The VIMOS VLT Deep Survey: Testing the gravitational instability paradigm at z ~ 1

TL;DR

This study reconstructs three-dimensional galaxy density maps up to redshift 1.5, confirming the gravitational instability paradigm over 9 billion years and emphasizing the role of non-linear galaxy biasing in cosmic structure evolution.

Contribution

It introduces a self-consistent reconstruction method that accounts for non-linear galaxy biasing, validating theoretical predictions of structure growth over a significant cosmic time span.

Findings

Variance and skewness evolution matches perturbation theory predictions

Confirms gravitational instability paradigm at z ~ 1

Highlights importance of non-linear biasing in galaxy distribution modeling

Abstract

We have reconstructed the three-dimensional density fluctuation maps to z ~ 1.5 using the distribution of galaxies observed in the VVDS-Deep survey. We use this overdensity field to measure the evolution of the probability distribution function and its lower-order moments over the redshift interval 0.7<z<1.5. We apply a self-consistent reconstruction scheme which includes a complete non-linear description of galaxy biasing and which has been throughly tested on realistic mock samples. We find that the variance and skewness of the galaxy distribution evolve over this redshift interval in a way that is remarkably consistent with predictions of first- and second-order perturbation theory. This finding confirms the standard gravitational instability paradigm over nearly 9 Gyrs of cosmic time and demonstrates the importance of accounting for the non-linear component of galaxy biasing to consistently reproduce the higher-order moments of the galaxy distribution and their evolution.