Galaxy Clustering in Early Sloan Digital Sky Survey Redshift Data

Abstract

We present the first measurements of clustering in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) galaxy redshift survey. Our sample consists of 29,300 galaxies with redshifts 5700 km s -1 ≤ cz ≤ 39,000 km s -1 , distributed in several long but narrow (2 5-5°) segments, covering 690 deg 2 . For the full, flux-limited sample, the redshift-space correlation length is approximately 8 h -1 Mpc. The two-dimensional correlation function ξ( r p ,π) shows clear signatures of both the small-scale, "fingers-of-God" distortion caused by velocity dispersions in collapsed objects and the large-scale compression caused by coherent flows, though the latter cannot be measured with high precision in the present sample. The inferred real-space correlation function is well described by a power law, ξ( r ) = ( r /6.1 ± 0.2 h -1 Mpc) -1.75±0.03 , for 0.1 h -1 Mpc ≤ r ≤ 16 h -1 Mpc. The galaxy pairwise velocity dispersion is σ 12 ≈ 600 ± 100 km s -1 for projected separations 0.15 h -1 Mpc ≤ r p ≤ 5 h -1 Mpc. When we divide the sample by color, the red galaxies exhibit a stronger and steeper real-space correlation function and a higher pairwise velocity dispersion than do the blue galaxies. The relative behavior of subsamples defined by high/low profile concentration or high/low surface brightness is qualitatively similar to that of the red/blue subsamples. Our most striking result is a clear measurement of scale-independent luminosity bias at r ≲ 10 h -1 Mpc: subsamples with absolute magnitude ranges centered on M * - 1.5, M * , and M * + 1.5 have real-space correlation functions that are parallel power laws of slope ≈-1.8 with correlation lengths of approximately 7.4, 6.3, and 4.7 h -1 Mpc, respectively.