arXiv subjects

Francesco Sylos Labini

Publications and source records attributed to Francesco Sylos Labini.

At least 55 records · Page 3Linked to original sources

arXiv2010

Gravitational fluctuations of the galaxy distribution

We study the statistical properties of the gravitational field generated by galaxy distribution observed bythe Sloan Digital Sky Survey (DR7). We characterize the probability density function of gravitational force fluctuations and relate its limiting behaviors to the correlation properties of the underlying density field. In addition, we study whether the PDF converges to an asymptotic shape within sample volumes. We consider several volume-limited samples of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey and we compute the gravitational force probability density function (PDF). The gravitational force is computed in spheres of varying radius as is its PDF. We find that (i) the PDF of the force displays features that can be understood in terms of galaxy two-point correlations and (ii) density fluctuations on the largest scales probed, i.e. r~100 Mpc/h, still contribute significantly to the amplitude of the gravitational force. Our main conclusion is that fluctuations in the gravitational force field generated by galaxy structures are also relevant on scales ~ 100 Mpc/h. By assuming that the gravitational fluctuations in the galaxy distribution reflect those in the whole matter distribution, and that peculiar velocities and accelerations are simply correlated, we may conclude that large-scale fluctuations in the galaxy density field may be the source of the large-scale flows recently observed.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2010

Testing the Copernican and Cosmological Principles in the local universe with galaxy surveys

Cosmological density fields are assumed to be translational and rotational invariant, avoiding any special point or direction, thus satisfying the Copernican Principle. A spatially inhomogeneous matter distribution can be compatible with the Copernican Principle but not with the stronger version of it, the Cosmological Principle which requires the additional hypothesis of spatial homogeneity. We establish criteria for testing that a given density field, in a finite sample at low redshifts, is statistically and/or spatially homogeneous. The basic question to be considered is whether a distribution is, at different spatial scales, self-averaging. This can be achieved by studying the probability density function of conditional fluctuations. We find that galaxy structures in the SDSS samples, the largest currently available, are spatially inhomogeneous but statistically homogeneous and isotropic up to ~ 100 Mpc/h. Evidences for the breaking of self-averaging are found up to the largest scales probed by the SDSS data. The comparison between the results obtained in volumes of different size allows us to unambiguously conclude that the lack of elf-averaging is induced by finite-size effects due to long-range correlated fluctuations. We finally discuss the relevance of these results from the point of view of cosmological modeling.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2009

Super-homogeneity and inhomogeneities in the large scale matter distribution

Super-homogeneity is a property that is supposed to be satisfied by matter fluctuations in all standard theoretical models of structure formation, such as LCDM and its variants. This is a global condition on the correlation properties of the matter density field, which can be understood as a consistency constraint in the framework of FRW cosmology, and it corresponds to a very fine tuned balance between negative and positive correlations of density fluctuations and to the fastest possible decay of the normalized mass variance on large scales. By considering several galaxy samples, we discuss that these are characterized by the presence of large amplitude fluctuations with spatial extension limited only the size of the current samples. There is therefore a tension between the standard prediction of super-homogeneity and the detection of large scale inhomogeneities in the matter distribution at scales of the order of 100 Mpc/h. We discuss the theoretical implications of these results with respect to models of structure formation and to future galaxy and CMBR data, emphasizing the central role of the super-homogeneity property in the current description of fluctuations in FRW models.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2009

Characterizing the large scale inhomogeneity of the galaxy distribution

In order to investigate whether galaxy structures are compatible with the predictions of the standard LCDM cosmology, we focus here on the analysis of several simple and basic statistical properties of the galaxy density field. Namely, we test whether, on large enough scales (i.e., r>10 Mpc/h), this is self-averaging, uniform and characterized by a Gaussian probability density function of fluctuations. These are three different and clear predictions of the LCDM cosmology which are fulfilled in mock galaxy catalogs generated from cosmological N-body simulations representing this model. We consider some simple statistical measurements able to tests these properties in a finite sample. We discuss that the analysis of several samples of the Two Degree Field Galaxy Redshift Survey and of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey show that galaxy structures are non self-averaging and inhomogeneous on scales of ~100 Mpc/h, and are thus intrinsically different from LCDM model predictions. Correspondingly the probability density function of fluctuations shows a "fat tail" and it is thus different from the Gaussian prediction. Finally we discuss other recent observations which are odds with LCDM predictions and which are, at least theoretically, compatible with the highly inhomogeneous nature of galaxy distribution. We point out that inhomogeneous structures can be fully compatible with statistical isotropy and homogeneity, and thus with a relaxed version of the Cosmological Principle.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2009

Breaking the self-averaging properties of spatial galaxy fluctuations in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey - Data Release Six

Statistical analyses of finite sample distributions usually assume that fluctuations are self-averaging, i.e. that they are statistically similar in different regions of the given sample volume. By using the scale-length method, we test whether this assumption is satisfied in several samples of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Data Release Six. We find that the probability density function (PDF) of conditional fluctuations, filtered on large enough spatial scales (i.e., r>30 Mpc/h), shows relevant systematic variations in different sub-volumes of the survey. Instead for scales r<30 Mpc/h the PDF is statistically stable, and its first moment presents scaling behavior with a negative exponent around one. Thus while up to 30 Mpc/h galaxy structures have well-defined power-law correlations, on larger scales it is not possible to consider whole sample average quantities as meaningful and useful statistical descriptors. This situation is due to the fact that galaxy structures correspond to density fluctuations which are too large in amplitude and too extended in space to be self-averaging on such large scales inside the sample volumes: galaxy distribution is inhomogeneous up to the largest scales, i.e. r ~ 100 Mpc/h, probed by the SDSS samples. We show that cosmological corrections, as K-corrections and standard evolutionary corrections, do not qualitatively change the relevant behaviors. Finally we show that the large amplitude galaxy fluctuations observed in the SDSS samples are at odds with the predictions of the standard LCDM model of structure formation.(Abridged version).

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2009

Galaxy distribution and extreme value statistics

We consider the conditional galaxy density around each galaxy, and study its fluctuations in the newest samples of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Data Release 7. Over a large range of scales, both the average conditional density and its variance show a nontrivial scaling behavior, which resembles to criticality. The density depends, for 10 < r < 80 Mpc/h, only weakly (logarithmically) on the system size. Correspondingly, we find that the density fluctuations follow the Gumbel distribution of extreme value statistics. This distribution is clearly distinguishable from a Gaussian distribution, which would arise for a homogeneous spatial galaxy configuration. We also point out similarities between the galaxy distribution and critical systems of statistical physics.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2009

Absence of anti-correlations and of baryon acoustic oscillations in the galaxy correlation function from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey DR7

One of the most striking features predicted by standard models of galaxy formation is the presence of anti-correlations in the matter distribution at large enough scales (r>r_c). Simple arguments show that the location of the length-scale r_c, marking the transition from positive to negative correlations, is the same for any class of objects as for the full matter distribution, i.e. it is invariant under biasing. This scale is predicted by models to be at about the same distance of the scale signaling the baryonic acoustic oscillation scale r_{bao}. We test these predictions in the newest SDSS galaxy samples.We find that, in several MG samples, the correlation function remains positive at scales >250 Mpc/h, while in the concordance LCDM it should be negative beyond r_c\approx 120 Mpc/h. In other samples the correlation function becomes negative at scales <50 Mpc/h. To investigate the origin of these differences we consider in detail the propagation of errors on the sample density into the estimation of the correlation function. We conclude that these are important at large enough separations, and that they are responsible for the observed differences between different estimators and for the measured sample to sample variations of the correlation function. We conclude that, in the newest SDSS samples, the large scale behavior of the galaxy correlation function is affected by intrinsic errors andv olume-dependent systematic effects which make the detection of correlations to be only an estimate of a lower limit of their amplitude, spatial extension and statistical errors. We point out that these results represent an important challenge to LCDM models as they largely differ from its predictions.(Abridged version).

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2009

Absence of self-averaging and of homogeneity in the large scale galaxy distribution

The properties of the galaxy distribution at large scales are usually studied using statistics which are assumed to be self-averaging inside a given sample. We present a new analysis able to quantitatively map galaxy large scale structures while testing for the stability of average statistical quantities in different sample regions. We find that the newest samples of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey provide unambiguous evidence that galaxy structures correspond to large amplitude density fluctuations at all scales limited only by sample sizes. The two-point correlations properties are self-averaging up to approximately 30 Mpc/h and are characterized by a fractal dimension D=2.1 +- 0.1. Then at all larger scales probed density fluctuations are too large in amplitude and too extended in space to be self-averaging inside the considered volumes. These inhomogeneities are compatible with a continuation of fractal correlations but incompatible with: (i) a homogeneity scale smaller than 100 Mpc/h, (ii) predictions of standard theoretical models, (iii) mock galaxy catalogs generated from cosmological Nbody simuations.

astro-ph↗

arXiv2009

Large-scale fluctuations in the distribution of galaxies from the Two Degree Field Galaxy Redshift Survey

We study statistical properties of galaxy structures in several samples extracted from the 2dF Galaxy Redshift Survey. In particular, we measured conditional fluctuations by means of the scale-length method and determined their probability distribution. In this way we find that galaxy distribution in these samples is characterized by large amplitude fluctuations with a large spatial extension, whose size is only limited by the sample's boundaries. These fluctuations are quite typical and persistent in the sample's volumes, and they are detected in two independent regions in the northern and southern galactic caps. We discuss the relation of the scale-length method to several statistical quantities, such as counts of galaxies as a function of redshift and apparent magnitude. We confirm previous results, which have determined by magnitude and redshift counts that there are fluctuations of about 30% between the southern and the northern galactic caps and we relate explicitly these counts to structures in redshift space. We show that the estimation of fluctuation amplitude normalized to the sample density is biased by systematic effects, which we discuss in detail. We consider the type of fluctuations predicted by standard cosmological models of structure formation in the linear regime and, to study nonlinear clustering, we analyze several samples of mock-galaxy catalogs generated from the distribution of dark matter in cosmological N-body simulations. In this way we conclude that the galaxy fluctuations present in these samples are too large in amplitude and too extended in space to be compatible with the predictions of the standard models of structure formation.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2008

Persistent fluctuations in the distribution of galaxies from the Two degree Field Galaxy Redshift Survey

We apply the scale-length method to several three dimensional samples of the Two degree Field Galaxy Redshift Survey. This method allows us to map in a quantitative and powerful way large scale structures in the distribution of galaxies controlling systematic effects. By determining the probability density function of conditional fluctuations we show that large scale structures are quite typical and correspond to large fluctuations in the galaxy density field. We do not find a convergence to homogeneity up to the samples sizes, i.e. ~ 75 Mpc/h. We then measure, at scales r <~ 40 Mpc/h, a well defined and statistically stable power-law behavior of the average number of galaxies in spheres, with fractal dimension D=2.2 +- 0.2. We point out that standard models of structure formation are unable to explain the existence of the large fluctuations in the galaxy density field detected in these samples. This conclusion is reached in two ways: by considering the scale, determined by the linear perturbation analysis of a self-gravitating fluid, below which large fluctuations are expected in standard models and through the determination of statistical properties of mock galaxy catalogs generated from cosmological N-body simulations of the Millenium consortitum.

astro-ph↗

arXiv2008

Gravitational clustering: an overview

We discuss the differences and analogies of gravitational clustering in finite and infinite systems. The process of collective, or violent, relaxation leading to the formation of quasi-stationary states is one of the distinguished features in the dynamics of self-gravitating systems. This occurs, in different conditions, both in a finite than in an infinite system, the latter embedded in a static or in an expanding background. We then discuss, by considering some simple and paradigmatic examples, the problems related to the definition of a mean-field approach to gravitational clustering, focusing on role of discrete fluctuations. The effect of these fluctuations is a basic issue to be clarified to establish the range of scales and times in which a collision-less approximation may describe the evolution of a self-gravitating system and for the theoretical modeling of the non-linear phase.

astro-ph↗

arXiv2008

Gravitational dynamics of an infinite shuffled lattice: early time evolution and universality of non-linear correlations

In two recent articles a detailed study has been presented of the out of equilibrium dynamics of an infinite system of self-gravitating points initially located on a randomly perturbed lattice. In this article we extend the treatment of the early time phase during which strong non-linear correlations first develop, prior to the onset of ``self-similar'' scaling in the two point correlation function. We establish more directly, using appropriate modifications of the numerical integration, that the development of these correlations can be well described by an approximation of the evolution in two phases: a first perturbative phase in which particles' displacements are small compared to the lattice spacing, and a subsequent phase in which particles interact only with their nearest neighbor. For the range of initial amplitudes considered we show that the first phase can be well approximated as a transformation of the perturbed lattice configuration into a Poisson distribution at the relevant scales. This appears to explain the ``universality'' of the spatial dependence of the asymptotic non-linear clustering observed from both shuffled lattice and Poisson initial conditions.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

arXiv2007

Statistical physics for cosmic structures

The recent observations of galaxy and dark matter clumpy distributions have provided new elements to the understating of the problem of cosmological structure formation. The strong clumpiness characterizing galaxy structures seems to be present in the overall mass distribution and its relation to the highly isotropic Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation represents a fundamental problem. The extension of structures, the formation of power-law correlations characterizing the strongly clustered regime and the relation between dark and visible matter are the key problems both from an observational and a theoretical point of view. We discuss recent progresses in the studies of structure formation by using concepts and methods of statistical physics.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

arXiv2007

Extension and estimation of correlations in Cold Dark Matter models

We discuss the large scale properties of standard cold dark matter cosmological models characterizing the main features of the power-spectrum, of the two-point correlation function and of the mass variance. Both the real-space statistics have a very well defined behavior on large enough scales, where their amplitudes become smaller than unity. The correlation function, in the range 0<ξ(r)<1, is characterized by a typical length-scale r_c, at which ξ(r_c)=0, which is fixed by the physics of the early universe: beyond this scale it becomes negative, going to zero with a tail proportional to -(r^{-4}). These anti-correlations represent thus an important observational challenge to verify models in real space. The same length scale r_c characterizes the behavior of the mass variance which decays, for r>r_c, as r^{-4}, the fastest decay for any mass distribution. The length-scale r_c defines the maximum extension of (positively correlated) structures in these models. These are the features expected for the dark matter field: galaxies, which represent a biased field, however may have differences with respect to these behaviors, which we analyze. We then discuss the detectability of these real space features by considering several estimators of the two-point correlation function. By making tests on numerical simulations we emphasize the important role of finite size effects which should always be controlled for careful measurements.

astro-ph↗

arXiv2006

Gravitational Dynamics of an Infinite Shuffled Lattice of Particles

We study, using numerical simulations, the dynamical evolution of self-gravitating point particles in static euclidean space, starting from a simple class of infinite ``shuffled lattice'' initial conditions. These are obtained by applying independently to each particle on an infinite perfect lattice a small random displacement, and are characterized by a power spectrum (structure factor) of density fluctuations which is quadratic in the wave number k, at small k. For a specified form of the probability distribution function of the ``shuffling'' applied to each particle, and zero initial velocities, these initial configurations are characterized by a single relevant parameter: the variance $δ^2$ of the ``shuffling'' normalized in units of the lattice spacing $\ell$. The clustering, which develops in time starting from scales around $\ell$, is qualitatively very similar to that seen in cosmological simulations, which begin from lattices with applied correlated displacements and incorporate an expanding spatial background. From very soon after the formation of the first non-linear structures, a spatio-temporal scaling relation describes well the evolution of the two-point correlations. At larger times the dynamics of these correlations converges to what is termed ``self-similar'' evolution in cosmology, in which the time dependence in the scaling relation is specified entirely by that of the linearized fluid theory. Comparing simulations with different $δ$, different resolution, but identical large scale fluctuations, we are able to identify and study features of the dynamics of the system in the transient phase leading to this behavior. In this phase, the discrete nature of the system explicitly plays an essential role.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

arXiv2006

Power law correlations in galaxy distribution and finite volume effects from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Data Release Four

We discuss the estimation of galaxy correlation properties in several volume limited samples, in different sky regions, obtained from the Fourth Data Release of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. The small scale properties are characterized through the determination of the nearest neighbor probability distribution. By using a very conservative statistical analysis, in the range of scales [0.5,~30] Mpc/h we detect power-law correlations in the conditional density in redshift space, with an exponent γ=1.0 \pm 0.1. This behavior is stable in all different samples we considered thus it does not depend on galaxy luminosity. In the range of scales [~30,~100] Mpc/h we find evidences for systematic unaveraged fluctuations and we discuss in detail the problems induced by finite volume effects on the determination of the conditional density. We conclude that in such range of scales there is an evidence for a smaller power-law index of the conditional density. However we cannot distinguish between two possibilities: (i) that a crossover to homogeneity (corresponding to γ=0 in the conditional density) occurs before 100 Mpc/h, (ii) that correlations extend to scales of order 100 Mpc/h (with a smaller exponent 0 < γ<1). We emphasize that galaxy distributions in these samples present large fluctuations at the largest scales probed, corresponding to the presence of large scale structures extending up to the boundaries of the present survey. Finally we discuss several differences between the behavior of the conditional density in mock galaxy catalogs built from cosmological N-body simulations and real data. We discuss some theoretical implications of such a fact considering also the super-homogeneous features of primordial density fields.

astro-ph↗

arXiv2005

Gravitational Structure Formation

We discuss the formation of the first structures in gravitational N-body simulations. The role of two-body interaction is found to be a crucial element and an analogy with the dynamics of the Coulomb lattice, well-studied in solid state physics, is discussed.

astro-ph↗

arXiv2005

Gravitational Structure Formation, the Cosmological Problem and Statistical Physics

Models of structure formation in the universe postulate that matter distributions observed today in galaxy catalogs arise, through a complex non-linear dynamics, by gravitational evolution from a very uniform initial state. Dark matter plays the central role of providing the primordial density seeds which will govern the dynamics of structure formation. We critically examine the role of cosmological dark matter by considering three different and related issues: Basic statistical properties of theoretical initial density fields, several elements of the gravitational many-body dynamics and key correlation features of the observed galaxy distributions are discussed, stressing some useful analogies with known systems in modern statistical physics.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗