The VIMOS Ultra Deep Survey. Luminosity and stellar mass dependence of galaxy clustering at z~3

TL;DR

This study analyzes how galaxy clustering at redshift 2-3.5 depends on luminosity and stellar mass, revealing stronger clustering for more luminous and massive galaxies and their association with more massive dark matter haloes.

Contribution

It provides the first detailed measurement of galaxy clustering dependence on luminosity and stellar mass at z~3 using the VUDS survey, including HOD modeling and bias analysis.

Findings

Clustering amplitude increases with luminosity and stellar mass.

More luminous and massive galaxies occupy more massive dark matter haloes.

Halo satellite occupation increases with redshift, lower M1/Mmin ratio at z~3.

Abstract

We present the study of the dependence of galaxy clustering on luminosity and stellar mass in the redshift range 2$<$z$<$3.5 using 3236 galaxies with robust spectroscopic redshifts from the VIMOS Ultra Deep Survey (VUDS). We measure the two-point real-space correlation function $w_p(r_p)$ for four volume-limited stellar mass and four luminosity, M$_{UV}$ absolute magnitude selected, sub-samples. We find that the scale dependent clustering amplitude $r_0$ significantly increases with increasing luminosity and stellar mass indicating a strong galaxy clustering dependence on these properties. This corresponds to a strong relative bias between these two sub-samples of $\Delta$b/b$^*$=0.43. Fitting a 5-parameter HOD model we find that the most luminous and massive galaxies occupy the most massive dark matter haloes with $\langle$M$_h$$\rangle$ = 10$^{12.30}$ h$^{-1}$ M$_{\odot}$. Similar to the trends observed at lower redshift, the minimum halo mass M$_{min}$ depends on the luminosity and stellar mass of galaxies and grows from M$_{min}$ =10$^{9.73}$ h$^{-1}$M$_{\odot}$ to M$_{min}$=10$^{11.58}$ h$^{-1}$M$_{\odot}$ from the faintest to the brightest among our galaxy sample, respectively. We find the difference between these halo masses to be much more pronounced than is observed for local galaxies of similar properties. Moreover, at z~3, we observe that the masses at which a halo hosts, on average, one satellite and one central galaxy is M$_1$$\approx$4M$_{min}$ over all luminosity ranges, significantly lower than observed at z~0 indicating that the halo satellite occupation increases with redshift. The luminosity and stellar mass dependence is also reflected in the measurements of the large scale galaxy bias, which we model as b$_{g,HOD}$($>$L)=1.92+25.36(L/L$^*$)$^{7.01}$. We conclude our study with measurements of the stellar-to-halo mass ratio (SHMR).