New Techniques for Relating Dynamically Close Galaxy Pairs to Merger and Accretion Rates: Application to the Second Southern Sky Redshift Survey | Zendy

David R. Patton | Zendy; R. G. Carlberg | Zendy; Ronald O. Marzke | Zendy; C. J. Pritchet | Zendy; L. N. da Costa | Zendy; P. S. Pellegrini | Zendy

Open Access

New Techniques for Relating Dynamically Close Galaxy Pairs to Merger and Accretion Rates: Application to the Second Southern Sky Redshift Survey

Author(s) -

David R. Patton,

R. G. Carlberg,

Ronald O. Marzke,

C. J. Pritchet,

L. N. da Costa,

P. S. Pellegrini

Publication year - 2000

Publication title -

the astrophysical journal

Language(s) - English

Resource type - Journals

SCImago Journal Rank - 2.376

H-Index - 489

eISSN - 1538-4357

pISSN - 0004-637X

DOI - 10.1086/308907

Subject(s) - astrophysics , physics , galaxy , redshift , luminosity function , accretion (finance) , galaxy formation and evolution , redshift survey , luminosity , sky , astronomy , absolute magnitude , statistic , statistics , mathematics

We introduce two new pair statistics, which relate close galaxy pairs to the merger and accretion rates. We demonstrate the importance of correcting these (and other) pair statistics for selection effects related to sample depth and completeness. In particular, we highlight the severe bias that can result from the use of a flux-limited survey. The first statistic, denoted N_c, gives the number of companions per galaxy, within a specified range in absolute magnitude. N_c is directly related to the galaxy merger rate. The second statistic, called L_c, gives the total luminosity in companions, per galaxy. This quantity can be used to investigate the mass accretion rate. Both N_c and L_c are related to the galaxy correlation function and luminosity function in a straightforward manner. We outline techniques which account for various selection effects, and demonstrate the success of this approach using Monte Carlo simulations. If one assumes that clustering is independent of luminosity (which is appropriate for reasonable ranges in luminosity), then these statistics may be applied to flux-limited surveys. These techniques are applied to a sample of 5426 galaxies in the SSRS2 redshift survey. Using close dynamical pairs, we find N_c(-21

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