How accurate is Limber's equation?

DOI10.1051/0004-6361:20066352zbMATH Open1130.85339arXivastro-ph/0609165OpenAlexW2156744463WikidataQ68855760 ScholiaQ68855760MaRDI QIDQ5435002FDOQ5435002

Authors:

Publication date: 14 January 2008

Published in: Astronomy & Astrophysics (Search for Journal in Brave)

Abstract: The so-called Limber equation is widely used in the literature to relate the projected angular clustering of galaxies to the spatial clustering of galaxies in an approximate way. This paper gives estimates of where the regime of applicability of Limber's equation stops. Limber's equation is accurate for small galaxy separations but breaks down beyond a certain separation that depends mainly on the ratio sigma/R and to some degree on the power-law index, gamma, of spatial clustering xi; sigma is the one-sigma width of the galaxy distribution in comoving distance, and R the mean comoving distance. As rule-of-thumb, a 10% relative error is reached at 260 sigma/R arcmin for gamma~1.6, if the spatial clustering is a power-law. More realistic xi are discussed in the paper. Limber's equation becomes increasingly inaccurate for larger angular separations. Ignoring this effect and blindly applying Limber's equation can possibly bias results for the inferred spatial correlation. It is suggested to use in cases of doubt, or maybe even in general, the exact equation that can easily be integrated numerically in the form given in the paper.

Full work available at URL: https://arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0609165

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Mathematics Subject Classification ID

Statistical astronomy (85A35) Astrophysical cosmology (85A40)

Cited In (6)

• A diffusion-based spatio-temporal extension of Gaussian Matérn fields
• Complete super-sample lensing covariance in the response approach
• The flat sky approximation to galaxy number counts
• Beyond Limber: efficient computation of angular power spectra for galaxy clustering and weak lensing
• Title not available (Why is that?)
• The effect of Limber and flat-sky approximations on galaxy weak lensing

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