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We measure the two-point correlation function (CF) of 1357 galaxy clusters with a mass of log10 M 200 ≥ 13.6 h −1 M⊙ and at a redshift of z ≤ 0.125. This work differs from previous analyses in that it utilizes a spectroscopic cluster catalogue, |$\tt {SDSS-GalWCat}$|⁠ , to measure the CF and detect the baryon acoustic oscillation (BAO) signal. Unlike previous studies which use statistical techniques, we compute covariance errors directly by generating a set of 1086 galaxy cluster light-cones from the GLAM N -body simulation. Fitting the CF with a power-law model of the form ξ(s) = (s / s 0)−γ, we determine the best-fitting correlation length and power-law index at three mass thresholds. We find that the correlation length increases with increasing the mass threshold while the power-law index is almost constant. For log10 M 200 ≥ 13.6 h −1 M⊙, we find s 0 = 14.54 ± 0.87 h −1 Mpc and γ = 1.97 ± 0.11. We detect the BAO signal at s  = 100 h −1 Mpc with a significance of 1.60σ. Fitting the CF with a Lambda cold dark matter model, we find |$D_\mathrm{V}(z = 0.089)\mathit{r}^{\mathrm{ fid}}_\mathrm{ d}/\mathit{r}_\mathrm{ d} = 267.62 \pm 26$|   h −1 Mpc, consistent with Planck 2015 cosmology. We present a set of 108 high-fidelity simulated galaxy cluster light-cones from the high-resolution Uchuu N -body simulation, employed for methodological validation. We find D V(z  = 0.089)/ r d = 2.666 ± 0.129, indicating that our method does not introduce any bias in the parameter estimation for this small sample of galaxy clusters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Making cosmological inferences from the observed galaxy clustering requires accurate predictions for the mean clustering statistics and their covariances. Those are affected by cosmic variance – the statistical noise due to the finite number of harmonics. The cosmic variance can be suppressed by fixing the amplitudes of the harmonics instead of drawing them from a Gaussian distribution predicted by the inflation models. Initial realizations also can be generated in pairs with 180○ flipped phases to further reduce the variance. Here, we compare the consequences of using paired-and-fixed versus Gaussian initial conditions on the average dark matter clustering and covariance matrices predicted from N -body simulations. As in previous studies, we find no measurable differences between paired-and-fixed and Gaussian simulations for the average density distribution function, power spectrum, and bispectrum. Yet, the covariances from paired-and-fixed simulations are suppressed in a complicated scale- and redshift-dependent way. The situation is particularly problematic on the scales of Baryon acoustic oscillations where the covariance matrix of the power spectrum is lower by only |$\sim 20{{\ \rm per\ cent}}$| compared to the Gaussian realizations, implying that there is not much of a reduction of the cosmic variance. The non-trivial suppression, combined with the fact that paired-and-fixed covariances are noisier than from Gaussian simulations, suggests that there is no path towards obtaining accurate covariance matrices from paired-and-fixed simulations – result, that is theoretically expected and accepted in the field. Because the covariances are crucial for the observational estimates of galaxy clustering statistics and cosmological parameters, paired-and-fixed simulations, though useful for some applications, cannot be used for the production of mock galaxy catalogues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to capture as much information as possible large galaxies surveys have been increasing their volume and redshift depth. To face this challenge theory has responded by making cosmological simulations of huge computational volumes with equally increasing numbers of dark matter particles and supercomputing resources. Thus, it is taken for granted that the ideal situation is when a single computational box encompasses the whole volume of the observational survey, e.g. |$\sim 50\, h^{-3}\,{\rm Gpc}^3$| for the DESI and Euclid surveys. Here we study the effects of missing long waves in a finite volume using several relevant statistics: the abundance of dark matter haloes, the probability distribution function (PDF), the correlation function and power spectrum, and covariance matrices. Finite volume effects can substantially modify the results if the computational volumes are less than |$\sim (500\mbox{$\, h^{-1}$Mpc})^3$|⁠. However, the effects become extremely small and practically can be ignored when the box size exceeds ∼1 Gpc3. We find that the average power spectra of dark matter fluctuations show remarkable lack of dependence on the computational box size with less than 0.1 per cent differences between |$1$| and |$4\mbox{$\, h^{-1}\,$Gpc}$| boxes. No measurable differences are expected for the halo mass functions for these volumes. The covariance matrices are scaled trivially with volume, and small corrections due to supersample modes can be added. We conclude that there is no need to make those extremely large simulations when a box size of |$1-1.5\mbox{$\, h^{-1}$Gpc}$| is sufficient to fulfil most of the survey science requirements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Accurate predictions of the abundance and clustering of dark matter haloes play a key role in testing the standard cosmological model. Here, we investigate the accuracy of one of the leading methods of connecting the simulated dark matter haloes with observed galaxies– the halo abundance matching (HAM) technique. We show how to choose the optimal values of the mass and force resolution in large volume N-body simulations so that they provide accurate estimates for correlation functions and circular velocities for haloes and their subhaloes – crucial ingredients of the HAM method. At the 10 per cent accuracy, results converge for ∼50 particles for haloes and ∼150 particles for progenitors of subhaloes. In order to achieve this level of accuracy a number of conditions should be satisfied. The force resolution for the smallest resolved (sub)haloes should be in the range (0.1–0.3)rs, where rs is the scale radius of (sub)haloes. The number of particles for progenitors of subhaloes should be ∼150. We also demonstrate that the two-body scattering plays a minor role for the accuracy of N-body simulations thanks to the relatively small number of crossing-times of dark matter in haloes, and the limited force resolution of cosmological simulations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present the public data release of the Uchuu-UM galaxy catalogues by applying the UniverseMachine algorithm to assign galaxies to the dark matter haloes in the Uchuu N -body cosmological simulation. It includes a variety of baryonic properties for all galaxies down to ∼5 × 108 M⊙ with haloes in a mass range of 1010 < M halo/M⊙ < 5 × 1015 up to redshift z = 10. Uchuu-UM includes more than 104 cluster-size haloes in a volume of 8(h −1Gpc)3, reproducing observed stellar mass functions across the redshift range of z = 0−7, galaxy quenched fractions, and clustering statistics at low redshifts. Compared to the previous largest UM catalogue, the Uchuu-UM catalogue includes significantly more massive galaxies hosted by large-mass dark matter haloes. Overall, the number density profile of galaxies in dark matter haloes follows the dark matter profile, with the profile becoming steeper around the splashback radius and flattening at larger radii. The number density profile of galaxies tends to be steeper for larger stellar masses and depends on the colour of galaxies, with red galaxies having steeper slopes at all radii than blue galaxies. The quenched fraction exhibits a strong dependence on the stellar mass and increases towards the inner regions of clusters. The publicly available Uchuu-UM galaxy catalogue presented here can serve to model ongoing and upcoming large galaxy surveys. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lambda Cold Dark Matter (ACDM) is now the standard theory of structure formation in the universe. We present the first results from the new Bolshoi dissipationless cosmological ACDM simulation that uses cosmological parameters favored by current observations. The Bolshoi simulation was run in a volume 250 h-1 Mpc on a side using ∼8 billion particles with mass and force resolution adequate to follow subhalos down to the completeness limit of Vcirc = 50 km s-1 maximum circular velocity. Using merger trees derived from analysis of 180 stored time steps we find the circular velocities of satellites before they fall into their host halos. Using excellent statistics of halos and subhalos (∼10 million at every moment and ∼50 million over the whole history) we present accurate approximations for statistics such as the halo mass function, the concentrations for distinct halos and subhalos, the abundance of halos as a function of their circular velocity, and the abundance and the spatial distribution of subhalos. We find that at high redshifts the concentration falls to a minimum value of about 4.0 and then rises for higher values of halo mass--a new result. We present approximations for the velocity and mass functions of distinct halos as a function of redshift. We find that while the Sheth-Tormen (ST) approximation for the mass function of halos found by spherical overdensity is quite accurate at low redshifts, the ST formula overpredicts the abundance of halos by nearly an order of magnitude by ɀ = 10. We find that the number of subhalos scales with the circular velocity of the host halo as Due to image rights restrictions, multiple line equation(s) cannot be graphically displayed., and that subhalos have nearly the same radial distribution as dark matter particles at radii 0.3-2 times the host halo virial radius. The subhalo velocity function N(> Vsub) scales as Due to image rights restrictions, multiple line equation(s) cannot be graphically displayed.. Combining the results of Bolshoi and Via Lactea-II simulations, we find that inside the virial radius of halos with Vcirc = 200 km s-1 the number of satellites is N(> Vsub) = (Vsub/58km s-1)-3 for satellite circular velocities in the range 4 km s-1 < Vsub < 150 km s-1. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We study the luminosity function, the peculiar velocities and the sizes of voids in the Local Volume (LV) in observational samples of galaxies which contain galaxies down to and to within the distance 4–8 Mpc. When we compare the results with the predictions of the standard cosmological λ cold dark matter (ΛCDM) model, we find that the theory faces a sever problem: it predicts a factor of 10 more dwarf haloes as compared with the observed number of dwarf galaxies. In the LV, we identify voids with sizes ranging from 1 to 4.5 Mpc and compare the observational distribution of void sizes with the voids in very high-resolution simulations of the ΛCDM model with Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe 1( WMAP1) and WMAP3 parameters. The theoretical void function matches the observations remarkably well only if we use haloes with circular velocities Vc larger than 40–45 km s−1[ ] for models with and [ ] for . We exclude the possibility that in the ΛCDM model haloes with circular velocities can host galaxies as bright as : there are too many small haloes in the ΛCDM model resulting in voids being too small as compared with the observations. The problem is that many of the observed dwarf galaxies have H i rotational velocities below 25 km s−1 that strictly contradicts the ΛCDM predictions. Thus, the ΛCDM model faces the same overabundance problem, which it had with the number of satellites in the Local Group (LG). We also estimate the rms deviations from the Hubble flow σH for galaxies at different distances from the LG and find that in most of our model LV candidates the rms peculiar velocities are consistent with observational values: for distances less than 3 Mpc and for distances less than 8 Mpc. At distances 4 (8) Mpc, the observed overdensities of galaxies are 3.5–5.5 (1.3–1.6) – significantly larger than typically assumed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Measurements of the luminosity function of active galactic nuclei (AGN) at high redshift (z ≳ 6) are expected to suffer from field-to-field variance, including cosmic and Poisson variances. Future surveys, such as those from the Euclid telescope and JWST, will also be affected by field variance. We use the Uchuu simulation, a state-of-the-art cosmological N -body simulation with 2.1 trillion particles in a volume of 25.7 Gpc3, combined with a semi-analytic galaxy and AGN formation model, to generate the Uchuu–ν2GC catalogue, publicly available, that allows us to investigate the field-to-field variance of the luminosity function of AGN. With this Uchuu–ν2GC model, we quantify the cosmic variance as a function of survey area, AGN luminosity, and redshift. In general, cosmic variance decreases with increasing survey area and decreasing redshift. We find that at z ∼ 6 − 7, the cosmic variance depends weakly on AGN luminosity. This is because the typical mass of dark matter haloes in which AGN reside does not significantly depend on luminosity. Due to the rarity of AGN, Poisson variance dominates the total field-to-field variance, especially for bright AGN. We also examine the effect of parameters related to galaxy formation physics on the field variance. We discuss uncertainties present in the estimation of the faint-end of the AGN luminosity function from recent observations, and extend this to make predictions for the expected number of AGN and their variance for upcoming observations with Euclid , JWST, and the Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present 2000 mock galaxy catalogues for the analysis of baryon acoustic oscillations (BAOs) in the Emission Line Galaxy (ELG) sample of the extended Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey Data Release 16 (eBOSS DR16). Each mock catalogue has a number density of |$6.7 \times 10^{-4} h^3 \rm Mpc^{-3}$|⁠ , covering a redshift range from 0.6 to 1.1. The mocks are calibrated to small-scale eBOSS ELG clustering measurements at scales of |$\lesssim 30\, h^{-1}$| Mpc. The mock catalogues are generated using a combination of GaLAxy Mocks (GLAM) simulations and the quick particle-mesh (QPM) method. GLAM simulations are used to generate the density field, which is then assigned dark matter haloes using the QPM method. Haloes are populated with galaxies using a halo occupation distribution. The resulting mocks match the survey geometry and selection function of the data, and have slightly higher number density that allows room for systematic analysis. The large-scale clustering of mocks at the BAO scale is consistent with data and we present the correlation matrix of the mocks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Addresses the emptiness of giant diameter voids found in the distribution of bright galaxies. Prediction of small dark matter haloes by cosmological models; Abundance of dwarf galaxies inside voids; Similarity of the structural elements in the large-scale structure of the galactic distribution.

Upcoming surveys will use a variety of galaxy selections to map the large-scale structure of the Universe. It is important to make accurate predictions for the properties and clustering of such galaxies, including the errors on these statistics. Here, we describe a novel technique which uses the semi-analytical model of galaxy formation galform , embedded in the high-resolution N -body Planck-Millennium simulation, to populate a thousand halo catalogues generated using the Parallel-PM N -body glam code. Our hybrid scheme allows us to make clustering predictions on scales that cannot be modelled in the original N -body simulation. We focus on luminous red galaxies (LRGs) selected in the redshift range z = 0.6 − 1 from the galform output using similar colour-magnitude cuts in the r, z , and W 1 bands to those that will be applied in the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) survey, and call this illustrative sample 'DESI-like' LRGs. We find that the LRG-halo connection is non-trivial, leading to the prediction of a non-standard halo occupation distribution; in particular, the occupation of central galaxies does not reach unity for the most massive haloes, and drops with increasing mass. The glam catalogues reproduce the abundance and clustering of the LRGs predicted by galform. We use the glam mocks to compute the covariance matrices for the two-point correlation function and power spectrum of the LRGs and their background dark matter density field, revealing important differences. We also make predictions for the linear-growth rate and the baryon acoustic oscillations distances at z = 0.6, 0.74, and 0.93. All 'DESI-like' LRG catalogues are made publicly available. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Halo bias is the main link between the matter distribution and dark matter haloes. In its simplest form, halo bias is determined by halo mass, but there are known additional dependencies on other halo properties which are of consequence for accurate modelling of galaxy clustering. Here, we present the most precise measurement of these secondary-bias dependencies on halo age, concentration, and spin, for a wide range of halo masses spanning from 1010.7 to 1014.7 h −1 M⊙. At the high-mass end, we find no strong evidence of assembly bias for masses above M vir ∼1014 h −1 M⊙. Secondary bias exists, however, for halo concentration and spin, up to cluster-size haloes, in agreement with previous findings. For halo spin, we report, for the first time, two different regimes: above M vir ∼ 1011.5 h −1 M⊙, haloes with larger values of spin have larger bias, at fixed mass, with the effect reaching almost a factor 2. This trend reverses below this characteristic mass. In addition to these results, we test, for the first time, the performance of a multitracer method for the determination of the relative bias between different subsets of haloes. We show that this method increases significantly the signal to noise of the secondary-bias measurement as compared to a traditional approach. This analysis serves as the basis for follow-up applications of our multitracer method to real data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

N-body cosmological simulations are an essential tool to understand the observed distribution of galaxies. We use the MultiDark simulation suite, run with the Planck cosmological parameters, to revisit the mass and velocity functions. At redshift z = 0, the simulations cover four orders of magnitude in halo mass from ~1011M⊙ with 8783 874 distinct haloes and 532 533 subhaloes. The total volume used is ~515 Gpc³, more than eight times larger than in previous studies. We measure and model the halo mass function, its covariance matrix w.r.t halo mass and the large-scale halo bias. With the formalism of the excursion-set mass function, we explicit the tight interconnection between the covariance matrix, bias and halo mass function. We obtain a very accurate (<2 per cent level) model of the distinct halo mass function. We also model the subhalo mass function and its relation to the distinct halo mass function. The set of models obtained provides a complete and precise framework for the description of haloes in the concordance Planck cosmology. Finally, we provide precise analytical fits of the Vmax maximum velocity function up to redshift z < 2.3 to push for the development of halo occupation distribution using Vmax. The data and the analysis code are made publicly available in the Skies and Universes data base. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In current and future surveys, quasars play a key role. The new data will extend our knowledge of the Universe as it will be used to better constrain the cosmological model at redshift z > 1 via baryon acoustic oscillation and redshift space distortion measurements. Here, we present the first clustering study of quasars observed by the extended Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey. We measure the clustering of ~70 000 quasars located in the redshift range 0.9 < z < 2.2 that cover 1168 deg2. We model the clustering and produce highfidelity quasar mock catalogues based on the BigMultiDark Planck simulation. Thus, we use a modified (sub)halo abundance matching model to account for the specificities of the halo population hosting quasars.We find that quasars are hosted by haloes with masses~1012.7M☉ and their bias evolves from 1.54 (z = 1.06) to 3.15 (z = 1.98). Using the current extended Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey data, we cannot distinguish between models with different fractions of satellites. The high-fidelity mock light-cones, including properties of haloes hosting quasars, are made publicly available. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In current and future surveys, quasars play a key role. The new data will extend our knowledge of the Universe as it will be used to better constrain the cosmological model at redshift z > 1 via baryon acoustic oscillation and redshift space distortion measurements. Here, we present the first clustering study of quasars observed by the extended Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey. We measure the clustering of ~70 000 quasars located in the redshift range 0.9 < z < 2.2 that cover 1168 deg2. We model the clustering and produce highfidelity quasar mock catalogues based on the BigMultiDark Planck simulation. Thus, we use a modified (sub)halo abundance matching model to account for the specificities of the halo population hosting quasars. We find that quasars are hosted by haloes with masses~1012.7M☉ and their bias evolves from 1.54 (z = 1.06) to 3.15 (z = 1.98). Using the current extended Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey data, we cannot distinguish between models with different fractions of satellites. The high-fidelity mock light-cones, including properties of haloes hosting quasars, are made publicly available. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Current and future large redshift surveys, as the Sloan Digital Sky Survey IV extended Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (SDSS-IV/eBOSS) or the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI), will use emission-line galaxies (ELGs) to probe cosmological models by mapping the large-scale structure of the Universe in the redshift range 0.6 < z < 1.7. With current data, we explore the halo-galaxy connection by measuring three clustering properties of g-selected ELGs as matter tracers in the redshift range 0.6 < z < 1: (i) the redshift-space two-point correlation function using spectroscopic redshifts from the BOSS ELG sample and VIPERS; (ii) the angular two-point correlation function on the footprint of the CFHT-LS; (iii) the galaxy-galaxy lensing signal around the ELGs using the CFHTLenS. We interpret these observations by mapping them on to the latest high-resolution MultiDark Planck N-body simulation, using a novel (Sub)Halo-Abundance Matching technique that accounts for the ELG incompleteness. ELGs at z ~ 0.8 live in haloes of (1 ± 0.5) × 1012 h-1M☉ and 22.5 ± 2.5 per cent of them are satellites belonging to a larger halo. The halo occupation distribution of ELGs indicates that we are sampling the galaxies in which stars form in the most efficient way, according to their stellar-to-halo mass ratio. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present a study of the clustering and halo occupation distribution of Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (BOSS) CMASS galaxies in the redshift range 0.43 < z < 0.7 drawn from the Final SDSS-III Data Release. We compare the BOSS results with the predictions of a halo abundance matching (HAM) clustering model that assigns galaxies to dark matter haloes selected from the large Big Multi Dark N-body simulation of a flat Λ cold dark matter Planck cosmology. We compare the observational data with the simulated ones on a light cone constructed from 20 subsequent outputs of the simulation. Observational effects such as incompleteness, geometry, veto masks and fibre collisions are included in the model, which reproduces within 1σ errors the observed monopole of the two-point correlation function at all relevant scales: from the smallest scales, 0.5 h-1 Mpc, up to scales beyond the baryon acoustic oscillation feature. This model also agrees remarkably well with the BOSS galaxy power spectrum (up to k ~ 1 h Mpc-1), and the three-point correlation function. The quadrupole of the correlation function presents some tensions with observations. We discuss possible causes that can explain this disagreement, including target selection effects. Overall, the standard HAM model describes remarkably well the clustering statistics of the CMASS sample. We compare the stellar-to-halo mass relation for the CMASS sample measured using weak lensing in the Canada--France--Hawaii Telescope Stripe 82 Survey with the prediction of our clustering model, and find a good agreement within 1σ. The BigMD-BOSS light cone including properties of BOSS galaxies and halo properties is made publicly available. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We model the luminosity-dependent projected and redshift-space two-point correlation functions (2PCFs) of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) Data Release 7 Main galaxy sample, using the halo occupation distribution (HOD) model and the subhalo abundance matching (SHAM) model and its extension. All the models are built on the same high-resolution Nbody simulations. We find that the HOD model generally provides the best performance in reproducing the clustering measurements in both projected and redshift spaces. The SHAM model with the same halo-galaxy relation for central and satellite galaxies (or distinct haloes and subhaloes), when including scatters, has a best-fitting X2 around 2-3. We therefore extend the SHAM model to the subhalo clustering and abundance matching (SCAM) by allowing the central and satellite galaxies to have different galaxy-halo relations. We infer the corresponding halo/subhalo parameters by jointly fitting the galaxy 2PCFs and abundances and consider subhaloes selected based on three properties, the mass Macc at the time of accretion, the maximum circular velocity Vacc at the time of accretion, and the peak maximum circular velocity Vpeak over the history of the subhaloes. The three subhalo models work well for luminous galaxy samples (with luminosity above L*). For low-luminosity samples, the Vacc model stands out in reproducing the data, with the Vpeak model slightly worse, while the Macc model fails to fit the data. We discuss the implications of the modelling results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Future dark energy experiments will require accurate theoretical predictions for the baryon acoustic oscillations (BAOs). Here, we use large N-body simulations to study any systematic shifts and damping in BAO due to non-linear effects. The impact of cosmic variance is largely reduced by dividing the tracer power spectrum by that from a 'BAO-free' simulation starting with the same random amplitudes and phases. The accuracy of our simulations allows us to resolve well dark matter (sub)haloes, which permits us to study with high accuracy (better than 0.02 per cent for dark matter and 0.07 per cent for low-bias haloes) small BAO shifts α towards larger k, and non-linear damping Σnl of BAO in the power spectrum. For dark matter, we provide an accurate parametrization of the evolution of α as a function of the linear growth factor D(z). For halo samples, with bias from 1.2 to 2.8, we measure a typical BAO shift of ≈0.25 per cent, with no appreciable evolution with redshift. Moreover, we report a constant shift as a function of halo bias. We find a different evolution of the BAO damping in all halo samples as compared to dark matter with haloes suffering less damping, and also find some weak dependence on bias. Larger BAO shift and damping are measured in redshift-space, which can be explained by linear theory due to redshift-space distortions. A clear modulation in phase with the acoustic scale is observed in the scale-dependent halo bias due to the presence of BAOs. We compare our results with previous works. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We reproduce the galaxy clustering catalogue from the SDSS-III Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey Final Data Release (BOSS DR11&DR12) with high fidelity on all relevant scales in order to allow a robust analysis of baryon acoustic oscillations and redshift space distortions. We have generated (6000) 12 288 MultiDark PATCHY BOSS (DR11) DR12 light cones corresponding to an effective volume of ∼192 000 [h-1 Gpc]³ (the largest ever simulated volume), including cosmic evolution in the redshift range from 0.15 to 0.75. The mocks have been calibrated using a reference galaxy catalogue based on the halo abundance matching modelling of the BOSS DR11&DR12 galaxy clustering data and on the data themselves. The production follows three steps. First, we apply the PATCHY code to generate a dark matter field and an object distribution including non-linear stochastic galaxy bias. Secondly, we run the halo/stellar distribution reconstruction HADRON code to assign masses to the various objects. This step uses the mass distribution as a function of local density and non-local indicators (i.e. tidal field tensor eigenvalues and relative halo exclusion separation for massive objects) from the reference simulation applied to the corresponding patchy dark matter and galaxy distribution. Finally, we apply the SUGAR code to build the light cones. The resulting MultiDarkPATCHY mock light cones reproduce the number density, selection function, survey geometry, and in general within 1s, for arbitrary stellar mass bins, the power spectrum up to k = 0.3 h Mpc-1, the two-point correlation functions down to a few Mpc scales, and the three-point statistics of the BOSS DR11&DR12 galaxy samples. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present the measurements and modelling of the small-to-intermediate scale (~0.1-25 h-1 Mpc) projected and three-dimensional redshift-space two-point correlation functions (2PCFs) of local galaxies in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Data Release 7. We find a clear dependence of galaxy clustering on luminosity in both projected and redshift spaces, generally being stronger for more luminous samples. The measurements are successfully interpreted within the halo occupation distribution (HOD) framework with central and satellite velocity bias parameters to describe galaxy kinematics inside haloes and to model redshift-space distortion effects. In agreement with previous studies, we find that more luminous galaxies reside in more massive haloes. Including the redshift-space 2PCFs helps tighten the HOD constraints. Moreover, we find that luminous central galaxies are not at rest at the halo centres, with the velocity dispersion about 30 per cent that of the dark matter. Such a relative motion may reflect the consequence of galaxy and halo mergers, and we find that central galaxies in lower mass haloes tend to be more relaxed with respect to their host haloes. The motion of satellite galaxies in luminous samples is consistent with their following that of the dark matter. For faint samples, satellites tends to have slower motion, with velocity dispersion inside haloes about 85 per cent that of the dark matter. We discuss possible applications of the velocity bias constraints on studying galaxy evolution and cosmology. In the appendix, we characterize the distribution of galaxy redshift measurement errors, which is well described by a Gaussian-convolved double exponential distribution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present results on the clustering of 282 068 galaxies in the Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (BOSS) sample of massive galaxies with redshifts 0.4 < z < 0.7 which is part of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey III project. Our results cover a large range of scales from ∼500 to ∼90 h−1 Mpc. We compare these estimates with the expectations of the flat Λ cold dark matter (ΛCDM) standard cosmological model with parameters compatible with Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe 7 data. We use the MultiDark cosmological simulation, one of the largest N-body runs presently available, together with a simple halo abundance matching technique, to estimate galaxy correlation functions, power spectra, abundance of subhaloes and galaxy biases. We find that the ΛCDM model gives a reasonable description to the observed correlation functions at z ≈ 0.5, which is remarkably good agreement considering that the model, once matched to the observed abundance of BOSS galaxies, does not have any free parameters. However, we find a ≳10 per cent deviation in the correlation functions for scales ≲ 1 and ∼10–40 h−1 Mpc. A more realistic abundance matching model and better statistics from upcoming observations are needed to clarify the situation. We also estimate that about 12 per cent of the ‘galaxies’ in the abundance-matched sample are satellites inhabiting central haloes with mass M ≳ 1014 h−1 M⊙. Using the MultiDark simulation, we also study the real-space halo bias b of the matched catalogue finding that b = 2.00 ± 0.07 at large scales, consistent with the one obtained using the measured BOSS-projected correlation function. Furthermore, the linear large-scale bias, defined using the extrapolated linear matter power spectrum, depends on the number density n of the abundance-matched sample as b = −0.048 − (0.594 ± 0.02)log10(n/ h3 Mpc−3). Extrapolating these results to baryon acoustic oscillation scales, we measure a scale-dependent damping of the acoustic signal produced by non-linear evolution that leads to ∼2–4 per cent dips at ≳ 3σ level for wavenumbers k ≳ 0.1 h Mpc−1 in the linear large-scale bias. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present a statistical analysis of voids in the two-degree Field Galaxy Redshift Survey (2dFGRS). In order to detect the voids, we have developed two robust algorithms. We define voids as non-overlapping maximal spheres empty of haloes or galaxies with mass or luminosity above a given value. We search for voids in cosmological N-Body simulations to test the performance of our void finders. We obtain and analyse the void statistics for several volume-limited samples for the North Galactic Pole (NGP) and the South Galactic Pole (SGP) constructed from the 2dFGRS full data release. We find that the results obtained from the NGP and the SGP are statistically compatible. From the results of several statistical tests we conclude that voids are essentially uncorrelated, with at most a mild anticorrelation and that at the 99.5 per cent confidence level there is a dependence of the void number density on redshift. We develop a technique to correct the distortion caused by the fact that we use the redshift as the radial coordinate. We calibrate this technique with mock catalogues and find that the correction might be of some relevance to carry out accurate inferences from void statistics. We study the statistics of the galaxies inside nine nearby voids. We find that galaxies in voids are not randomly distributed: they form structures like filaments. We also obtain the galaxy number density profile in voids. This profile follow a similar but steeper trend to that followed by haloes in voids. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]