The redshift evolution of clustering in the Hubble Deep Field

We present a correlation function analysis for the catalogue of photometric redshifts obtained from the Hubble Deep Field image by Fernandez-Soto, Lanzetta & Yahil. By dividing the catalogue into redshift bins of width Delta z = 0.4 we measured the angular correlation function w(theta) as a function of redshift up to z similar to 4.8. From these measurements we derive the trend of the correlation length r(0). We find that r(0)(z) is roughly constant with look-back time up to z similar or equal to 2, and then increases to higher values at z greater than or similar to 2.4. We estimate the values of r(0), assuming xi(r, z) = [r/r(0)(z)](-gamma), gamma = 1.8 and various geometries. For Ohm(0) = 1 we find r(0)(z = 3) similar or equal to 7.00 +/- 4.87 h(-1) MPc, in good agreement with the values obtained from analysis of the Lyman break galaxies.