lss_random

These files contain random points distributed with equal surface density across the area covered by the lss_geometry file (expressing the large-scale structure geometry) and outside the area covered by the lss_bsmask file (expressing the bright star mask).

A number of such files exist in the directory

$LSS_REDUX/sample/random

with names like

lss_random-#.sample.fits

Each file uses a different random seed.

The columns of this file are:

1. RA: right ascension, J2000, degrees
2. DEC: declination, J2000, degrees
3. ILSS: polygon in lss_geometry to which this point belongs (zero-indexed)
4. EBV: E(B-V) in the direction of this random point (from SFD dust map))

An ASCII version of the file under the name

lss_random-#.sample.dat

exists in the same directory. It has the four columns

[ra] [dec] [ilss] [ebv]

You should ignore all random points with ilss=-1 (which should never happen anyway).

A copy of these random catalogs also exists in the pre-redshift subsamples, in directories like:

$LSS_REDUX/sample/letter/random

with names like

lss_random-#.sampleletter.fits

This file has the columns:

1. RA: right ascension, J2000, degrees
2. DEC: declination, J2000, degrees
3. SECTOR: sector (as described in the tiling documentation) to which this point belongs
4. MREGION: the magnitude limit region (area of the sky with constant magnitude limit) to which this point belongs
5. FGOT: completeness of the sector
6. MMAX: faint magnitude limit of the mregion

These files do NOT have the completeness FGOT applied yet, so before you use them you need to use the magnitude limit to assign a random redshift in the range you are interested in (accounting, of course, for the fact that the surface density is greater in regions with fainter magnitude limits), and then apply the completeness fraction FGOT.

An ASCII version of the file under the name

lss_random-#.sampleletter.dat

exists in the same directory. It has the columns

[ra] [dec] [sector] [mregion] [fgot] [mmax]

NYU Value-Added Galaxy Catalog

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