Correlation function (astronomy, $\xi (r)$)

The cosmological two-point correlation function measures excess pairing or correlated density fluctuations at a separation. For a statistically homogeneous and isotropic mean-zero density contrast, $\xi (r)=⟨\delta (\mathbf{x})\delta (\mathbf{x}+\mathbf{r})⟩$. For distinct points in a discrete galaxy population it instead specifies the factorial pair density, ${\bar{n}}^2[1+\xi (r)]$. The latter excludes self-pairs; an unsmoothed discrete-density covariance also contains a Dirac delta at zero separation. These definitions connect large-scale galaxy clustering with the matter power spectrum while keeping galaxy power spectrum shot noise separate.

For the Fourier transform convention ${\delta }_{\mathbf{k}}=\int d^{3}x\delta (\mathbf{x})e^{i\mathbf{k}\cdot \mathbf{x}}$ and covariance $⟨{\delta }_{\mathbf{k}}{\delta }_{{\mathbf{k}}^{\prime }}⟩=(2\pi {)}^{3}P(k){\delta }_D(\mathbf{k}+{\mathbf{k}}^{\prime })$, inversion gives $\xi (\mathbf{r})=\int d^{3}kP(k)e^{i\mathbf{k}\cdot \mathbf{r}}/(2\pi {)}^3$. Isotropy reduces the angular integral to $4\pi j_0(kr)$, where $j_0(x)=\sin x/x$ is the order-zero Spherical Bessel function. At zero separation this gives the variance if the spectrum integral converges. A nonnegative spectrum can produce negative correlations away from the origin.

For a homogeneous isotropic point process of galaxies with mean number density $\bar{n}$, the galaxy two-point correlation function gives the excess pair probability at distinct positions. Dividing the factorial pair density by the probability of a central galaxy gives conditional neighbouring-galaxy density $\bar{n}[1+\xi (r)]$. Choosing a central location uniformly in volume does not perform this conditioning.

The mean number of other galaxies within distance $R$ of a randomly chosen galaxy is the integral of its conditional number density. A random location instead has mean count $4\pi \bar{n}{R}^3/3$. For a power law $\xi (r)=(r_0/r{)}^{\gamma }$, the extra count is $4\pi \bar{n}{r}_0^{\gamma }{R}^{3-\gamma }/(3-\gamma )$ when $\gamma <3$. The central galaxy is excluded; including it adds one. This distinction matters even when the unconditional mean number density is spatially uniform.