We investigate how different mid-infrared (mid-IR) properties of galaxies trace the environment in which the galaxies are located. For this purpose, we first study the dependence of galaxy clustering on the absolute magnitude at 3.4 μm and redshift. Then, we look into the correlation between various mid-IR properties and the environment. We also explore how various infrared galaxy luminosity selections influence the galaxy clustering measurements. We use a set of W1 (3.4 μm) absolute magnitude (MW1) selected samples from the Galaxy and Mass Assembly (GAMA) survey matched with mid-IR properties from the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) in the redshift range 0.07≤z<0.43. We compute the galaxy two-point correlation function (2pCF) and compare the clustering lengths between subsamples binned in MW1 and in redshift. We also measure the marked correlation functions (MCFs) using the luminosities in the WISE W1 to W4 (3.4 to 22 μm) bands. We also measure MCFs with different estimates of stellar mass and star formation rate used as marks and compare the results. Finally, we check how different selections applied to the sample affect the clustering measurements. We show strong clustering dependence on the W1 absolute magnitude: galaxies brighter in the W1 band are more strongly clustered than their fainter counterparts. We also observe a lack of significant redshift dependence of clustering in the redshift range 0.07≤z<0.43. We show that W1 and W2 bands closely follow the stellar mass and W3 and W4 bands closely follow the star formation rate in tracing the galaxy clustering. We demonstrate the agreement between different estimates of the stellar mass and the star formation rate in tracing the environment.
Reference:
Galaxy and Mass Assembly (GAMA): Mid-infrared properties as tracers of galaxy environment, U. Sureshkumar, A. Durkalec, A. Pollo, M. Bilicki, M. E. Cluver, S. Bellstedt, D. J. Farrow, J. Loveday, E. N. Taylor, J. Bland-Hawthorn, submitted to A&A, arXiv:2201.10480