Galaxy distribution and extreme-value statistics

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Published 11 December 2009 Europhysics Letters Association
, , Citation T. Antal et al 2009 EPL 88 59001 DOI 10.1209/0295-5075/88/59001

0295-5075/88/5/59001

Abstract

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 non-trivial scaling behavior, which resembles 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.

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10.1209/0295-5075/88/59001