* Astronomy

Title: The clustering of H-alpha emitters at z=2.23 from HiZELS
Authors: J. E. Geach (McGill), D. Sobral (Leiden), R. C. Hickox (Dartmouth), D. A. Wake (Yale), Ian Smail (Durham), P. N. Best (IfA, Edinburgh), C. M. Baugh (Durham), J. P. Stott (Durham)

We present a clustering analysis of 370 high-confidence H-alpha emitters (HAEs) at z=2.23. The HAEs are detected in the Hi-Z Emission Line Survey (HiZELS), a large-area blank field 2.121um narrowband survey using the United Kingdom Infrared Telescope (UKIRT) Wide Field Camera (WFCAM). Averaging the two-point correlation function of HAEs in two ~1 degree scale fields (United Kingdom Infrared Deep Sky Survey/Ultra Deep Survey [UDS] and Cosmological Evolution Survey [COSMOS] fields) we find a clustering amplitude equivalent to a correlation length of r_0=3.7±0.3 Mpc/h for galaxies with star formation rates of >7 solar masses/yr. The data are well-fitted by the expected correlation function of Cold Dark Matter, scaled by a bias factor: omega_HAE=b^2 omega_DM where b=2.4^{+0.1}_{-0.2}. The corresponding 'characteristic' mass for the halos hosting HAEs is log(M_h/[solar masses/h])=11.7±0.1. Comparing to the latest semi-analytic GALFORM predictions for the evolution of HAEs in a LCDM cosmology, we find broad agreement with the observations, with GALFORM predicting a HAE correlation length of ~4 Mpc/h. Motivated by this agreement, we exploit the simulations to construct a parametric model of the halo occupation distribution (HOD) of HAEs, and use this to fit the observed clustering. Our best-fitting HOD can adequately reproduce the observed angular clustering of HAEs, yielding an effective halo mass and bias in agreement with that derived from the scaled omega_DM fit, but with the relatively small sample size the current data provide a poor constraint on the HOD. Our results support the broad picture that 'typical' (~L*) star-forming galaxies have been hosted by dark matter haloes with M_h<10^12 solar masses/h since z~2, but with a broad occupation distribution and clustering that is likely to be a strong function of luminosity.

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