Publication Date
2007
Journal or Book Title
Astronomy & Astrophysics
Abstract
We present the first spatial clustering measurements of z~1, 24um-selected, star forming galaxies in the Great Observatories Origins Deep Survey (GOODS). The sample under investigation includes 495 objects in GOODS-South and 811 objects in GOODS-North selected down to flux densities of f_24>20 uJy and z_AB<23.5 mag, for which spectroscopic redshifts are available. The median redshift, IR luminosity and star formation rate (SFR) of the samples are z~0.8, L_IR~4.4 x 10^10 L_sun, and SFR~7.6 M_sun/yr, respectively. We measure the projected correlation function w(r_p) on scales of r_p=0.06-10 h^-1 Mpc, from which we derive a best fit comoving correlation length of r_0 = 4.0 +- 0.4 h^-1 Mpc and slope of gamma=1.5 +- 0.1 for the whole f_24>20uJy sample after combining the two fields. We find indications of a larger correlation length for objects of higher luminosity, with Luminous Infrared Galaxies (LIRGs, L_IR>10^11 L_sun) reaching r_0~5.1 h^-1 Mpc. This would imply that galaxies with larger SFRs are hosted in progressively more massive halos, reaching minimum halo masses of ~3 x 10^12 M_sun for LIRGs. We compare our measurements with the predictions from semi-analytic models based on the Millennium simulation. The variance in the models is used to estimate the errors in our GOODS clustering measurements, which are dominated by cosmic variance. The measurements from the two GOODS fields are found to be consistent within the errors. On scales of the GOODS fields, the real sources appear more strongly clustered than objects in the Millennium-simulation based catalogs, if the selection function is applied consistently. This suggests that star formation at z~0.5-1 is being hosted in more massive halos and denser environments than currently predicted by galaxy formation models.
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361:20077506
Pages
83-99
Volume
475
Issue
1
Recommended Citation
Gilli, R; Daddi, E; Chary, R; Dickinson, M; Elbaz, D; Giavalisco, M; Kitzbichler, M; Stern, D; and Vanzella, E, "The spatial clustering of mid-IR selected star forming galaxies at z similar to 1 in the GOODS fields" (2007). Astronomy & Astrophysics. 177.
https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361:20077506