Galaxy and Mass Assembly (GAMA) : fine filaments of galaxies detected within voids.

Authors

Mehmet Alpaslan, University of St. Andrews
Aaron S. G. Robotham, University of Western Australia
Danail Obreschkow, University of Western Australia
Samantha Penny, Monash University
Simon Driver, University of Western Australia
Peder Norberg, Durham University
Sarah Brough, Australian Astronomical Observatory
Michael Brown, Monash University
Michelle Cluver, University of Cape Town
Benne W. Holwerda, University of Louisville
Andrew M. Hopkins, Australian Astronomical Observatory
Eelco van Kampen, European Southern Observatory
Lee S. Kelvin, Universitat Innsbruck
Maritza A. Lara-Lopez, Australian Astronomical Observatory
Jochen Liske, European Southern Observatory
Jon Loveday, University of Sussex
Smriti Mahajan, The University of Queensland, Australia
Kevin Pimbblet, University of Hull

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

3-2014

Department

Physics and Astronomy

Abstract

Based on data from the Galaxy and Mass Assembly (GAMA) survey, we report on the discovery of structures that we refer to as ‘tendrils’ of galaxies: coherent, thin chains of galaxies that are rooted in filaments and terminate in neighbouring filaments or voids. On average, tendrils contain six galaxies and span 10 h−1 Mpc. We use the so-called line correlation function to prove that tendrils represent real structures rather than accidental alignments. We show that voids found in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, 7th data release survey that overlap with GAMA regions contain a large number of galaxies, primarily belonging to tendrils. This implies that void sizes are strongly dependent on the number density and sensitivity limits of a survey. We caution that galaxies in low-density regions, which may be defined as ‘void galaxies,’ will have local galaxy number densities that depend on such observational limits and are likely higher than those can be directly measured.

Comments

This article has been accepted for publication in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society Copyright: 2014. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Royal Astronomical Society. All rights reserved.

https://doi.org/10.1093/mnrasl/slu019

Original Publication Information

Alpaslan, Mehmet, et al. "Galaxy and Mass Assembly (GAMA): Fine Filaments of Galaxies Detected Within Voids." 2014. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society 440(1): L106-L110.

ThinkIR Citation

Alpaslan, Mehmet; Robotham, Aaron S. G.; Obreschkow, Danail; Penny, Samantha; Driver, Simon; Norberg, Peder; Brough, Sarah; Brown, Michael; Cluver, Michelle; Holwerda, Benne W.; Hopkins, Andrew M.; van Kampen, Eelco; Kelvin, Lee S.; Lara-Lopez, Maritza A.; Liske, Jochen; Loveday, Jon; Mahajan, Smriti; and Pimbblet, Kevin, "Galaxy and Mass Assembly (GAMA) : fine filaments of galaxies detected within voids." (2014). Faculty and Staff Scholarship. 206.
https://ir.library.louisville.edu/faculty/206

DOI

10.1093/mnrasl/slu019