The matter distribution in the local Universe as derived from galaxy groups in SDSS DR12 and 2MRS

Abstract

Context. Friends-of-friends algorithms are a common tool to detect galaxy groups and clusters in large survey data. In order to be as precise as possible, they have to be carefully calibrated using mock catalogues. Aims. We create an accurate and robust description of the matter distribution in the local Universe using the most up-to-date available data. This will provide the input for a specific cosmological test planned as follow-up to this work, and will be useful for general extragalactic and cosmological research. Methods. We created a set of galaxy group catalogues based on the 2MRS and SDSS DR12 galaxy samples using a friends-of-friends based group finder algorithm. The algorithm was carefully calibrated and optimised on a new set of wide-angle mock catalogues from the Millennium simulation, in order to provide accurate total mass estimates of the galaxy groups taking into account the relevant observational biases in 2MRS and SDSS. Results. We provide four different catalogues ⋆ (i) a 2MRS based group catalogue; (ii) an SDSS DR12 based group catalogue reaching out to a redshift z = 0.11 with stellar mass estimates for 70% of the galaxies; (iii) a catalogue providing additional fundamental plane distances for all groups of the SDSS catalogue that host elliptical galaxies; (iv) a catalogue of the mass distribution in the local Universe based on a combination of our 2MRS and SDSS catalogues. Conclusions. While motivated by a specific cosmological test, three of the four catalogues that we produced are well suited to act as reference databases for a variety of extragalactic and cosmological science cases. Our catalogue of fundamental plane distances for SDSS groups provides further added value to this paper.

Neutral Hydrogen Observations of Low Surface Brightness Galaxies around M101 and NGC 5485

“…are shown as yellow circles. For reference, the open square shows the location of M101 in the foreground.The open grey circle centered on NGC 5485 has a radius of 300 kpc at its distance, representative of literature estimates for the virial radius of the corresponding group(Tully 2015;Saulder et al 2016;Karachentsev & Makarova 2019). of similar stellar mass, in line with theoretical expectations.…”

Searching for signs of jet-driven negative feedback in the nearby radio galaxy UGC 05771

“…We present our interpretation of our findings in Section 6 before summarising in Section 7. For the remainder of this paper, we assume a cosmology with H 0 = 70 km s −1 Mpc −1 , Ω M = 0.3, and Ω Λ = 0.7, and use the fundamental planederived angular diameter distance and luminosity distance estimates of Saulder et al (2016) (Table 1).…”

“…UGC 05771 is an early-type galaxy (ETG) with stellar mass M * = 10 11.27±0.10 M , and is the most massive galaxy in a three-member group, with the stellar mass of the other two galaxies ∼ 10 10 M (Saulder et al 2016). We summarise its properties in Table 1.…”

Bayesian group finder based on marked point processes

“…The first catalogue of groups based on a FoF was constructed by Crook et al (2007). In recent years, several new group catalogues for 2MRS have been constructed (Tully 2015b;Lu et al 2016;Saulder et al 2016;Tempel et al 2016a;Kourkchi & Tully 2017;Lim et al 2017). The 2MRS groups have been used in many studies, including the reconstruction of the local Universe via constrained simulations (Sorce & Tempel 2017, to measure the gas content of galaxy groups (Hess & Wilcots 2013), to analyse the galaxy properties in poor groups of galaxies (Tovmassian & Plionis 2009) or to measure the intergalactic medium in fossil galaxy groups (Miraghaei et al 2014).…”