2016MNRAS.460..590F

We present new results on the auto- and cross-correlation functions of galaxies and O vi absorbers in a ∼18 Gpc^3 comoving volume at z < 1. We use a sample of 51 296 galaxies and 140 O vi absorbers in the column density range 13 <= log N <= 15 to measure two-point correlation functions in the two dimensions transverse and orthogonal to the line of sight ξ(r_[?], r_[?]). We furthermore infer the corresponding 'real-space' correlation functions, ξ(r), by projecting ξ(r_[?], r_[?]) along r_[?], and assuming a power-law form, ξ(r)=(r/r_0)^-γ. Comparing the results from the absorber-galaxy cross-correlation function, ξ_ag, the galaxy autocorrelation function, ξ_gg, and the absorber autocorrelation function, ξ_aa, we constrain the statistical connection between galaxies and the metal-enriched intergalactic medium as a function of star formation activity. We also compare these results to predictions from the eagle cosmological hydrodynamical simulation and find a reasonable agreement. We find that: (i) O vi absorbers show very little velocity dispersion with respect to galaxies on ∼ Mpc scales, likely <=100 km s^-1; (ii) O vi absorbers are less clustered, and potentially more extended around galaxies than galaxies are around themselves; (iii) on >=100 kpc scales, the likelihood of finding O vi absorbers around star-forming galaxies is similar to the likelihood of finding O vi absorbers around non-star-forming galaxies; and (iv) O vi absorbers are either not ubiquitous to galaxies in our sample, or their distribution around them is patchy on scales >=100 kpc (or both), at least for the column densities at which most are currently detected.