A new observable of the large-scale structure: the position-dependent two-point correlation function
Observations of the large-scale structure, such as galaxy surveys, are one of the most important tools to study our universe. In particular, how the growth of structure is affected by the large-scale environment can be used to test our understanding of gravity, as well as the physics of inflation. A research group at MPA has recently developed a new technique to extract this signal more efficiently from real observations. Specifically, we divide a galaxy survey into sub-volumes, quantify the structure and the environment in each sub-volume, and measure the correlation between these two quantities. This technique thus opens a new avenue to critically test fundamental physics from real observations.