ON THE ANGULAR-CORRELATION FUNCTION OF FAINT GALAXIES

Predictions of the angular two-point correlation function of faint galaxies, that are consistent with N-body simulations of clustering evolution and with the redshift distribution of faint galaxies obtained when selection effects are taken into account, are presented for various model universes. We find that the clustering amplitude is not a monotonic function of the cosmological parameters, exhibiting a complicated dependence on the model universe. It is found that recent measurements of the small-scale angular correlation of faint galaxies are consistent with both a flat CDM-dominated universe and a flat vacuum-dominated universe. Increasing the bias and/or lowering OMEGA0, with a vanishing cosmological constant gives high clustering amplitudes in excess of the observed level, and these models are incompatible with the observations. The conclusion drawn by Efstathiou et al. (1991) that the gravitational clustering in a flat CDM universe conflicts with their data is not justified.