Relativistic corrections to fractal analyses of the galaxy distribution

Free access article

Issue		A&A Volume 367, Number 2, February IV 2001


Page(s)		449 - 456
Section		Extragalactic astronomy
DOI		http://dx.doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361:20000449

A&A 367, 449-456 (2001)
DOI: 10.1051/0004-6361:20000449

Relativistic corrections to fractal analyses of the galaxy distribution

M.-N. Célérier¹ and R. Thieberger²

¹ Département d'Astrophysique Relativiste et de Cosmologie, Observatoire de Paris-Meudon, 5 place Jules Janssen, 92195 Meudon Cedex, France
² Physics Department, Ben Gurion University, Beer Sheva 84105, Israel
e-mail: thieb@bgumail.bgu.ac.il

(Received 3 July 2000 / Accepted 14 November 2000 )

Abstract
The effect of curvature on the results of fractal analyses of the galaxy distribution is investigated. We show that, if the universe satisfies the criteria of a wide class of parabolic homogeneous models, the observers measuring the fractal index with the integrated conditional density procedure may use the Hubble formula, without having to allow for curvature, out to distances of 600 Mpc, and possibly far beyond. This contradicts a previous claim by Ribeiro (1995) that, in the Einstein-de Sitter case, relativistic corrections should be taken into account at much smaller scales. We state for the class of cosmological models under study, and give grounds for conjecture for others, that the averaging procedure has a smoothing effect and that, therefore, the redshift-distance relation provides an upper limit to the relativistic corrections involved in such analyses.

Key words: galaxies: general -- relativity

Offprint request: M.-N. Célérier, Marie-Noelle.Celerier@obspm.fr

What is OpenURL?

The OpenURL standard is a protocol for transmission of metadata describing the resource that you wish to access. An OpenURL link contains article metadata and directs it to the OpenURL server of your choice. The OpenURL server can provide access to the resource and also offer complementary services (specific search engine, export of references...). The OpenURL link can be generated by different means.

If your librarian has set up your subscription with an OpenURL resolver, OpenURL links appear automatically on the abstract pages.
You can define your own OpenURL resolver with your EDPS Account. In this case your choice will be given priority over that of your library.
You can use an add-on for your browser (Firefox or I.E.) to display OpenURL links on a page (see http://www.openly.com/openurlref/). You should disable this module if you wish to use the OpenURL server that you or your library have defined.