2015A&A...583A.128D

We investigate the evolution of galaxy clustering for galaxies in the redshift range 2.0<z<5.0 using the VIMOS Ultra Deep Survey (VUDS). We present the projected (real-space) two-point correlation function w_p(r_p) measured by using 3022 galaxies with robust spectroscopic redshifts in two independent fields (COSMOS and VVDS-02h) covering in total 0.8deg². We quantify how the scale dependent clustering amplitude r₀ changes with redshift making use of mock samples to evaluate and correct the survey selection function. Using a power-law model ξ(r)=(r/r₀)^–γ we find that the correlation function for the general population is best fit by a model with a clustering length r₀=3.95^+0.48_–0.54 h^–1Mpc and slope γ=1.8^+0.02_–0.06 at z∼2.5, r₀=4.35±0.60 h^–1Mpc and γ=1.6^+0.12_–0.13 at z∼3.5. We use these clustering parameters to derive the large-scale linear galaxy bias b_L^PL, between galaxies and dark matter. We find b_L^PL=2.68±0.22 at redshift z∼3 (assuming σ₈=0.8), significantly higher than found at intermediate and low redshifts for the similarly general galaxy populations. We fit a halo occupation distribution (HOD) model to the data and we obtain that the average halo mass at redshift z∼3 is M_h=10^11.75±0.23h^–1M_☉. From this fit we confirm that the large-scale linear galaxy bias is relatively high at b_L^HOD=2.82±0.27. Comparing these measurements with similar measurements at lower redshifts we infer that the star-forming population of galaxies at z∼3 should evolve into the massive and bright (M_r←21.5) galaxy population, which typically occupy haloes of mass <M_h≥ 10^13.9h^–1M_☉ at redshift z=0.