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Abstract We investigate the environmental dependence of galaxy properties atz ∼ 2.5 using the LyαTomography IMACS Survey (LATIS), which provides high-resolution three-dimensional maps of intergalactic medium (IGM) overdensity via Lyαforest tomography. Our analysis focuses on a UV-selected spectroscopic sample of 2185 galaxies from LATIS and a complementary set of 1157 galaxies from heterogeneous spectroscopic surveys in the COSMOS field. We compare these data sets to forward-modeled mock catalogs constructed from the IllustrisTNG300-1 simulation, incorporating realistic selection functions to match both LATIS and the literature sample. While the mass-complete simulation predicts strong environmental trends—more massive and quiescent galaxies preferentially occupy overdense regions—we find that such trends are significantly weaker or absent in the observed samples. The LATIS galaxies show no measurable correlation between specific star formation rate (sSFR) and IGM overdensity, a result reproduced by LATIS-like mock catalogs, confirming that UV selection systematically excludes passive and dusty galaxies in dense environments. The literature compilation, despite improved high-mass coverage, remains incomplete and affected by similar biases. We also analyze a mass-complete photometric sample from the COSMOS-Web catalog atz ∼ 2.5 and find no detectable sSFR–environment relation, a null result that our simulations indicate can be explained by photometric redshift uncertainties. In particular, we find no evidence for a reversal of the sSFR–density relation at cosmic noon. These results demonstrate that observed correlations can be heavily shaped by selection effects and caution against inferring physical trends from incomplete spectroscopic samples. Deeper, more representative spectroscopic surveys are needed to robustly characterize environmental effects at this epoch.
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LATIS: Constraints on the Galaxy–Halo Connection at z ∼ 2.5 from Galaxy–Galaxy and Galaxy–Lyα Clustering
Abstract The connection between galaxies and dark matter halos is often quantified using the stellar mass–halo mass (SMHM) relation. Optical and near-infrared imaging surveys have led to a broadly consistent picture of the evolving SMHM relation based on measurements of galaxy abundances and angular correlation functions. Spectroscopic surveys atz≳ 2 can also constrain the SMHM relation via the galaxy autocorrelation function and through the cross-correlation between galaxies and Lyαabsorption measured in transverse sight lines; however, such studies are very few and have produced some unexpected or inconclusive results. We use ∼3000 spectra ofz∼ 2.5 galaxies from the LyαTomography IMACS Survey (LATIS) to measure the galaxy–galaxy and galaxy–Lyαcorrelation functions in four bins of stellar mass spanning 109.2≲M*/M⊙≲ 1010.5. Parallel analyses of the MultiDarkN-body and ASTRID hydrodynamic cosmological simulations allow us to model the correlation functions, estimate covariance matrices, and infer halo masses. We find that results of the two methods are mutually consistent and broadly accord with standard SMHM relations. This consistency demonstrates that we are able to measure and model Lyαtransmission fluctuationsδFin LATIS accurately. We also show that the galaxy–Lyαcross-correlation, a free by-product of optical spectroscopic galaxy surveys at these redshifts, can constrain halo masses with similar precision to galaxy–galaxy clustering.
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- PAR ID:
- 10485429
- Publisher / Repository:
- DOI PREFIX: 10.3847
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- The Astrophysical Journal
- Volume:
- 961
- Issue:
- 1
- ISSN:
- 0004-637X
- Format(s):
- Medium: X Size: Article No. 27
- Size(s):
- Article No. 27
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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