Open AccessThe clustering of luminous red galaxies around Mg ii absorbers
Author(s) -
Bouché Nicolas,
Murphy Michael T.,
Péroux Céline
Publication year - 2004
Publication title -
monthly notices of the royal astronomical society
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.058
H-Index - 383
eISSN - 1365-2966
pISSN - 0035-8711
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-2966.2004.08348.x
Subject(s) - physics , astrophysics , halo , galaxy , redshift , quasar , sky , astronomy , amplitude , optics
We study the cross‐correlation between 212 Mg ii quasar absorption systems and ∼20 000 luminous red galaxies (LRGs) selected from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Data Release 1 in the redshift range 0.4 ≤ z ≤ 0.8 . The Mg ii systems were selected to have λλ 2796 and 2803 rest‐frame equivalent widths ≥1.0 Å and identifications confirmed by the Fe ii λ2600 or Mg i λ2852 lines. Over comoving scales 0.05–13 h −1 Mpc , the Mg ii –LRG cross‐correlation has an amplitude 0.67 ± 0.09 times that of the LRG–LRG auto‐correlation. Since LRGs have halo masses greater than 3.5 × 10 12 M ⊙ for M R ≲−21 , this relative amplitude implies that the absorber host galaxies have halo masses greater than ∼2–8 × 10 11 M ⊙ . For 10 13 ‐M ⊙ LRGs, the absorber host galaxies have halo masses ∼0.5–2.5 × 10 12 M ⊙ . Our results appear consistent with those of Steidel, Dickinson & Persson (1994) who found that Mg ii absorbers with W Mg II r ≥ 0.3 Å are associated with ∼ 0.7 L * B galaxies.