A Self-Calibrating Halo-Based Group Finder: Application to SDSS

TL;DR

This paper introduces a new self-calibrating galaxy group finder applied to SDSS data, providing improved insights into galaxy-halo connections and differences from previous catalogs.

Contribution

A novel self-calibrating halo-based group finder that improves galaxy-halo connection analysis using SDSS data and complementary measurements.

Findings

Transition halo mass for quiescent galaxies is higher than previously thought.

Quiescent centrals are more massive than star-forming centrals in low-mass halos.

Scatter in stellar mass at fixed halo mass varies with halo mass.

Abstract

We apply a new galaxy group finder to the Main Galaxy Sample of the SDSS. This algorithm introduces new freedom to assign halos to galaxies that is self-calibrated by comparing the catalog to complementary data. These include galaxy clustering data and measurements of the total satellite luminosity from deep imaging data. We present constraints on the galaxy-halo connection for star-forming and quiescent populations. The results of the self-calibrated group catalog differ in several key ways from previous group catalogs and halo occupation analyses. The transition halo mass scale, where half of halos contain quiescent central galaxies, is at M_h~10^12.4 Msol/h, significantly higher than other constraints. Additionally, the width of the transition from predominantly star-forming halos to quiescent halos occurs over a narrower range in halo mass. Quiescent central galaxies in low-mass halos are significantly more massive than star-forming centrals at the same halo mass, but this difference reverses above the transition halo mass. We find that the scatter in logM* at fixed M_h is ~0.2 dex for massive halos, in agreement with previous estimates, but rises sharply at lower halo masses. The halo masses assigned by the group catalog are in good agreement with weak lensing estimates for star-forming and quiescent central galaxies. We discuss possible improvements to the algorithm made clear by this first application to data. The group catalog is made publicly available.