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A measurement of the cosmological mass density from clustering in the 2dF Galaxy Redshift Survey

Peacock, J.A.; Cole, S.; Norberg, P.; Baugh, C.M.; Bland-Hawthorn, J.A.; Bridges, T.; Cannon, R.D.; Colless, M.; Collins, C.; Couch, W.; Dalton, G.; Deeley, K.; De Propris, R.; Driver, S.P.; Efstathiou, G.; Ellis, R.S.; Frenk, C.S.; Glazebrook, K.; Jackson, C.; Lahav, O.; Lewis, I.; Lumsden, S.; Maddox, S.; Percival, W.J.; Peterson, B.A.; Price, I.; Sutherland, W.; Taylor, K.

Authors

J.A. Peacock

S. Cole

P. Norberg

C.M. Baugh

J.A. Bland-Hawthorn

T. Bridges

R.D. Cannon

M. Colless

C. Collins

W. Couch

G. Dalton

K. Deeley

R. De Propris

S.P. Driver

G. Efstathiou

R.S. Ellis

C.S. Frenk

K. Glazebrook

C. Jackson

O. Lahav

I. Lewis

S. Lumsden

S. Maddox

W.J. Percival

B.A. Peterson

I. Price

W. Sutherland

K. Taylor



Abstract

The large-scale structure in the distribution of galaxies is thought to arise from the gravitational instability of small fluctuations in the initial density field of the Universe. A key test of this hypothesis is that forming superclusters of galaxies should generate a systematic infall of other galaxies. This would be evident in the pattern of recessional velocities, causing an anisotropy in the inferred spatial clustering of galaxies. Here we report a precise measurement of this clustering, using the redshifts of more than 141,000 galaxies from the two-degree-field (2dF) galaxy redshift survey. We determine the parameter = 0.6/b = 0.43 0.07, where is the total mass-density parameter of the Universe and b is a measure of the 'bias' of the luminous galaxies in the survey. (Bias is the difference between the clustering of visible galaxies and of the total mass, most of which is dark.) Combined with the anisotropy of the cosmic microwave background, our results favour a low-density Universe with 0.3.

Citation

Peacock, J., Cole, S., Norberg, P., Baugh, C., Bland-Hawthorn, J., Bridges, T., …Taylor, K. (2001). A measurement of the cosmological mass density from clustering in the 2dF Galaxy Redshift Survey. Nature, 410(6825), 169-173. https://doi.org/10.1038/35065528

Journal Article Type Article
Publication Date 2001-03
Deposit Date May 8, 2008
Publicly Available Date Mar 29, 2024
Journal Nature
Print ISSN 0028-0836
Electronic ISSN 1476-4687
Publisher Nature Research
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 410
Issue 6825
Pages 169-173
DOI https://doi.org/10.1038/35065528
Keywords Large-scale bias, Power-spectrum, Space distortions, Universe, Luminosity, Evolution, Constant, Sample.

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