The large-scale space distribution of emission-line galaxies.

In a series of four papers we investigate the utility of surveys of emission-line galaxies (ELG's) as an efficient means of studying the space distribution of galaxies on scales between 50h$\sp{-1}$Mpc and 500h$\sp{-1}$Mpc. We describe the motivation for, and execution of, a narrow-band filter survey for ELG's. The initial survey results are encouraging, with 32 candidate ELG's being detected within a region of 0.25 square degrees. A fast focal-reducing camera, capable of imaging a 20$\sp\prime$ x 20$\sp\prime$ field onto a TI 800 x 800 CCD on the McGraw-Hill 1.3 meter telescope, was built to improve the efficiency of this survey. The design, construction, and testing of this instrument is discussed. Using newly discovered ELG's from the IRAS Faint Source Survey, we examine their integral and diferential counts in an attempt to detect the galaxy underdensity caused by the Bootes Void. Finding the results ambiguous, we began a redshift survey of IRAS Faint Source Survey galaxies in the Bootes Void. From this survey, we have determined the density contrast of the Bootes Void to be $\rho\sb{void\/}/$ $$ = 0.36 $\pm$ 0.08. The fact that the Bootes Void continues to have such a large deficit of galaxies when examined with a filled survey, presents problems for the currently popular Cold Dark Matter cosmogonical model, both in its unbiased and biased forms. In addition, the presence of a sizable population of galaxies in the Bootes Void adds additional weight to the argument that galaxies are biased tracers of the mass distribution, and that some types of galaxies (e.g. optically selected galaxies) are more biased than others (e.g. IRAS galaxies).Ph.D.AstronomyOpticsPure SciencesUniversity of Michigan, Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studieshttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/128472/2/9023505.pd