Invited contribution to be published in Vol. 8 of book "Planets, Stars, and Stellar Systems", Springer, series editor T. D. Oswalt, volume editor W. C. Keel
astro-ph/1202.6633

For a PDF version of the article, click here.

Abstract: Galaxies are not uniformly distributed in space. On large scales the Universe displays coherent structure, with galaxies residing in groups and clusters on scales of ~ 1-3 h^-1 Mpc, which lie at the intersections of long filaments of galaxies that are > 10 h^-1 Mpc in length. Vast regions of relatively empty space, known as voids, contain very few galaxies and span the volume in between these structures. This observed large scale structure depends both on cosmological parameters and on the formation and evolution of galaxies. Using the two-point correlation function, one can trace the dependence of large scale structure on galaxy properties such as luminosity, color, stellar mass, and track its evolution with redshift. Comparison of the observed galaxy clustering signatures with dark matter simulations allows one to model and understand the clustering of galaxies and their formation and evolution within their parent dark matter halos. Clustering measurements can determine the parent dark matter halo mass of a given galaxy population, connect observed galaxy populations at different epochs, and constrain cosmological parameters and galaxy evolution models. This chapter describes the methods used to measure the two-point correlation function in both redshift and real space, presents the current results of how the clustering amplitude depends on various galaxy properties, and discusses quantitative measurements of the structures of voids and filaments. The interpretation of these results with current theoretical models is also presented.

Index terms: clustering, angular clustering, two-point correlation function, higher-order correlation function, void, void probability function, filament, galaxy evolution, redshift space distortions, dark matter halo, halo model, bias, dark matter, halo occupation

Table of Contents

• HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
• THE TWO-POINT CORRELATION FUNCTION
• ANGULAR CLUSTERING
• REAL AND REDSHIFT SPACE CLUSTERING
• GALAXY BIAS
• THE DEPENDENCE OF CLUSTERING ON GALAXY PROPERTIES
• Luminosity Dependence
• Color and Spectral Type Dependence
• Redshift Space Distortions
• THE EVOLUTION OF GALAXY CLUSTERING
• HALO MODEL INTERPRETATION of (r)
• Estimating the Mean Halo Mass from the Bias
• Halo Occupation Distribution Modeling
• Interpreting the Luminosity and Color Dependence of Galaxy Clustering
• Interpreting the Evolution of Galaxy Clustering
• VOIDS AND FILAMENTS
• Higher-order Clustering Measurements
• Voids
• Void and Void Galaxy Properties
• Void Probability Function
• Filaments
• SUMMARY AND FUTURE
• REFERENCES