LATIS: Constraints on the Galaxy–Halo Connection at z ∼ 2.5 from Galaxy–Galaxy and Galaxy–Lyα Clustering

Abstract

The connection between galaxies and dark matter halos is often quantified using the stellar mass–halo mass (SMHM) relation. Optical and near-infrared imaging surveys have led to a broadly consistent picture of the evolving SMHM relation based on measurements of galaxy abundances and angular correlation functions. Spectroscopic surveys at z ≳ 2 can also constrain the SMHM relation via the galaxy autocorrelation function and through the cross-correlation between galaxies and Ly α absorption measured in transverse sight lines; however, such studies are very few and have produced some unexpected or inconclusive results. We use ∼3000 spectra of z ∼ 2.5 galaxies from the Ly α Tomography IMACS Survey (LATIS) to measure the galaxy–galaxy and galaxy–Ly α correlation functions in four bins of stellar mass spanning 10 ^9.2 ≲ M _* / M _⊙ ≲ 10 ^10.5 . Parallel analyses of the MultiDark N -body and ASTRID hydrodynamic cosmological simulations allow us to model the correlation functions, estimate covariance matrices, and infer halo masses. We find that results of the two methods are mutually consistent and broadly accord with standard SMHM relations. This consistency demonstrates that we are able to measure and model Ly α transmission fluctuations δ _F in LATIS accurately. We also show that the galaxy–Ly α cross-correlation, a free by-product of optical spectroscopic galaxy surveys at these redshifts, can constrain halo masses with similar precision to galaxy–galaxy clustering.

Keywords

• Galaxy dark matter halos
• Lyα forest
• Lyman-break galaxies