Mock 2dF and SDSS galaxy redshift surveys

Cole, Shaun; Hatton, Steve; Weinberg, David H.; Frenk, Carlos S.

doi:10.1046/j.1365-8711.1998.01936.x

Cited by 120 publications

(40 citation statements)

References 40 publications

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“…Finally, the selection algorithm should be simple, and its behavior should be straightforward and easy to understand. This makes it easier to test the algorithm, and it will facilitate the construction of realistic mock catalogs of the SDSS galaxy redshift survey from numerical simulations of large-scale structure (e.g., Cole et al 1998;Colley et al 2000).…”

Section: Desired Properties Of the Selection Algorithmmentioning

confidence: 99%

Spectroscopic Target Selection in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey: The Main Galaxy Sample

Strauss¹,

Weinberg²,

Lupton³

et al. 2002

The Astronomical Journal

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1,683

917

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We describe the algorithm that selects the main sample of galaxies for spectroscopy in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) from the photometric data obtained by the imaging survey. Galaxy photometric properties are measured using the Petrosian magnitude system, which measures flux in apertures determined by the shape of the surface brightness profile. The metric aperture used is essentially independent of cosmological surface brightness dimming, foreground extinction, sky brightness, and the galaxy central surface brightness. The main galaxy sample consists of galaxies with r-band Petrosian magnitudes r 17.77 and r-band Petrosian half-light surface brightnesses l 50 24.5 mag arcsec À2 . These cuts select about 90 galaxy targets per square degree, with a median redshift of 0.104. We carry out a number of tests to show that (1) our star-galaxy separation criterion is effective at eliminating nearly all stellar contamination while removing almost no genuine galaxies, (2) the fraction of galaxies eliminated by our surface brightness cut is very small ($0.1%), (3) the completeness of the sample is high, exceeding 99%, and (4) the reproducibility of target selection based on repeated imaging scans is consistent with the expected random photometric errors. The main cause of incompleteness is blending with saturated stars, which becomes more significant for brighter, larger galaxies. The SDSS spectra are of high enough signal-to-noise ratio (S/N > 4 per pixel) that essentially all targeted galaxies (99.9%) yield a reliable redshift (i.e., with statistical error less than 30 km s À1 ). About 6% of galaxies that satisfy the selection criteria are not observed because they have a companion closer than the 55 00 minimum separation of spectroscopic fibers, but these galaxies can be accounted for in statistical analyses of clustering or galaxy properties. The uniformity and completeness of the galaxy sample make it ideal for studies of large-scale structure and the characteristics of the galaxy population in the local universe.

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Section: Desired Properties Of the Selection Algorithmmentioning

confidence: 99%

Spectroscopic Target Selection in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey: The Main Galaxy Sample

Strauss¹,

Weinberg²,

Lupton³

et al. 2002

The Astronomical Journal

Self Cite

1,683

917

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…We follow Cole et al (1998) and generate nonlinearly stochastic biased density Ðelds by selecting dark matter particles to be "" galaxies ÏÏ with a probability function (see also Mann, Peacock, & Heavens 1998) …”

Section: Galaxy Biasing : Effects Of Stochasticitymentioning

confidence: 99%

The Bispectrum: From Theory to Observations

Scoccimarro¹

2000

ApJ

216

269

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The bispectrum is the lowest order statistic sensitive to the shape of structures generated by gravitational instability and is a potentially powerful probe of galaxy biasing and the Gaussianity of primordial Ñuctuations. Although the evolution of the bispectrum is well understood theoretically from nonlinear perturbation theory and numerical simulations, applications to galaxy surveys require a number of issues to be addressed. In this paper we consider the e †ect on the bispectrum of stochastic nonlinear biasing, radial redshift distortions, non-Gaussian initial conditions, survey geometry, and sampling. We Ðnd that : (1) Bias stochasticity does not a †ect the use of the bispectrum to recover the mean biasing relation between galaxies and mass, at least for models in which the scatter is uncorrelated at large scales. (2) Radial redshift distortions do not signiÐcantly change the monopole power spectrum and bispectrum compared to their plane-parallel values. (3) Survey geometry leads to Ðnite-volume e †ects, which must be taken into account in current surveys before comparison with theoretical predictions can be made. (4) Sparse sampling and survey geometry correlate di †erent triangles, leading to a breakdown of the Gaussian likelihood approximation. We develop a likelihood analysis using bispectrum eigenmodes, calculated by Monte Carlo realizations of mock surveys generated with second-order Lagrangian perturbation theory and checked against N-body simulations. In a companion paper, we apply these results to the analysis of the bispectrum of IRAS galaxies.

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“…We have used a deep galaxy catalog kindly constructed by S. Cole that is a mock realization of the APM catalog. The N-body simulation and techniques used to construct the catalogs are discussed in detail in Cole et al (1998) ; here we just review some of the most relevant details. The N-body simulation follows a universe dominated with a closure density of cold dark matter within a periodic box of 345.6 h~1 Mpc per side (where h km s~1 Mpc~1 throughout).…”

Section: T He Mock Catalogmentioning

confidence: 99%

Do Clusters Contain a Large Population of Dwarf Galaxies?

Valotto

Moore

Lambas

2001

ApJ

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We analyze systematic e †ects in the determination of the galaxy luminosity function in clusters using a deep mock catalog constructed from a numerical simulation of a hierarchical universe. The results indicate a strong tendency to derive a rising faint end in clusters selected in two dimensions, (a [ [1.5) using a galaxy catalog constructed with a universal Ñat luminosity function with a^[1.0. This is a result of the projection e †ects inherent in catalogs of clusters constructed using two-dimensional data. Many of the clusters found in two dimensions have no signiÐcant three-dimensional counterparts, and most su †er from massive background contamination that cannot be corrected for by subtracting random o †set Ðelds. The luminosity function of high surface brightness galaxies in the Ðeld and within small groups follows a Schechter function with a fairly Ñat faint-end slope, n(L ) P La, with a \ [0.9 to [1.2. On the contrary, observational studies of clusters constructed using Abell, EDCC, and APM catalogs are systematically found to have steeper luminosity functions with a \ [1.4 to [2.0. This may be attributed to projection e †ects rather than a dominant population of high surface brightness dwarf galaxies in clusters. It should be straightforward to conÐrm our results by measuring redshifts of (M Z M* ] 2) these faint cluster galaxies.

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Mock 2dF and SDSS galaxy redshift surveys

Cited by 120 publications

References 40 publications

Spectroscopic Target Selection in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey: The Main Galaxy Sample

Spectroscopic Target Selection in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey: The Main Galaxy Sample

The Bispectrum: From Theory to Observations

Do Clusters Contain a Large Population of Dwarf Galaxies?

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