A high-dimensional look at VIPERS galaxies

Abstract

We investigate how galaxies in VIPERS (the VIMOS Public Extragalactic Redshift Survey) inhabit the cosmological density field by examining the correlations across the observable parameter space of galaxy properties and clustering strength. The high-dimensional analysis is made manageable by the use of group-finding and regression tools. We find that the major trends in galaxy properties can be explained by a single parameter related to stellar mass. After subtracting this trend, residual correlations remain between galaxy properties and the local environment pointing to complex formation dependencies. As a specific application of this work we build subsamples of galaxies with specific clustering properties for use in cosmological tests.

3 pages. To appear in Statistical Challenges in 21st Century Cosmology, Proceedings IAU Symposium No. 306, A. H. Heavens & J.-L. Starck, eds