Mapping stellar content to dark matter halos using galaxy clustering and galaxy-galaxy lensing in the SDSS DR7

Understand

The mapping between the distributions of the observed galaxy stellar mass and the underlying dark matter halos provides the crucial link from theories of large-scale structure formation to interpreting the complex phenomena of galaxy formation and evolution.

• We develop a novel statistical method, based on the Halo Occupation Distribution model (HOD), to solve for this mapping by jointly fitting the galaxy clustering and the galaxy-galaxy lensing measured from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS).
• The method, called the iHOD model, extracts maximum information from the survey by including ~80% more galaxies than the traditional HOD methods, and takes into account the incompleteness of the stellar mass samples in a statistically consistent manner.
• The derived stellar-to-halo mass relation not only explains the clustering and lensing of SDSS galaxies over almost four decades in stellar mass, but also successfully predicts the stellar mass functions observed in SDSS.