The anisotropic redshift space galaxy correlation function: Detection on the BAO ring

Abstract

In a series of papers we have recently studied the clustering of Luminous Red Galaxies (LRG's) in the latest spectroscopic Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) data release, which has 75,000 LRG's sampling 1.1 Gpc3/h3 to z = 0:47. Here we focus on the evidence in detecting a local maxima shape as a circular ring in the 2-point correlation function ξ(σ, π), separated in perpendicular σ and line-of-sight π directions. We find a significant detection of such a peak at r ≃ 110 Mpc/h. The overall shape and location of the peak is consistent with it originating from the recombination-epoch baryon acoustic oscillations (BAO). This agreement provides support for the current understanding of how large scale structure forms in the universe. We study the significance of such feature using largemock galaxy simulations to provide accurate errorbars. © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2010.