Measurement of the Spatial Cross-Correlation Function of Damped Lyα Systems and Lyman Break Galaxies

Abstract

We present the first spectroscopic measurement of the spatial cross-correlation function between damped Lyα systems (DLAs) and Lyman break galaxies (LBGs). Analysis of deep u'BVRI imaging of nine QSO fields with 11 known z~3 DLAs has spectroscopically confirmed 211 z>2 LBGs to R=25.5. We find strong evidence for an overdensity of LBGs near DLAs versus random, the results of which are similar to that of LBGs near other LBGs. A maximum likelihood cross-correlation analysis finds the best-fit value for the correlation length to be r0=2.9+1.4-1.5 h-1 Mpc using a fixed value of γ=1.6. The implications of the DLA-LBG clustering amplitude on the average dark matter halo mass of DLAs are discussed.