Galaxy clustering from COMBO-17: the halo occupation distribution at  = 0.6

¹ Institute for Astronomy, University of Edinburgh, Royal Observatory, Blackford Hill, Edinburgh EH9 3HJ, UK
² Max-Planck-Institut für Extraterrestrische Physik, Giessenbachstraße, 85748 Garching, Germany e-mail: sphleps@mpe.mpg.de
³ Max-Planck-Institut für Astronomie, Königstuhl 17, 69117 Heidelberg, Germany
⁴ Department of Physics, University of Oxford, Denys Wilkinson Building., Keble Road, Oxford OX1 3RH, UK

Received: 14 June 2005
Accepted: 26 June 2006

Abstract

We present measurements of galaxy clustering at redshift using galaxies with photometric redshifts over an area of 0.78 deg² from the COMBO-17 survey. To obtain a result that is unaffected by redshift uncertainties, we calculate the projected correlation function , giving results for red sequence and blue cloud galaxies separately. The correlation function of the red galaxies displays clear deviations from a power law at comoving separations around 1 to , and similar but weaker trends are suggested by the data for the blue galaxies. To interpret these results, we fit the correlation functions with analytical predictions derived from a simple halo occupation model. This combines linear clustering of the underlying mass with a description of the number of galaxies occupying each dark-matter halo (the halo occupation distribution). If the occupation numbers are taken to be a simple power law , then and for red and blue galaxies respectively. These figures are little different from the values required to fit present-day clustering data. The power-spectrum shape is assumed to be known in this exercise, but we allow the data to determine the preferred value of , the linear power-spectrum normalization. The average normalization inferred from red and blue galaxies at is at zero redshift, consistent with independent estimates of this local value. This agreement can be regarded as a verification of the hierarchical growth of the halo mass function.