Anisotropic Galaxy Clustering in the Isotropic Universe

Contemporary galaxy redshift surveys map out the distribution of galaxies in the universe in great detail.  The clustering of galaxies measured from such surveys has become a powerful probe of cosmology and galaxy formation and evolution.  I will talk about the anisotropic patterns in galaxy clustering and discuss what we can learn about cosmology and galaxy formation from such anisotropies. I will first focus on a case of anisotropic clustering with a gravitational origin (known as redshift-space distortion), and highlight our recent work on the relative kinematics between galaxies and dark matter halos inferred from such an effect with SDSS/SDSS-III data. Then I will move to a case of anisotropic clustering with a non-gravitational origin, which may arise due to radiative transfer effect for a population of high-redshift star-forming galaxies (known as Lyman-alpha emitting galaxies). The profound implications in cosmology and galaxy formation and the current observational status will be discussed.