The spatial clustering of Mid-IR selected sources in the GOODS fields

We measure the projected correlation function w(r(p)) for z similar to 0.8 star forming galaxies selected at 24 mu m in the GOODS fields. The best fit correlation length and slope for the combined sample are r(0) similar to 4.1 +/- 0.4 h(-1) Mpc and gamma = 1.5 +/- 0.1, respectively. A larger correlation length is found for objects of higher luminosity, with Luminous Infrared Galaxies (LIRGS, L-IR > 10(11) L-circle dot) reaching r(0) similar to 5.2 h(-1) Mpc. This implies that galaxies with larger star formation rate are hosted in progressively more massive halos. We compared our measurements with the predictions from semi-analytic models based on the Millennium simulation. On scales of the GOODS fields, the real sources appear significantly more strongly clustered than objects in the Millennium mock catalogs, suggesting that star formation at z similar to 0.8 is being hosted in more massive halos and denser environments than currently predicted by galaxy formation models.