Sign on

SAO/NASA ADS Astronomy Abstract Service

· Find Similar Abstracts (with default settings below)
· Electronic Refereed Journal Article (HTML)
· Full Refereed Journal Article (PDF/Postscript)
· arXiv e-print (arXiv:0902.3237)
· References in the article
· Citations to the Article (7) (Citation History)
· Refereed Citations to the Article
· Also-Read Articles (Reads History)
·
· Translate This Page
Title:
The Clustering of Mg II Absorption Systems at z ~ 0.5 and Detection of Cold Gas in Massive Halos
Authors:
Gauthier, Jean-René; Chen, Hsiao-Wen; Tinker, Jeremy L.
Affiliation:
AA(Department of Astronomy & Astrophysics and Kavli Institute for Cosmological Physics, University of Chicago, IL 60637, USA ), AB(Department of Astronomy & Astrophysics and Kavli Institute for Cosmological Physics, University of Chicago, IL 60637, USA ), AC(Department of Astronomy & Astrophysics and Kavli Institute for Cosmological Physics, University of Chicago, IL 60637, USA ; Berkeley Center for Cosmological Physics, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA)
Publication:
The Astrophysical Journal, Volume 702, Issue 1, pp. 50-62 (2009). (ApJ Homepage)
Publication Date:
09/2009
Origin:
IOP
ApJ Keywords:
cosmology: theory, dark matter, galaxies: evolution, quasars: absorption lines
DOI:
10.1088/0004-637X/702/1/50
Bibliographic Code:
2009ApJ...702...50G

Abstract

We measure the large-scale clustering of Mg II λλ 2796,2803 absorbers with respect to a population of luminous red galaxies (LRGs) at z ~ 0.5. From the cross-correlation measurements between Mg II absorbers and LRGs, we calculate the mean bias of the dark matter halos in which the absorbers reside. We investigate possible systematic uncertainties in the clustering measurements due to the sample selection of LRGs and due to uncertainties in photometric redshifts. First, we compare the cross-correlation amplitudes determined using a flux-limited LRG sample and a volume-limited one. The comparison shows that the relative halo bias of Mg II absorbers using a flux-limited LRG sample can be overestimated by as much as ≈20%. Next, we assess the systematic uncertainty due to photometric redshift errors using a mock galaxy catalog with added redshift uncertainties comparable to the data. We show that the relative clustering amplitude measured without accounting for photometric redshift uncertainties is overestimated by ≈10%. After accounting for these two main uncertainties, we find a 1σ anticorrelation between mean halo bias and absorber strength Wr (2796) that translates into a 1σ anticorrelation between mean galaxy mass and Wr (2796). The results indicate that a significant fraction of the Mg II absorber population of Wr (2796) = 1-1.5 Å are found in group-size dark matter halos of log Mh < 13.4, whereas absorbers of Wr (2796)>1.5 Å are primarily seen in halos of log Mh < 12.7. A larger data set would improve the precision of both the clustering measurements and the relationship between equivalent width and halo mass. Finally, the strong clustering of Mg II absorbers down to scales of ~0.3 h -1 Mpc indicates the presence of cool gas inside the virial radii of the dark matter halos hosting the LRGs.
Bibtex entry for this abstract   Preferred format for this abstract (see Preferences)
   

Find Similar Abstracts:

Use: Authors
Title
Keywords (in text query field)
Abstract Text
Return: Query Results Return    items starting with number
Query Form
Database: Astronomy
Physics
arXiv e-prints