; Colless, M.; Foster, C.; Hopkins, A.; Van Kampen, E.; Kelvin, L.; Lara-Lopez, M.A.; Liske, J.; Lopez-Sanchez, A.R.; Loveday, J.; McNaught-Roberts, T.; Merson, A.; Pimbblet, K.

Authors

M. Alpaslan

A.S.G. Robotham

S. Driver

Professor Peder Norberg peder.norberg@durham.ac.uk
Professor

I. Baldry

A.E. Bauer

J. Bland-Hawthorn

M. Brown

M. Cluver

M. Colless

C. Foster

A. Hopkins

E. Van Kampen

L. Kelvin

M.A. Lara-Lopez

J. Liske

A.R. Lopez-Sanchez

J. Loveday

T. McNaught-Roberts

A. Merson

K. Pimbblet

Abstract

From a volume-limited sample of 45 542 galaxies and 6000 groups with z ≤ 0.213, we use an adapted minimal spanning tree algorithm to identify and classify large-scale structures within the Galaxy And Mass Assembly (GAMA) survey. Using galaxy groups, we identify 643 filaments across the three equatorial GAMA fields that span up to 200 h−1 Mpc in length, each with an average of eight groups within them. By analysing galaxies not belonging to groups, we identify a secondary population of smaller coherent structures composed entirely of galaxies, dubbed ‘tendrils’ that appear to link filaments together, or penetrate into voids, generally measuring around 10 h−1 Mpc in length and containing on average six galaxies. Finally, we are also able to identify a population of isolated void galaxies. By running this algorithm on GAMA mock galaxy catalogues, we compare the characteristics of large-scale structure between observed and mock data, finding that mock filaments reproduce observed ones extremely well. This provides a probe of higher order distribution statistics not captured by the popularly used two-point correlation function.

Citation

Alpaslan, M., Robotham, A., Driver, S., Norberg, P., Baldry, I., Bauer, A., …Pimbblet, K. (2014). Galaxy And Mass Assembly (GAMA): the large-scale structure of galaxies and comparison to mock universes. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 438(1), 177-194. https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stt2136

Journal Article Type	Article
Publication Date	Feb 11, 2014
Deposit Date	Jun 3, 2014
Publicly Available Date	Jun 5, 2014
Journal	Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Print ISSN	0035-8711
Electronic ISSN	1365-2966
Publisher	Royal Astronomical Society
Peer Reviewed	Peer Reviewed
Volume	438
Issue	1
Pages	177-194
DOI	https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stt2136
Keywords	Methods: observational, Surveys, Large-scale structure of Universe.

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Copyright Statement
This article has been accepted for publication in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. © 2013 The Authors
Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Royal Astronomical Society.