Clustering Properties of Low-Luminosity Star-Forming galaxies at z = 0.24 and 0.40 in the Subaru Deep Field

TL;DR

This study investigates the clustering of low-luminosity star-forming galaxies at redshifts 0.24 and 0.40, revealing similar clustering properties and suggesting gravitational halo growth as an evolutionary factor.

Contribution

It provides the first detailed comparison of clustering properties of low-luminosity Halpha emitting galaxies at these two redshifts, highlighting their similar clustering scales.

Findings

Clustering length is approximately 1.6-1.9 Mpc for both redshifts.

Clustering is weaker than that of brighter galaxy samples.

Evolution in clustering is consistent with dark matter halo growth.

Abstract

We present our analysis on the clustering properties of star-forming galaxies selected by narrow-band excesses in the Subaru Deep Field. Specifically we focus on Halpha emitting galaxies at z = 0.24 and z = 0.40 in the same field, to investigate possible evolutionary signatures of clustering properties of star-forming galaxies. Based on the analysis on 228 Halpha emitting galaxies with 39.8 < log L(Halpha) < 40.8 at z = 0.40, we find that their two-point correlation function is estimated as xi = (r/1.62^{+0.64}_{-0.50} Mpc)^{-1.84 +/- 0.08}. This is similar to that of Halpha emitting galaxies in the same Halpha luminosity range at z = 0.24, xi = (r/1.88^{+0.60}_{-0.49} Mpc)^{-1.89 +/- 0.07}. These correlation lengths are smaller than those for the brighter galaxy sample studied by Meneux et al. (2006) in the same redshift range. The evolution of correlation length between z = 0.24 and z = 0.40 is interpreted by the gravitational growth of the dark matter halos.