Models for the Clustering of Far-Infrared and Sub-millimetre selected Galaxies

TL;DR

This paper compares two models for galaxy clustering in sub-millimetre surveys, finding both effectively describe observed correlations and estimating galaxy halo masses, despite uncertainties in redshift distributions.

Contribution

It introduces a simpler fitting function approach alongside the standard Halo Model to analyze galaxy clustering, providing consistent results and insights.

Findings

Both models fit the observed correlation functions well.

They estimate the minimum halo mass for sub-millimetre galaxies.

Both models predict an inflection point in the correlation function.

Abstract

We discuss and compare two alternative models for the two-point angular correlation function of galaxies detected through the sub-millimetre emission using the Herschel Space Observatory. The first, now-standard Halo Model, which represents the angular correlations as arising from one-halo and two-halo contributions, is flexible but complex and rather unwieldy. The second model is based on a much simpler approach: we incorporate a fitting function method to estimate the matter correlation function with approximate model of the bias inferred from the estimated redshift distribution to find the galaxy angular correlation function. We find that both models give a good account of the shape of the correlation functions obtained from published preliminary studies of the HerMES and H-ATLAS surveys performed using Herschel, and yield consistent estimates of the minimum halo mass within which the sub-millimetre galaxies must reside. We note also that both models predict an inflection in the correlation function at intermediate angular scales, so the presence of the feature in the measured correlation function does not unambiguously indicate the presence of intra-halo correlations. The primary barrier to more detailed interpretation of these clustering measurements lies in the substantial uncertainty surrounding the redshift distribution of the sources.