Paper detail

Multifractal analysis and lacunarity spectrum of the galaxies of the ninth Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) data release

In this work, we develop a statistical analysis of the large-scale clustering of matter in the Universe from the fractal point of view using galaxies from the Ninth Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) Data Release (DR9). From the total set of galaxies, a magnitude-limited sample of galaxies with redshifts in the range 0 < z < 0.15 was created. The sample covers the largest completely connected area of the celestial sphere within the catalogue, with limits in right ascension from 120 to 240 degrees and declination from 0 to 60 degrees, which is a region that includes the largest galactic samples that have been studied from the fractal viewpoint to date. The sample contains 164,168 galaxies. Using the sliding-window technique, the multifractal dimension spectrum and its dependence on radial distance are determined. This generalisation of the concept of fractal dimension is used to analyse large-scale clustering of matter in complex systems. Likewise, the lacunarity spectrum, which is a quantity that complements the characterisation of a fractal set by quantifying how the set fills the space in which it is embedded, is determined. Using these statistical tools, we find that the clustering of galaxies exhibits fractal behaviour that depends on the radial distance for all calculated quantities. A transition to homogeneity is not observed in the calculation of the fractal dimension of galaxies; instead, the galaxies exhibit a multifractal behaviour whose dimensional spectrum does not exceed the physical spatial dimension for radial distances up to 180 Mpc/h from each centre within the sample. Our results and their implications are discussed in the context of the formation of large-scale structures in the Universe.