Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Melbourne, School of Physics, 2005. / Typescript (photocopy). Includes bibliographical references (leaves [171]-185).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Ohio State University, 2004. / Title from first page of PDF file. Document formatted into pages; contains xix, 302 p. : ill. (some col.). Advisor: David H. Weinberg, Department of Astronomy. Includes bibliographical references (p. 291-302).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Ohio State University, 2004. / Title from first page of PDF file. Document formatted into pages; contains xiv, 86 p.; also includes graphics. Includes bibliographical references (p. 83-86).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Ohio State University, 2005. / Title from first page of PDF file. Document formatted into pages; contains xviii, 319 p.; also includes graphics. Includes bibliographical references (p. 310-319). Available online via OhioLINK's ETD Center

Cosmological constraints from galaxy surveys are as accurate as our understanding of the relative distributions of dark matter and galaxies, known as galaxy bias. Weak gravitational lensing is a powerful probe of galaxy bias, since the distortion in the shapes of distant galaxies, called shear, is directly related to the dark matter distribution, which can be compared to the galaxy field. I look at the galaxy clustering amplitude relative to the dark matter field, quantified by the galaxy bias b, as well as the cross-correlation coefficient r, which tells us how correlated the positions of galaxies are with the dark matter. In this thesis I present several techniques to constrain galaxy bias through weak lensing, using both numerical simulations and observational data. The most commonly used method, using aperture statistics, is shown to be subject to serious systematics in the presence of noisy data and scale- and time dependence in the galaxy bias. A local comparison technique is introduced, where the foreground distribution is used to predict the shear in the background, to which it is compared. The technique is tested with simulations, concluding that it requires high quality data. A model fitting approach is proposed, based on the McDonald (2006) galaxy bias model. The two parameters of this model, a large scale bias, b1, and a parameter, b2, that quantifies the scale dependence of the bias, are insufficient in the presence of stochasticity. Therefore, R is introduced as an additional parameter to take this into account. I present galaxy bias constraints for two spectroscopic galaxy samples: the Baryon Oscillations Spectroscopic Survey (BOSS) and the WiggleZ Dark Energy Survey (WiggleZ), applying the traditional aperture method and the model fitting approach to the Red Sequence Cluster Lensing Survey (RCSLenS). Both techniques strongly suggest that galaxies trace mass, but in a complicated way, with differences in scale- and time dependence between the samples considered. The WiggleZ galaxy bias is found to be around b ~ 1:2, depending on redshift and scale, and has a low cross-correlation coefficient of r ~ 0:5 at small scales. The BOSS samples have higher bias with scale dependence around b ~ 2:0 and show no sign of stochasticity, finding r to be close enough to unity to be explained within a deterministic scenario. The observations are in line with previous galaxy bias measurements from lensing data. The thesis incorporates work on the X-ray Luminosity Function (XLF) of galaxy clusters, measured from the Wide Angle ROSAT Pointed Survey (WARPS). Evolution is quantified with a likelihood analysis and I conclude that it is driven by a decreasing number density of high luminosity clusters with redshift, while the bulk of the cluster population remains nearly unchanged out to redshift z ~ 1:1, as expected in a low density Universe. I conclude by investigating the impact of my galaxy bias measurements from BOSS and WiggleZ on the growth rate of structure, as extracted from Redshift Space Distortions (RSD). The imperfect correlation between the galaxy and matter field, as quantified by R and b2, leads to an underestimation of the true growth rate under the assumption of a linear bias. Therefore, in order to constrain galaxy bias and gravity simultaneously, future cosmological redshift surveys require high quality lensing data.

Using data from the Next Generation Virgo Cluster Survey and high-resolution simulations of Virgo cluster-like halos, we determine the stellar-to-halo mass relation (SHMR) for subhalos, using the technique of abundance matching. The subhalo SHMR differs markedly from its field galaxy counterpart, regardless of how the subhalo mass is defined (mass at z = 0, mass at infall, or maximum mass while in the field). The slope of the relation at low mass (M⋆<10^10 Msun) is in all cases steeper than the same for the field. We find conflicting indicators of whether this difference in slope indicates an increasing or decreasing dark-to-stellar ratio; further modelling is required to reach a definitive conclusion. We also find evidence for the existence of a measurable age gradient in velocity, such that older subhalos have lower velocities than their younger peers. This opens the possibility that good quality redshifts of the lower mass galaxies of the Virgo cluster might provide additional constraints on the SHMR at high redshift and its evolution. Finally, we investigate the degree to which mergers, particularly major mergers, cause mixing of old and new material in halos, which has implications for the robustness of any implied radial age gradient. We find only a slight increase in mixing for major mergers over minor mergers, and little evidence for any large amount of mixing being induced by mergers of any ratio.

Using data from the Next Generation Virgo Cluster Survey and high-resolution simulations of Virgo cluster-like halos, we determine the stellar-to-halo mass relation (SHMR) for subhalos, using the technique of abundance matching. The subhalo SHMR differs markedly from its field galaxy counterpart, regardless of how the subhalo mass is defined (mass at z = 0, mass at infall, or maximum mass while in the field). The slope of the relation at low mass (M⋆<10^10 Msun) is in all cases steeper than the same for the field. We find conflicting indicators of whether this difference in slope indicates an increasing or decreasing dark-to-stellar ratio; further modelling is required to reach a definitive conclusion. We also find evidence for the existence of a measurable age gradient in velocity, such that older subhalos have lower velocities than their younger peers. This opens the possibility that good quality redshifts of the lower mass galaxies of the Virgo cluster might provide additional constraints on the SHMR at high redshift and its evolution. Finally, we investigate the degree to which mergers, particularly major mergers, cause mixing of old and new material in halos, which has implications for the robustness of any implied radial age gradient. We find only a slight increase in mixing for major mergers over minor mergers, and little evidence for any large amount of mixing being induced by mergers of any ratio.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Ohio State University, 2004. / Title from first page of PDF file. Document formatted into pages; contains xxi, 172 p.; also includes graphics (some col.) Includes bibliographical references (p. 162-172). Available online via OhioLINK's ETD Center

No description available.

We present new measures of the rotation curves of disc galaxies from z~0.2 to z~1.7, using deep exposures from both DEIMOS and LRIS spectrographs on the Keck telescopes in combination with multi-band imaging from the Hubble Space Telescope. We do this with a new modelling code, curvation, which has been optimised to extract the rotation velocity measurements from galaxies at intermediate and high redshift. To this end, we conduct a bulge-to-disc de-composition to allow us to de-project observed velocities to extract a model of the intrinsic rotation curve. We demonstrate the improved accuracy and precision of these measurements via a number of tests, but primarily in recovering an intrinsic scatter of the high redshift Tully-Fisher relation which is similar to that found locally. We show for the first time that the stellar mass Tully-Fisher relation is tightly in place at z~1, the normalisation of which has evolved less than 0.02±0.02 dex in stellar mass from z~1.7 to z~0.2. We do however see evidence for evolution in classic B-band Tully-Fisher relation, which is brighter at z~1 by 0.85±0.28 magnitudes than that at z~0.3. This trend is consistent with what was previously known about the evolving star-formation rates of disc galaxies. We then explore the potential drivers of these trends in the Tully-Fisher relation by estimating the baryonic and dark matter content of our galaxies. We also discover a surprising trend in the bulgeless disc galaxies at high redshift, which may be evolving differently from other rotationally supported galaxies. In the context of work which has been conducted at z~2, we discuss our results of a stellar mass Tully-Fisher relation which is strikingly similar over two-thirds of the age of the Universe.