Galaxy clustering in early Sloan Digital Sky Survey redshift data

We present the first measurements of clustering in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) galaxy redshift survey. Our sample consists of 29,300 galaxies with redshifts 5700 km s(-1) less than or equal to cz less than or equal to 39, 000 km s(-1), distributed in several long but narrow (2.degrees5-5degrees) segments, covering 690 deg(2). For the full, flux-limited sample, the redshift-space correlation length is approximately 8 h(-1) Mpc. The two-dimensional correlation function xi(r(p), pi) shows clear signatures of both the small-scale, "fingers-of-God" distortion caused by velocity dispersions in collapsed objects and the large-scale compression caused by coherent flows, though the latter cannot be measured with high precision in the present sample. The inferred real-space correlation function is well described by a power law, xi(r) = (r/6.1 +/- 0.2 h(-1) Mpc)(-1.75 +/- 0.03), for 0.1 h(-1) Mpc less than or equal to r less than or equal to 16 h(-1) Mpc. The galaxy pair-wise velocity dispersion is sigma(12) approximate to 600 +/- 100 km s(-1) for projected separations 0.15 h(-1) Mpc less than or equal to r(p) less than or equal to5 h(-1) Mpc. When we divide the sample by color, the red galaxies exhibit a stronger and steeper real-space correlation function and a higher pairwise velocity dispersion than do the blue galaxies. The relative behavior of subsamples defined by high/low profile concentration or high/low surface brightness is qualitatively similar to that of the red/blue subsamples. Our most striking result is a clear measurement of scale-independent luminosity bias at r less than or similar to 10 h(-1) Mpc: subsamples with absolute magnitude ranges centered on M-* - 1.5, M-*, and M-* + 1.5 have real-space correlation functions that are parallel power laws of slope approximate to -1.8 with correlation lengths of approximately 7.4, 6.3, and 4.7 h(-1) Mpc, respectively.