Relativistic asymmetries in the galaxy cross-correlation function

Abstract

We study the asymmetry in the two-point cross-correlation function of two populations of galaxies focusing in particular on the relativistic effects that include the gravitational redshift. We derive the cross-correlation function on small and large scales using two different approaches: General Relativistic and Newtonian perturbation theory. Following recent work by Bonvin et al., Gaztanaga et al. and Croft, we calculate the dipole and the shell estimator with the two procedures and we compare our results. We find that while General Relativistic Perturbation Theory (GRPT) is able to make predictions of relativistic effects on very large, obviously linear scales (r > 50 Mpc/h), the presence of non-linearities physically occurring on much smaller scales (down to those describing galactic potential wells) can strongly affect the asymmetry estimators. These can lead to cancellations of the relativistic terms, and sign changes in the estimators on scales up to r ~ 50 Mpc/h. On the other hand, with an appropriate non-linear gravitational potential, the results obtained using Newtonian theory can successfully describe the asymmetry on smaller, non-linear scales (r < 20 Mpc/h) where gravitational redshift is the dominant term. On larger scales the asymmetry is much smaller in magnitude, and measurement is not within reach of current observations. This is in agreement with the observational results obtained by Gaztnaga et al. and the first detection of relativistic effects (on (r < 20 Mpc/h) scales) by Alam et al.