Clustering of emission line galaxies with IllustrisTNG -- II. cosmology challenge with anisotropic correlation functions and ELG-halo connections

Emission line galaxies (ELGs) are the primary tracers of the large-scale structures of the Universe in ongoing Stage-IV cosmological spectroscopic surveys, which aim to measure the clustering statistics at higher redshifts $z \simeq 1.5 \text{–} 2$ with unprecedented precision. In this study, we construct realistic mock ELG samples with IllustrisTNG hydrodynamical simulations and stellar population synthesis framework. In order to validate the modelling of clustering, we measure the anisotropic correlation functions of mock ELGs and infer the linear growth rate, which is one of key cosmological parameters in galaxy clustering. As a control sample, we construct the mass-limited subhalo samples with the same number density as ELGs. The isotropic correlation functions in real space for both samples do not differ significantly. However, the quadrupole moment of the anisotropic correlation function, which is sensitive to the velocity of galaxies, is suppressed for ELGs, potentially due to the infalling motion of ELGs towards the centre of the hosting halos. The smaller amplitude leads to the underestimation of the linear growth rate and implies the velocity bias between ELGs and dark matter. When the analysis is limited to large scales $(\gtrsim 15 , h^{-1} , \mathrm{Mpc})$, the parameter bias vanishes. Next, we investigate the ELG-halo connection through the phase-space distribution of satellite ELGs within hosting halos and galactic conformity of star formation activity. The infalling motion is further confirmed by the phase-space distribution relative to the host halo, and this dynamics of ELGs challenges the assumption that the radial distribution of satellites follows that of dark matter.

💡 Research Summary

This paper presents a comprehensive study of emission‑line galaxy (ELG) clustering using the IllustrisTNG hydrodynamical simulation suite combined with the stellar‑population synthesis code PÉGASE3. The authors first construct realistic mock ELG catalogs at redshift z = 1.5 by assigning H α and