The VIMOS VLT Deep Survey. Testing the gravitational instability paradigm at z ~ 1

Christian Marinoni (1, 2) , L. Guzzo (3) , A. Cappi (4) , O. Le Fèvre (5) , A. Mazure (5) , B. Meneux , A. Pollo , A. Iovino (6) , H. J. Mccracken (7) , R. Scaramella , S. de La Torre (5) , J. M. Virey (1, 2) , D. Bottini (3) , B. Garilli (3) , V. Le Brun (5) , D. Maccagni (3) , J. P. Picat (8) , M. Scodeggio (3) , L. Tresse (5) , G. Vettolani (4) , A. Zanichelli (9) , C. Adami (5) , S. Arnouts (5) , S. Bardelli (9) , M. Bolzonella (9) , S. Charlot (7) , P. Ciliegi (9) , T. Contini (8) , Sylvie Foucaud , P. Franzetti (3) , I. Gavignaud (10) , O. Ilbert , F. Lamareille (8) , B. Marano (4) , G. Mathez (8) , R. Merighi (9) , S. Paltani , R. Pellò (8) , L. Pozzetti (9) , M. Radovich (11) , D. Vergani (3) , G. Zamorani (9) , E. Zucca (9) , U. Abbas , M. Bondi (12) , A. Bongiorno (9) , J. Brinchmann (13) , A. Buzzi (1, 2) , O. Cucciati (3) , L. de Ravel , L. Gregorini (9) , Y. Mellier (7) , P. Merluzzi (11) , E. Perez-Montero (8) , P. Taxil (1, 2) , S. Temporin , C. J. Walcher

1 CPT - Centre de Physique Théorique - UMR 6207
2 CPT - Centre de Physique Théorique - UMR 7332
3 INAF- Milano
4 IASF-Bo - Istituto di Astrofisica Spaziale e Fisica cosmica - Bologna
5 LAM - Laboratoire d'Astrophysique de Marseille
6 OAB - INAF - Osservatorio Astronomico di Brera
7 IAP - Institut d'Astrophysique de Paris
8 LATT - Laboratoire Astrophysique de Toulouse-Tarbes
9 OABO - INAF - Osservatorio Astronomico di Bologna
10 ESO - European Southern Observatory
11 OAC - INAF - Osservatorio Astronomico di Capodimonte
12 IRA - Istituto di Radioastronomia [Bologna]
13 CAUP - Centro de Astrofísica da Universidade do Porto

We have reconstructed the three-dimensional density fluctuation maps to z˜ 1.5 using the distribution of galaxies observed in the VVDS-Deep survey. We use this overdensity field to measure the evolution of the probability distribution function and its lower-order moments over the redshift interval 0.7< z <1.5. We apply a self-consistent reconstruction scheme which includes a complete non-linear description of galaxy biasing and which has been thoroughly tested on realistic mock samples. We find that the variance and skewness of the galaxy distribution evolve over this redshift interval in a way that is remarkably consistent with predictions of first- and second-order perturbation theory. This finding confirms the standard gravitational instability paradigm over nearly 9 Gyr of cosmic time and demonstrates the importance of accounting for the non-linear component of galaxy biasing to consistently reproduce the higher-order moments of the galaxy distribution and their evolution.

Mots clés: cosmology: large-scale structure of Universe; cosmology: theory; galaxies: statistics; galaxies: high-redshift; Galaxy: evolution

Domaines: Astrophysique galactique [astro-ph.GA]

Christian Marinoni, L. Guzzo, A. Cappi, O. Le Fèvre, A. Mazure, et al.. The VIMOS VLT Deep Survey. Testing the gravitational instability paradigm at z ~ 1. Astronomy and Astrophysics - A&A, 2008, 487, pp.7-17. ⟨10.1051/0004-6361:20078891⟩. ⟨hal-00391109⟩