The galaxy-halo connection in the VIDEO Survey at 0.5<z<1.7

TL;DR

This study analyzes galaxy clustering in the VIDEO survey at redshifts 0.5 to 1.7, revealing how galaxy properties relate to dark matter halos and star formation efficiency over cosmic time.

Contribution

It provides new measurements of galaxy-halo connections using clustering data from the VIDEO survey, extending understanding at intermediate redshifts.

Findings

Halo mass increases with stellar mass.

Bias increases with stellar mass and redshift.

Satellite fraction rises at lower redshifts.

Abstract

We present a series of results from a clustering analysis of the first data release of the Visible and Infrared Survey Telescope for Astronomy (VISTA) Deep Extragalactic Observations (VIDEO) survey. VIDEO is the only survey currently capable of probing the bulk of stellar mass in galaxies at redshifts corresponding to the peak of star formation on degree scales. Galaxy clustering is measured with the two-point correlation function, which is calculated using a non parametric kernel based density estimator. We use our measurements to investigate the connection between the galaxies and the host dark matter halo using a halo occupation distribution methodology, deriving bias, satellite fractions, and typical host halo masses for stellar masses between $10^{9.35}M_{\odot}$ and $10^{10.85}M_{\odot}$, at redshifts $0.5<z<1.7$. Our results show typical halo mass increasing with stellar mass (with moderate scatter) and bias increasing with stellar mass and redshift consistent with previous studies. We find the satellite fraction increased towards low redshifts, increasing from $\sim 5\%$ at $z\sim 1.5$, to $\sim 20\%$ at $z\sim 0.6$, also increasing for lower mass galaxies. We combine our results to derive the stellar mass to halo mass ratio for both satellites and centrals over a range of halo masses and find the peak corresponding to the halo mass with maximum star formation efficiency to be $ \sim 2 \times10^{12} M_{\odot}$ over cosmic time, finding no evidence for evolution.