Citation:
Date Published:
March 1, 2005Abstract:
We report the intermediate-scale (0.3-40 h-1 Mpc) clusteringof 35,000 luminous early-type galaxies at redshifts 0.16-0.44 from theSloan Digital Sky Survey. We present the redshift space two-pointcorrelation function ξ(s), the projected correlation functionwp(rp), and the deprojected real space correlationfunction ξ(r), for approximately volume-limited samples. As expected,the galaxies are highly clustered, with the correlation length varyingfrom 9.8+/-0.2 to 11.2 +/- 0.2 h-1 Mpc, dependent on thespecific luminosity range. For the -23.2g<-21.2sample, the inferred bias relative to that of L* galaxies is1.84+/-0.11 for1h-1Mpcp<~10h-1Mpc, with yetstronger clustering on smaller scales. We detect luminosity-dependentbias within the sample but see no evidence for redshift evolutionbetween z=0.2 and z=0.4. We find a clear indication for deviations froma power-law in the real space correlation function, with a dip at ~2h-1 Mpc scales and an upturn on smaller scales. The precisionmeasurements of these clustering trends offer new avenues for the studyof the formation and evolution of these massive galaxies.