Measurement of marked correlation functions in SDSS-III Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey using LOWZ galaxies in Data Release 12

Understand

Marked correlation functions, which are sensitive to the clustering of galaxies in different environments, have been proposed as constraints on modified gravity models.

• We present measurements of the marked correlation functions of galaxies in redshift space using 361,761 LOWZ ($z_{\rm eff} = 0.32$) galaxies from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey III (SDSS III) Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (BOSS) Data Release 12 (DR12) and compare them to $\Lambda$CDM+General Relativity simulations.
• We apply mass cuts to find the best match between the redshift space autocorrelation function of subhaloes in the simulation and in the observations.
• We then compare the marked correlation functions, finding no significant evidence for deviations of the marked correlation functions of LOWZ galaxies from $\Lambda$CDM on scales $6 \ h^{-1}$Mpc $ \leq s \leq$ $69 \ h^{-1}$Mpc.