arXiv subjects

A. Benoit-Lévy

Publications and source records attributed to A. Benoit-Lévy.

At least 55 records · Page 3Linked to original sources

arXiv2017

Farthest Neighbor: The Distant Milky Way Satellite Eridanus II

We present Magellan/IMACS spectroscopy of the recently-discovered Milky Way satellite Eridanus II (Eri II). We identify 28 member stars in Eri II, from which we measure a systemic radial velocity of $v_{\rm hel} = 75.6 \pm 1.3~\mbox{(stat.)} \pm 2.0~\mbox{(sys.)}~\mathrm{km\,s^{-1}}$ and a velocity dispersion of $6.9^{+1.2}_{-0.9}~\mathrm{km\,s^{-1}}$. Assuming that Eri~II is a dispersion-supported system in dynamical equilibrium, we derive a mass within the half-light radius of Eri II is $1.2^{+0.4}_{-0.3} \times 10^{7}~\mathrm{M_\odot}$, indicating a mass-to-light ratio of $420^{+210}_{-140}~\mathrm{M_\odot}/\mathrm{L_\odot}$ and confirming that it is a dark matter-dominated dwarf galaxy. From the equivalent width measurements of the CaT lines of 16 red giant member stars, we derive a mean metallicity of ${\rm [Fe/H]} = -2.38 \pm 0.13$ and a metallicity dispersion of $σ_{\rm [Fe/H]} = 0.47 ^{+0.12}_{-0.09}$. The velocity of Eri II in the Galactic Standard of Rest frame is $v_{\rm GSR} = -66.6~\mathrm{km\,s^{-1}}$, indicating that either Eri II is falling into the Milky Way potential for the first time or it has passed the apocenter of its orbit on a subsequent passage. At a Galactocentric distance of $\sim$370 kpc, Eri II is one of the Milky Way's most distant satellites known. Additionally, we show that the bright blue stars previously suggested to be a young stellar population are not associated with Eri II. The lack of gas and recent star formation in Eri II is surprising given its mass and distance from the Milky Way, and may place constraints on models of quenching in dwarf galaxies and on the distribution of hot gas in the Milky Way halo. Furthermore, the large velocity dispersion of Eri II can be combined with the existence of a central star cluster to constrain MACHO dark matter with mass $\gtrsim10~\mathrm{M_\odot}$.

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arXiv2017

Models of the strongly lensed quasar DES J0408-5354

We present gravitational lens models of the multiply imaged quasar DES J0408-5354, recently discovered in the Dark Energy Survey (DES) footprint, with the aim of interpreting its remarkable quad-like configuration. We first model the DES single-epoch $grizY$ images as a superposition of a lens galaxy and four point-like objects, obtaining spectral energy distributions (SEDs) and relative positions for the objects. Three of the point sources (A,B,D) have SEDs compatible with the discovery quasar spectra, while the faintest point-like image (G2/C) shows significant reddening and a `grey' dimming of $\approx0.8$mag. In order to understand the lens configuration, we fit different models to the relative positions of A,B,D. Models with just a single deflector predict a fourth image at the location of G2/C but considerably brighter and bluer. The addition of a small satellite galaxy ($R_{\rm E}\approx0.2$") in the lens plane near the position of G2/C suppresses the flux of the fourth image and can explain both the reddening and grey dimming. All models predict a main deflector with Einstein radius between $1.7"$ and $2.0",$ velocity dispersion $267-280$km/s and enclosed mass $\approx 6\times10^{11}M_{\odot},$ even though higher resolution imaging data are needed to break residual degeneracies in model parameters. The longest time-delay (B-A) is estimated as $\approx 85$ (resp. $\approx125$) days by models with (resp. without) a perturber near G2/C. The configuration and predicted time-delays of J0408-5354 make it an excellent target for follow-up aimed at understanding the source quasar host galaxy and substructure in the lens, and measuring cosmological parameters. We also discuss some lessons learnt from J0408-5354 on lensed quasar finding strategies, due to its chromaticity and morphology.

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arXiv2017

Discovery of the Lensed Quasar System DES J0408-5354

We report the discovery and spectroscopic confirmation of the quad-like lensed quasar system DES J0408-5354 found in the Dark Energy Survey (DES) Year 1 (Y1) data. This system was discovered during a search for DES Y1 strong lensing systems using a method that identified candidates as red galaxies with multiple blue neighbors. DES J0408-5354 consists of a central red galaxy surrounded by three bright (i < 20) blue objects and a fourth red object. Subsequent spectroscopic observations using the Gemini South telescope confirmed that the three blue objects are indeed the lensed images of a quasar with redshift z = 2.375, and that the central red object is an early-type lensing galaxy with redshift z = 0.597. DES J0408-5354 is the first quad lensed quasar system to be found in DES and begins to demonstrate the potential of DES to discover and dramatically increase the sample size of these very rare objects.

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arXiv2017

Environmental dependence of the galaxy stellar mass function in the Dark Energy Survey Science Verification Data

Measurements of the galaxy stellar mass function are crucial to understand the formation of galaxies in the Universe. In a hierarchical clustering paradigm it is plausible that there is a connection between the properties of galaxies and their environments. Evidence for environmental trends has been established in the local Universe. The Dark Energy Survey (DES) provides large photometric datasets that enable further investigation of the assembly of mass. In this study we use ~3.2 million galaxies from the (South Pole Telescope) SPT-East field in the DES science verification (SV) dataset. From grizY photometry we derive galaxy stellar masses and absolute magnitudes, and determine the errors on these properties using Monte-Carlo simulations using the full photometric redshift probability distributions. We compute galaxy environments using a fixed conical aperture for a range of scales. We construct galaxy environment probability distribution functions and investigate the dependence of the environment errors on the aperture parameters. We compute the environment components of the galaxy stellar mass function for the redshift range 0.15<z<1.05. For z<0.75 we find that the fraction of massive galaxies is larger in high density environment than in low density environments. We show that the low density and high density components converge with increasing redshift up to z~1.0 where the shapes of the mass function components are indistinguishable. Our study shows how high density structures build up around massive galaxies through cosmic time.

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arXiv2016

Galaxy-Galaxy Lensing in the DES Science Verification Data

We present galaxy-galaxy lensing results from 139 square degrees of Dark Energy Survey (DES) Science Verification (SV) data. Our lens sample consists of red galaxies, known as redMaGiC, which are specifically selected to have a low photometric redshift error and outlier rate. The lensing measurement has a total signal-to-noise of 29 over scales $0.09 < R < 15$ Mpc/$h$, including all lenses over a wide redshift range $0.2 < z < 0.8$. Dividing the lenses into three redshift bins for this constant moving number density sample, we find no evidence for evolution in the halo mass with redshift. We obtain consistent results for the lensing measurement with two independent shear pipelines, ngmix and im3shape. We perform a number of null tests on the shear and photometric redshift catalogs and quantify resulting systematic uncertainties. Covariances from jackknife subsamples of the data are validated with a suite of 50 mock surveys. The results and systematics checks in this work provide a critical input for future cosmological and galaxy evolution studies with the DES data and redMaGiC galaxy samples. We fit a Halo Occupation Distribution (HOD) model, and demonstrate that our data constrains the mean halo mass of the lens galaxies, despite strong degeneracies between individual HOD parameters.

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arXiv2016

Imprint of DES super-structures on the Cosmic Microwave Background

Small temperature anisotropies in the Cosmic Microwave Background can be sourced by density perturbations via the late-time integrated Sachs-Wolfe effect. Large voids and superclusters are excellent environments to make a localized measurement of this tiny imprint. In some cases excess signals have been reported. We probed these claims with an independent data set, using the first year data of the Dark Energy Survey in a different footprint, and using a different super-structure finding strategy. We identified 52 large voids and 102 superclusters at redshifts $0.2 < z < 0.65$. We used the Jubilee simulation to a priori evaluate the optimal ISW measurement configuration for our compensated top-hat filtering technique, and then performed a stacking measurement of the CMB temperature field based on the DES data. For optimal configurations, we detected a cumulative cold imprint of voids with $ΔT_{f} \approx -5.0\pm3.7~μK$ and a hot imprint of superclusters $ΔT_{f} \approx 5.1\pm3.2~μK$ ; this is $\sim1.2σ$ higher than the expected $|ΔT_{f}| \approx 0.6~μK$ imprint of such super-structures in $Λ$CDM. If we instead use an a posteriori selected filter size ($R/R_{v}=0.6$), we can find a temperature decrement as large as $ΔT_{f} \approx -9.8\pm4.7~μK$ for voids, which is $\sim2σ$ above $Λ$CDM expectations and is comparable to previous measurements made using SDSS super-structure data.

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arXiv2016

Cosmic Voids and Void Lensing in the Dark Energy Survey Science Verification Data

Galaxies and their dark matter halos populate a complicated filamentary network around large, nearly empty regions known as cosmic voids. Cosmic voids are usually identified in spectroscopic galaxy surveys, where 3D information about the large-scale structure of the Universe is available. Although an increasing amount of photometric data is being produced, its potential for void studies is limited since photometric redshifts induce line-of-sight position errors of $\sim50$ Mpc/$h$ or more that can render many voids undetectable. In this paper we present a new void finder designed for photometric surveys, validate it using simulations, and apply it to the high-quality photo-$z$ redMaGiC galaxy sample of the Dark Energy Survey Science Verification (DES-SV) data. The algorithm works by projecting galaxies into 2D slices and finding voids in the smoothed 2D galaxy density field of the slice. Fixing the line-of-sight size of the slices to be at least twice the photo-$z$ scatter, the number of voids found in these projected slices of simulated spectroscopic and photometric galaxy catalogs is within 20% for all transverse void sizes, and indistinguishable for the largest voids of radius $\sim 70$ Mpc/$h$ and larger. The positions, radii, and projected galaxy profiles of photometric voids also accurately match the spectroscopic void sample. Applying the algorithm to the DES-SV data in the redshift range $0.2<z<0.8$, we identify 87 voids with comoving radii spanning the range 18-120 Mpc/$h$, and carry out a stacked weak lensing measurement. With a significance of $4.4σ$, the lensing measurement confirms the voids are truly underdense in the matter field and hence not a product of Poisson noise, tracer density effects or systematics in the data. It also demonstrates, for the first time in real data, the viability of void lensing studies in photometric surveys.

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arXiv2016

Planck intermediate results. XLI. A map of lensing-induced B-modes

The secondary cosmic microwave background (CMB) $B$-modes stem from the post-decoupling distortion of the polarization $E$-modes due to the gravitational lensing effect of large-scale structures. These lensing-induced $B$-modes constitute both a valuable probe of the dark matter distribution and an important contaminant for the extraction of the primary CMB $B$-modes from inflation. Planck provides accurate nearly all-sky measurements of both the polarization $E$-modes and the integrated mass distribution via the reconstruction of the CMB lensing potential. By combining these two data products, we have produced an all-sky template map of the lensing-induced $B$-modes using a real-space algorithm that minimizes the impact of sky masks. The cross-correlation of this template with an observed (primordial and secondary) $B$-mode map can be used to measure the lensing $B$-mode power spectrum at multipoles up to $2000$. In particular, when cross-correlating with the $B$-mode contribution directly derived from the Planck polarization maps, we obtain lensing-induced $B$-mode power spectrum measurement at a significance level of $12\,σ$, which agrees with the theoretical expectation derived from the Planck best-fit $Λ$CDM model. This unique nearly all-sky secondary $B$-mode template, which includes the lensing-induced information from intermediate to small ($10\lesssim \ell\lesssim 1000$) angular scales, is delivered as part of the Planck 2015 public data release. It will be particularly useful for experiments searching for primordial $B$-modes, such as BICEP2/Keck Array or LiteBIRD, since it will enable an estimate to be made of the lensing-induced contribution to the measured total CMB $B$-modes.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2016

Planck 2015 results. XV. Gravitational lensing

We present the most significant measurement of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) lensing potential to date (at a level of 40 sigma), using temperature and polarization data from the Planck 2015 full-mission release. Using a polarization-only estimator we detect lensing at a significance of 5 sigma. We cross-check the accuracy of our measurement using the wide frequency coverage and complementarity of the temperature and polarization measurements. Public products based on this measurement include an estimate of the lensing potential over approximately 70% of the sky, an estimate of the lensing potential power spectrum in bandpowers for the multipole range 40<L<400 and an associated likelihood for cosmological parameter constraints. We find good agreement between our measurement of the lensing potential power spectrum and that found in the best-fitting LCDM model based on the Planck temperature and polarization power spectra. Using the lensing likelihood alone we obtain a percent-level measurement of the parameter combination $σ_8 Ω_m^{0.25} = 0.591\pm 0.021$. We combine our determination of the lensing potential with the E-mode polarization also measured by Planck to generate an estimate of the lensing B-mode. We show that this lensing B-mode estimate is correlated with the B-modes observed directly by Planck at the expected level and with a statistical significance of 10 sigma, confirming Planck's sensitivity to this known sky signal. We also correlate our lensing potential estimate with the large-scale temperature anisotropies, detecting a cross-correlation at the 3 sigma level, as expected due to dark energy in the concordance LCDM model.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2016

Comparing Dark Energy Survey and HST-CLASH observations of the galaxy cluster RXC J2248.7-4431: implications for stellar mass versus dark matter

We derive the stellar mass fraction in the galaxy cluster RXC J2248.7-4431 observed with the Dark Energy Survey (DES) during the Science Verification period. We compare the stellar mass results from DES (five filters) with those from the Hubble Space Telescope Cluster Lensing And Supernova Survey (CLASH; 17 filters). When the cluster spectroscopic redshift is assumed, we show that stellar masses from DES can be estimated within 25% of CLASH values. We compute the stellar mass contribution coming from red and blue galaxies, and study the relation between stellar mass and the underlying dark matter using weak lensing studies with DES and CLASH. An analysis of the radial profiles of the DES total and stellar mass yields a stellar-to-total fraction of f*=(6.8+-1.7)x10^-3 within a radius of r_200c~2 Mpc. Our analysis also includes a comparison of photometric redshifts and star/galaxy separation efficiency for both data sets. We conclude that space-based small field imaging can be used to calibrate the galaxy properties in DES for the much wider field of view. The technique developed to derive the stellar mass fraction in galaxy clusters can be applied to the ~100 000 clusters that will be observed within this survey and yield important information about galaxy evolution.

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arXiv2016

DESAlert: Enabling Real-Time Transient Follow-Up with Dark Energy Survey Data

The Dark Energy Survey (DES) is currently undertaking an observational program imaging $1/4$ of the southern hemisphere sky with unprecedented photometric accuracy. In the process of observing millions of faint stars and galaxies to constrain the parameters of the dark energy equation of state, the DES will obtain pre-discovery images of the regions surrounding an estimated 100 gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) over five years. Once GRBs are detected by, e.g., the Swift satellite, the DES data will be extremely useful for follow-up observations by the transient astronomy community. We describe a recently-commissioned suite of software that listens continuously for automated notices of GRB activity, collates useful information from archival DES data, and disseminates relevant data products back to the community in near-real-time. Of particular importance are the opportunities that non-public DES data provide for relative photometry of the optical counterparts of GRBs, as well as for identifying key characteristics (e.g., photometric redshifts) of potential GRB host galaxies. We provide the functional details of the DESAlert software as it presently operates, as well as the data products that it produces, and we show sample results from the application of DESAlert to several previously-detected GRBs.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2016

Inference from the small scales of cosmic shear with current and future Dark Energy Survey data

Cosmic shear is sensitive to fluctuations in the cosmological matter density field, including on small physical scales, where matter clustering is affected by baryonic physics in galaxies and galaxy clusters, such as star formation, supernovae feedback and AGN feedback. While muddying any cosmological information that is contained in small scale cosmic shear measurements, this does mean that cosmic shear has the potential to constrain baryonic physics and galaxy formation. We perform an analysis of the Dark Energy Survey (DES) Science Verification (SV) cosmic shear measurements, now extended to smaller scales, and using the Mead et al. 2015 halo model to account for baryonic feedback. While the SV data has limited statistical power, we demonstrate using a simulated likelihood analysis that the final DES data will have the statistical power to differentiate among baryonic feedback scenarios. We also explore some of the difficulties in interpreting the small scales in cosmic shear measurements, presenting estimates of the size of several other systematic effects that make inference from small scales difficult, including uncertainty in the modelling of intrinsic alignment on nonlinear scales, `lensing bias', and shape measurement selection effects. For the latter two, we make use of novel image simulations. While future cosmic shear datasets have the statistical power to constrain baryonic feedback scenarios, there are several systematic effects that require improved treatments, in order to make robust conclusions about baryonic feedback.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2016

Detection of the kinematic Sunyaev-Zel'dovich effect with DES Year 1 and SPT

We detect the kinematic Sunyaev-Zel'dovich (kSZ) effect with a statistical significance of $4.2 σ$ by combining a cluster catalogue derived from the first year data of the Dark Energy Survey (DES) with CMB temperature maps from the South Pole Telescope Sunyaev-Zel'dovich (SPT-SZ) Survey. This measurement is performed with a differential statistic that isolates the pairwise kSZ signal, providing the first detection of the large-scale, pairwise motion of clusters using redshifts derived from photometric data. By fitting the pairwise kSZ signal to a theoretical template we measure the average central optical depth of the cluster sample, $\barτ_e = (3.75 \pm 0.89)\cdot 10^{-3}$. We compare the extracted signal to realistic simulations and find good agreement with respect to the signal-to-noise, the constraint on $\barτ_e$, and the corresponding gas fraction. High-precision measurements of the pairwise kSZ signal with future data will be able to place constraints on the baryonic physics of galaxy clusters, and could be used to probe gravity on scales $ \gtrsim 100$ Mpc.

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arXiv2016

Planck 2015 results. XVII. Constraints on primordial non-Gaussianity

The Planck full mission cosmic microwave background(CMB) temperature and E-mode polarization maps are analysed to obtain constraints on primordial non-Gaussianity(NG). Using three classes of optimal bispectrum estimators - separable template-fitting (KSW), binned, and modal - we obtain consistent values for the local, equilateral, and orthogonal bispectrum amplitudes, quoting as our final result from temperature alone fNL^local=2.5+\-5.7, fNL^equil=-16+\-70 and fNL^ortho=-34+\-33(68%CL). Combining temperature and polarization data we obtain fNL^local=0.8+\-5.0, fNL^equil=-4+\-43 and fNL^ortho=-26+\-21 (68%CL). The results are based on cross-validation of these estimators on simulations, are stable across component separation techniques, pass an extensive suite of tests, and are consistent with Minkowski functionals based measurements. The effect of time-domain de-glitching systematics on the bispectrum is negligible. In spite of these test outcomes we conservatively label the results including polarization data as preliminary, owing to a known mismatch of the noise model in simulations and the data. Beyond fNL estimates, we present model-independent reconstructions of the CMB bispectrum and derive constraints on early universe scenarios that generate NG, including general single-field and axion inflation, initial state modifications, parity-violating tensor bispectra, and directionally dependent vector models. We also present a wide survey of scale-dependent oscillatory bispectra, and we look for isocurvature NG. Our constraint on the local primordial trispectrum amplitude is gNL^local=(-9.0+\-7.7)x10^4 (68%CL), and we perform an analysis of additional trispectrum shapes. The global picture is one of consistency with the premises of the LambdaCDM cosmology, namely that the structure we observe today was sourced by adiabatic, passive, Gaussian, and primordial seed perturbations.[abridged]

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2016

Planck 2015 results. XI. CMB power spectra, likelihoods, and robustness of parameters

This paper presents the Planck 2015 likelihoods, statistical descriptions of the 2-point correlations of CMB data, using the hybrid approach employed previously: pixel-based at $\ell<30$ and a Gaussian approximation to the distribution of spectra at higher $\ell$. The main improvements are the use of more and better processed data and of Planck polarization data, and more detailed foreground and instrumental models, allowing further checks and enhanced immunity to systematics. Progress in foreground modelling enables a larger sky fraction. Improvements in processing and instrumental models further reduce uncertainties. For temperature, we perform an analysis of end-to-end instrumental simulations fed into the data processing pipeline; this does not reveal biases from residual instrumental systematics. The $Λ$CDM cosmological model continues to offer a very good fit to Planck data. The slope of primordial scalar fluctuations, $n_s$, is confirmed smaller than unity at more than 5σ from Planck alone. We further validate robustness against specific extensions to the baseline cosmology. E.g., the effective number of neutrino species remains compatible with the canonical value of 3.046. This first detailed analysis of Planck polarization concentrates on E modes. At low $\ell$ we use temperature at all frequencies and a subset of polarization. The frequency range improves CMB-foreground separation. Within the baseline model this requires a reionization optical depth $τ=0.078\pm0.019$, significantly lower than without high-frequency data for explicit dust monitoring. At high $\ell$ we detect residual errors in E, typically O($μ$K$^2$); we recommend temperature alone as the high-$\ell$ baseline. Nevertheless, Planck high-$\ell$ polarization allows a separate determination of $Λ$CDM parameters consistent with those from temperature alone.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2016

Joint Measurement of Lensing-Galaxy Correlations Using SPT and DES SV Data

We measure the correlation of galaxy lensing and cosmic microwave background lensing with a set of galaxies expected to trace the matter density field. The measurements are performed using pre-survey Dark Energy Survey (DES) Science Verification optical imaging data and millimeter-wave data from the 2500 square degree South Pole Telescope Sunyaev-Zel'dovich (SPT-SZ) survey. The two lensing-galaxy correlations are jointly fit to extract constraints on cosmological parameters, constraints on the redshift distribution of the lens galaxies, and constraints on the absolute shear calibration of DES galaxy lensing measurements. We show that an attractive feature of these fits is that they are fairly insensitive to the clustering bias of the galaxies used as matter tracers. The measurement presented in this work confirms that DES and SPT data are consistent with each other and with the currently favored $Λ$CDM cosmological model. It also demonstrates that joint lensing-galaxy correlation measurement considered here contains a wealth of information that can be extracted using current and future surveys.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2016

SDSS-IV eBOSS emission-line galaxy pilot survey

The Sloan Digital Sky Survey IV extended Baryonic Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (SDSS-IV/eBOSS) will observe 195,000 emission-line galaxies (ELGs) to measure the Baryonic Acoustic Oscillation standard ruler (BAO) at redshift 0.9. To test different ELG selection algorithms, 9,000 spectra were observed with the SDSS spectrograph as a pilot survey based on data from several imaging surveys. First, using visual inspection and redshift quality flags, we show that the automated spectroscopic redshifts assigned by the pipeline meet the quality requirements for a reliable BAO measurement. We also show the correlations between sky emission, signal-to-noise ratio in the emission lines, and redshift error. Then we provide a detailed description of each target selection algorithm we tested and compare them with the requirements of the eBOSS experiment. As a result, we provide reliable redshift distributions for the different target selection schemes we tested. Finally, we determine an target selection algorithms that is best suited to be applied on DECam photometry because they fulfill the eBOSS survey efficiency requirements.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2016

Planck intermediate results. XLV. Radio spectra of northern extragalactic radio sources

Continuum spectra covering centimetre to submillimetre wavelengths are presented for a northern sample of 104 extragalactic radio sources, mainly active galactic nuclei, based on four-epoch Planck data. The nine Planck frequencies, from 30 to 857 GHz, are complemented by a set of simultaneous ground-based radio observations between 1.1 and 37 GHz. The single-survey Planck data confirm that the flattest high-frequency radio spectral indices are close to zero, indicating that the original accelerated electron energy spectrum is much harder than commonly thought, with power-law index around 1.5 instead of the canonical 2.5. The radio spectra peak at high frequencies and exhibit a variety of shapes. For a small set of low-z sources, we find a spectral upturn at high frequencies, indicating the presence of intrinsic cold dust. Variability can generally be approximated by achromatic variations, while sources with clear signatures of evolving shocks appear to be limited to the strongest outbursts.

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