The Subaru/XMM-Newton Deep Survey (SXDS). VII. Clustering Segregation with Ultraviolet and Optical Luminosities of Lyman Break Galaxies at z ~ 3

We investigate clustering properties of Lyman break galaxies (LBGs) at z ~ 3 based on deep multi-wave band imaging data from optical to near-infrared wavelengths in the Subaru/XMM-Newton Deep Field. The LBGs are selected by U - V and V - z' colors in one contiguous area of 561 arcmin² down to z' = 25.5. We study the dependence of the clustering strength on rest-frame UV and optical magnitudes, which can be indicators of star formation rate and stellar mass, respectively. The correlation length is found to be a strong function of both UV and optical magnitudes, with brighter galaxies being more clustered than faint ones in both cases. Furthermore, the correlation length is dependent on a combination of UV and optical magnitudes in the sense that galaxies bright in optical magnitude have large correlation lengths irrespective of UV magnitude, while galaxies faint in optical magnitude have correlation lengths decreasing with decreasing UV brightness. These results suggest that galaxies with large stellar masses always belong to massive halos in which they can have various star formation rates, while galaxies with small stellar masses reside in less massive halos only if they have low star formation rates. There appears to be an upper limit to the stellar mass and the star formation rate which is determined by the mass of hosting dark halos.

Based on data collected at the Subaru Telescope, which is operated by the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan.