High-Order Galaxy Correlation Functions in the APM Galaxy Survey
Abstract
We estimate J-point galaxy-averaged correlation functions ω bar_J_( θ) for J= 2,...,9, in a sample of the APM Galaxy Survey with more than 1.3 X 10^6^ galaxies and a depth D ~400 h^-1^ Mpc. The hierarchical amplitudes s_j_ = ωbar_J_/ωbar_J_^J-1^ are roughly constant, up to J=9, between θD ~ 0.5 h^-1^ Mpc and θD ~ 2 h^-1^ Mpc, and decrease slowly for larger scales. At scales θD > 7 h^-1^ Mpc, we find strong similarities between the statistical properties of the galaxy fluctuations δ_g_ and the theoretical properties of matter fluctuations δ_m_ evolving under the influence of gravity in a expanding universe on the assumption that the initial fluctuations are small and Gaussian. This is most easily explained if at large scales there is no significant biasing between matter and galaxy fluctuations, i.e. δ_g_ ~ δ_m_. The comparison of the skewness in the CfA and SSRS catalogues with comparable subsamples of the APM indicates that the volume of a `fair sample' has to be much larger than the one in the combined CfA/SSRS catalogues.
- Publication:
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Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
- Pub Date:
- June 1994
- DOI:
- 10.1093/mnras/268.4.913
- arXiv:
- arXiv:astro-ph/9309019
- Bibcode:
- 1994MNRAS.268..913G
- Keywords:
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- Astrophysics
- E-Print:
- 12 pages of uuencoded compressed postscript, also available from the author on request, this is a revised version accepted for publication in MNRAS, OXFORD-OUAST/94-#