Journal
ASTROPHYSICAL JOURNAL SUPPLEMENT SERIES
Volume 197, Issue 2, Pages -Publisher
IOP PUBLISHING LTD
DOI: 10.1088/0067-0049/197/2/30
Keywords
methods: data analysis; methods: numerical
Categories
Funding
- NSF [AST-0708087]
- Fermilab
- Kavli Institute for Cosmological Physics
- University of Chicago
- Direct For Mathematical & Physical Scien
- Division Of Astronomical Sciences [0908063] Funding Source: National Science Foundation
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A basic property of objects, such as galaxies and halos that form in cosmological structure formation simulations, is their shape. Here, we critically investigate shape determination methods that are commonly used in the literature. It is found that using an enclosed integration volume and weight factors r(-2) and r(ell)(-2) (elliptical radius) for the contribution of each particle or volume element in the shape tensor leads to biased axis ratios and smoothing of details when calculating the local shape as a function of distance from the center. To determine the local shape of matter distributions as a function of distance for well-resolved objects (typically more than O(10(4)) particles), we advocate a method that (1) uses an ellipsoidal shell (homoeoid) as an integration volume without any weight factors in the shape tensor and (2) removes subhalos.
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