The effect of weak lensing on the angular correlation function of faint galaxies

The angular correlation function ο(θ) of faint galaxies is affected both by non-linear gravitational evolution and by magnification bias resulting from gravitational lensing. We compute the resulting ο(θ) for different cosmological models and show how its shape and redshift evolution depend on Ω and Λ. For galaxies at redshift greater than 1 ( R magnitude fainter than about 24), magnification bias can significantly enhance or suppress ο(θ), depending on the slope of the number–magnitude relation. We show, for example, how it changes the ratio of ο(θ) for two galaxy samples with different number count slopes.