Galaxy Zoo: the large-scale spin statistics of spiral galaxies in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey

Kate Land; Anze Slosar; Chris J. Lintott; Dan Andreescu; Steven P. Bamford; Phil Murray; Bob Nichol; M. Jordan Raddick; Kevin Schawinski; Alexander S. Szalay; Daniel Georg Thomas; Jan Vandenberg

doi:10.1111/j.1365-2966.2008.13490.x

Galaxy Zoo: the large-scale spin statistics of spiral galaxies in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey

Kate Land, Anze Slosar, Chris J. Lintott, Dan Andreescu, Steven P. Bamford, Phil Murray, Bob Nichol, M. Jordan Raddick, Kevin Schawinski, Alexander S. Szalay, Daniel Georg Thomas, Jan Vandenberg

Institute of Cosmology & Gravitation

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Abstract

We re-examine the evidence for a violation of large-scale statistical isotropy in the distribution of projected spin vectors of spiral galaxies. We have a sample of ∼37 000 spiral galaxies from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, with their line of sight spin direction confidently classified by members of the public through the online project Galaxy Zoo. After establishing and correcting for a certain level of bias in our handedness results we find the winding sense of the galaxies to be consistent with statistical isotropy. In particular, we find no significant dipole signal, and thus no evidence for overall preferred handedness of the Universe. We compare this result to those of other authors and conclude that these may also be affected and explained by a bias effect.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	1686-1692
Number of pages	7
Journal	Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Volume	388
Issue number	4
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2966.2008.13490.x
Publication status	Published - 2008

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0803.3247v4.pdf

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Land, K., Slosar, A., Lintott, C. J., Andreescu, D., Bamford, S. P., Murray, P., Nichol, B., Raddick, M. J., Schawinski, K., Szalay, A. S., Thomas, D. G., & Vandenberg, J. (2008). Galaxy Zoo: the large-scale spin statistics of spiral galaxies in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 388(4), 1686-1692. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2966.2008.13490.x

@article{a595f06a635949f9b2ba0e2a9e5b0b9c,

title = "Galaxy Zoo: the large-scale spin statistics of spiral galaxies in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey",

abstract = "We re-examine the evidence for a violation of large-scale statistical isotropy in the distribution of projected spin vectors of spiral galaxies. We have a sample of ∼37 000 spiral galaxies from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, with their line of sight spin direction confidently classified by members of the public through the online project Galaxy Zoo. After establishing and correcting for a certain level of bias in our handedness results we find the winding sense of the galaxies to be consistent with statistical isotropy. In particular, we find no significant dipole signal, and thus no evidence for overall preferred handedness of the Universe. We compare this result to those of other authors and conclude that these may also be affected and explained by a bias effect.",

author = "Kate Land and Anze Slosar and Lintott, {Chris J.} and Dan Andreescu and Bamford, {Steven P.} and Phil Murray and Bob Nichol and Raddick, {M. Jordan} and Kevin Schawinski and Szalay, {Alexander S.} and Thomas, {Daniel Georg} and Jan Vandenberg",

year = "2008",

doi = "10.1111/j.1365-2966.2008.13490.x",

language = "English",

volume = "388",

pages = "1686--1692",

journal = "Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society",

issn = "0035-8711",

publisher = "Oxford University Press",

number = "4",

}

Land, K, Slosar, A, Lintott, CJ, Andreescu, D, Bamford, SP, Murray, P, Nichol, B, Raddick, MJ, Schawinski, K, Szalay, AS, Thomas, DG & Vandenberg, J 2008, 'Galaxy Zoo: the large-scale spin statistics of spiral galaxies in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey', Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, vol. 388, no. 4, pp. 1686-1692. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2966.2008.13490.x

TY - JOUR

T1 - Galaxy Zoo: the large-scale spin statistics of spiral galaxies in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey

AU - Land, Kate

AU - Slosar, Anze

AU - Lintott, Chris J.

AU - Andreescu, Dan

AU - Bamford, Steven P.

AU - Murray, Phil

AU - Nichol, Bob

AU - Raddick, M. Jordan

AU - Schawinski, Kevin

AU - Szalay, Alexander S.

AU - Thomas, Daniel Georg

AU - Vandenberg, Jan

PY - 2008

Y1 - 2008

N2 - We re-examine the evidence for a violation of large-scale statistical isotropy in the distribution of projected spin vectors of spiral galaxies. We have a sample of ∼37 000 spiral galaxies from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, with their line of sight spin direction confidently classified by members of the public through the online project Galaxy Zoo. After establishing and correcting for a certain level of bias in our handedness results we find the winding sense of the galaxies to be consistent with statistical isotropy. In particular, we find no significant dipole signal, and thus no evidence for overall preferred handedness of the Universe. We compare this result to those of other authors and conclude that these may also be affected and explained by a bias effect.

AB - We re-examine the evidence for a violation of large-scale statistical isotropy in the distribution of projected spin vectors of spiral galaxies. We have a sample of ∼37 000 spiral galaxies from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, with their line of sight spin direction confidently classified by members of the public through the online project Galaxy Zoo. After establishing and correcting for a certain level of bias in our handedness results we find the winding sense of the galaxies to be consistent with statistical isotropy. In particular, we find no significant dipole signal, and thus no evidence for overall preferred handedness of the Universe. We compare this result to those of other authors and conclude that these may also be affected and explained by a bias effect.

U2 - 10.1111/j.1365-2966.2008.13490.x

DO - 10.1111/j.1365-2966.2008.13490.x

M3 - Article

SN - 0035-8711

VL - 388

SP - 1686

EP - 1692

JO - Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

JF - Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

IS - 4

ER -

Galaxy Zoo: the large-scale spin statistics of spiral galaxies in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey

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