科研之友
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摘要
Accurate measures of galactic overdensities are invaluable for precision cosmology. Obtaining these measurements is complicated when members of one's galaxy sample lack radial depths, most commonly derived via spectroscopic redshifts. In this paper, we utilize the Sloan Digital Sky Survey's Main Galaxy Sample to compare seven methods of counting galaxies in cells when many of those galaxies lack redshifts. These methods fall into three categories: assigning galaxies discrete redshifts, scaling the numbers counted using regions' spectroscopic completeness properties, and employing probabilistic techniques. We split spectroscopically undersampled regions into three types-those inside the spectroscopic footprint, those outside but adjacent to it, and those distant from it. Through Monte Carlo simulations, we demonstrate that the preferred counting techniques are a function of region type, cell size, and redshift. We conclude by reporting optimal counting strategies under a variety of conditions.
