arXiv subjects

A. Renzi

Publications and source records attributed to A. Renzi.

35 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

arXiv2023

Euclid preparation. XXX. Performance assessment of the NISP Red-Grism through spectroscopic simulations for the Wide and Deep surveys

This work focuses on the pilot run of a simulation campaign aimed at investigating the spectroscopic capabilities of the Euclid Near-Infrared Spectrometer and Photometer (NISP), in terms of continuum and emission line detection in the context of galaxy evolutionary studies. To this purpose we constructed, emulated, and analysed the spectra of 4992 star-forming galaxies at $0.3 \leq z \leq 2.5$ using the NISP pixel-level simulator. We built the spectral library starting from public multi-wavelength galaxy catalogues, with value-added information on spectral energy distribution (SED) fitting results, and from Bruzual and Charlot (2003) stellar population templates. Rest-frame optical and near-IR nebular emission lines were included using empirical and theoretical relations. We inferred the 3.5$σ$ NISP red grism spectroscopic detection limit of the continuum measured in the $H$ band for star-forming galaxies with a median disk half-light radius of \ang{;;0.4} at magnitude $H= 19.5\pm0.2\,$AB$\,$mag for the Euclid Wide Survey and at $H = 20.8\pm0.6\,$AB$\,$mag for the Euclid Deep Survey. We found a very good agreement with the red grism emission line detection limit requirement for the Wide and Deep surveys. We characterised the effect of the galaxy shape on the detection capability of the red grism and highlighted the degradation of the quality of the extracted spectra as the disk size increases. In particular, we found that the extracted emission line signal to noise ratio (SNR) drops by $\sim\,$45$\%$ when the disk size ranges from \ang{;;0.25} to \ang{;;1}. These trends lead to a correlation between the emission line SNR and the stellar mass of the galaxy and we demonstrate the effect in a stacking analysis unveiling emission lines otherwise too faint to detect.

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arXiv2023

Euclid Preparation. XXVIII. Forecasts for ten different higher-order weak lensing statistics

Recent cosmic shear studies have shown that higher-order statistics (HOS) developed by independent teams now outperform standard two-point estimators in terms of statistical precision thanks to their sensitivity to the non-Gaussian features of large-scale structure. The aim of the Higher-Order Weak Lensing Statistics (HOWLS) project is to assess, compare, and combine the constraining power of ten different HOS on a common set of $Euclid$-like mocks, derived from N-body simulations. In this first paper of the HOWLS series, we computed the nontomographic ($Ω_{\rm m}$, $σ_8$) Fisher information for the one-point probability distribution function, peak counts, Minkowski functionals, Betti numbers, persistent homology Betti numbers and heatmap, and scattering transform coefficients, and we compare them to the shear and convergence two-point correlation functions in the absence of any systematic bias. We also include forecasts for three implementations of higher-order moments, but these cannot be robustly interpreted as the Gaussian likelihood assumption breaks down for these statistics. Taken individually, we find that each HOS outperforms the two-point statistics by a factor of around two in the precision of the forecasts with some variations across statistics and cosmological parameters. When combining all the HOS, this increases to a $4.5$ times improvement, highlighting the immense potential of HOS for cosmic shear cosmological analyses with $Euclid$. The data used in this analysis are publicly released with the paper.

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arXiv2023

Euclid preparation. XXVII. A UV-NIR spectral atlas of compact planetary nebulae for wavelength calibration

The Euclid mission will conduct an extragalactic survey over 15000 deg$^2$ of the extragalactic sky. The spectroscopic channel of the Near-Infrared Spectrometer and Photometer (NISP) has a resolution of $R\sim450$ for its blue and red grisms that collectively cover the $0.93$--$1.89 $\micron;range. NISP will obtain spectroscopic redshifts for $3\times10^7$ galaxies for the experiments on galaxy clustering, baryonic acoustic oscillations, and redshift space distortion. The wavelength calibration must be accurate within $5$Åto avoid systematics in the redshifts and downstream cosmological parameters. The NISP pre-flight dispersion laws for the grisms were obtained on the ground using a Fabry-Perot etalon. Launch vibrations, zero gravity conditions, and thermal stabilisation may alter these dispersion laws, requiring an in-flight recalibration. To this end, we use the emission lines in the spectra of compact planetary nebulae (PNe), which were selected from a PN data base. To ensure completeness of the PN sample, we developed a novel technique to identify compact and strong line emitters in Gaia spectroscopic data using the Gaia spectra shape coefficients. We obtained VLT/X-SHOOTER spectra from $0.3$ to $2.5$ \micron;for 19 PNe in excellent seeing conditions and a wide slit, mimicking Euclid's slitless spectroscopy mode but with 10 times higher spectral resolution. Additional observations of one northern PN were obtained in the $0.80$--$1.90$ \micron range with the GMOS and GNIRS instruments at the Gemini North observatory. The collected spectra were combined into an atlas of heliocentric vacuum wavelengths with a joint statistical and systematic accuracy of 0.1 Åin the optical and 0.3 Åin the near-infrared. The wavelength atlas and the related 1D and 2D spectra are made publicly available.

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arXiv2023

Euclid: Validation of the MontePython forecasting tools

The Euclid mission of the European Space Agency will perform a survey of weak lensing cosmic shear and galaxy clustering in order to constrain cosmological models and fundamental physics. We expand and adjust the mock Euclid likelihoods of the MontePython software in order to match the exact recipes used in previous Euclid Fisher matrix forecasts for several probes: weak lensing cosmic shear, photometric galaxy clustering, the cross-correlation between the latter observables, and spectroscopic galaxy clustering. We also establish which precision settings are required when running the Einstein-Boltzmann solvers CLASS and CAMB in the context of Euclid. For the minimal cosmological model, extended to include dynamical dark energy, we perform Fisher matrix forecasts based directly on a numerical evaluation of second derivatives of the likelihood with respect to model parameters. We compare our results with those of other forecasting methods and tools. We show that such MontePython forecasts agree very well with previous Fisher forecasts published by the Euclid Collaboration, and also, with new forecasts produced by the CosmicFish code, now interfaced directly with the two Einstein-Boltzmann solvers CAMB and CLASS. Moreover, to establish the validity of the Gaussian approximation, we show that the Fisher matrix marginal error contours coincide with the credible regions obtained when running Monte Carlo Markov Chains with MontePython while using the exact same mock likelihoods. The new Euclid forecast pipelines presented here are ready for use with additional cosmological parameters, in order to explore extended cosmological models.

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arXiv2023

Euclid preparation. XXIV. Calibration of the halo mass function in $Λ(ν)$CDM cosmologies

Euclid's photometric galaxy cluster survey has the potential to be a very competitive cosmological probe. The main cosmological probe with observations of clusters is their number count, within which the halo mass function (HMF) is a key theoretical quantity. We present a new calibration of the analytic HMF, at the level of accuracy and precision required for the uncertainty in this quantity to be subdominant with respect to other sources of uncertainty in recovering cosmological parameters from Euclid cluster counts. Our model is calibrated against a suite of N-body simulations using a Bayesian approach taking into account systematic errors arising from numerical effects in the simulation. First, we test the convergence of HMF predictions from different N-body codes, by using initial conditions generated with different orders of Lagrangian Perturbation theory, and adopting different simulation box sizes and mass resolution. Then, we quantify the effect of using different halo-finder algorithms, and how the resulting differences propagate to the cosmological constraints. In order to trace the violation of universality in the HMF, we also analyse simulations based on initial conditions characterised by scale-free power spectra with different spectral indexes, assuming both Einstein--de Sitter and standard $Λ$CDM expansion histories. Based on these results, we construct a fitting function for the HMF that we demonstrate to be sub-percent accurate in reproducing results from 9 different variants of the $Λ$CDM model including massive neutrinos cosmologies. The calibration systematic uncertainty is largely sub-dominant with respect to the expected precision of future mass-observation relations; with the only notable exception of the effect due to the halo finder, that could lead to biased cosmological inference.

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arXiv2023

Euclid: Calibrating photometric redshifts with spectroscopic cross-correlations

Cosmological constraints from key probes of the Euclid imaging survey rely critically on the accurate determination of the true redshift distributions, $n(z)$, of tomographic redshift bins. We determine whether the mean redshift, $ $, of ten Euclid tomographic redshift bins can be calibrated to the Euclid target uncertainties of $σ( )<0.002\,(1+z)$ via cross-correlation, with spectroscopic samples akin to those from the Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (BOSS), Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI), and Euclid's NISP spectroscopic survey. We construct mock Euclid and spectroscopic galaxy samples from the Flagship simulation and measure small-scale clustering redshifts up to redshift $z<1.8$ with an algorithm that performs well on current galaxy survey data. The clustering measurements are then fitted to two $n(z)$ models: one is the true $n(z)$ with a free mean; the other a Gaussian Process modified to be restricted to non-negative values. We show that $ $ is measured in each tomographic redshift bin to an accuracy of order 0.01 or better. By measuring the clustering redshifts on subsets of the full Flagship area, we construct scaling relations that allow us to extrapolate the method performance to larger sky areas than are currently available in the mock. For the full expected Euclid, BOSS, and DESI overlap region of approximately 6000 deg$^{2}$, the uncertainties attainable by clustering redshifts exceeds the Euclid requirement by at least a factor of three for both $n(z)$ models considered, although systematic biases limit the accuracy. Clustering redshifts are an extremely effective method for redshift calibration for Euclid if the sources of systematic biases can be determined and removed, or calibrated-out with sufficiently realistic simulations. We outline possible future work, in particular an extension to higher redshifts with quasar reference samples.

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arXiv2023

Euclid preparation: XXVIII. Modelling of the weak lensing angular power spectrum

This work considers which higher-order effects in modelling the cosmic shear angular power spectra must be taken into account for Euclid. We identify which terms are of concern, and quantify their individual and cumulative impact on cosmological parameter inference from Euclid. We compute the values of these higher-order effects using analytic expressions, and calculate the impact on cosmological parameter estimation using the Fisher matrix formalism. We review 24 effects and find the following potentially need to be accounted for: the reduced shear approximation, magnification bias, source-lens clustering, source obscuration, local Universe effects, and the flat Universe assumption. Upon computing these explicitly, and calculating their cosmological parameter biases, using a maximum multipole of $\ell=5000$, we find that the magnification bias, source-lens clustering, source obscuration, and local Universe terms individually produce significant ($\,>0.25σ$) cosmological biases in one or more parameters, and accordingly must be accounted for. In total, over all effects, we find biases in $Ω_{\rm m}$, $Ω_{\rm b}$, $h$, and $σ_{8}$ of $0.73σ$, $0.28σ$, $0.25σ$, and $-0.79σ$, respectively, for flat $Λ$CDM. For the $w_0w_a$CDM case, we find biases in $Ω_{\rm m}$, $Ω_{\rm b}$, $h$, $n_{\rm s}$, $σ_{8}$, and $w_a$ of $1.49σ$, $0.35σ$, $-1.36σ$, $1.31σ$, $-0.84σ$, and $-0.35σ$, respectively; which are increased relative to the $Λ$CDM due to additional degeneracies as a function of redshift and scale.

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arXiv2023

Euclid preparation: XXIII. Derivation of galaxy physical properties with deep machine learning using mock fluxes and H-band images

Next generation telescopes, like Euclid, Rubin/LSST, and Roman, will open new windows on the Universe, allowing us to infer physical properties for tens of millions of galaxies. Machine learning methods are increasingly becoming the most efficient tools to handle this enormous amount of data, because they are often faster and more accurate than traditional methods. We investigate how well redshifts, stellar masses, and star-formation rates (SFR) can be measured with deep learning algorithms for observed galaxies within data mimicking the Euclid and Rubin/LSST surveys. We find that Deep Learning Neural Networks and Convolutional Neutral Networks (CNN), which are dependent on the parameter space of the training sample, perform well in measuring the properties of these galaxies and have a better accuracy than methods based on spectral energy distribution fitting. CNNs allow the processing of multi-band magnitudes together with $H_{\scriptscriptstyle\rm E}$-band images. We find that the estimates of stellar masses improve with the use of an image, but those of redshift and SFR do not. Our best results are deriving i) the redshift within a normalised error of less than 0.15 for 99.9$\%$ of the galaxies with S/N>3 in the $H_{\scriptscriptstyle\rm E}$-band; ii) the stellar mass within a factor of two ($\sim0.3 \rm dex$) for 99.5$\%$ of the considered galaxies; iii) the SFR within a factor of two ($\sim0.3 \rm dex$) for $\sim$70$\%$ of the sample. We discuss the implications of our work for application to surveys as well as how measurements of these galaxy parameters can be improved with deep learning.

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arXiv2022

Euclid: Cosmological forecasts from the void size function

The Euclid mission $-$ with its spectroscopic galaxy survey covering a sky area over $15\,000 \ \mathrm{deg}^2$ in the redshift range $0.9<z<1.8\ -$ will provide a sample of tens of thousands of cosmic voids. This paper explores for the first time the constraining power of the void size function on the properties of dark energy (DE) from a survey mock catalogue, the official Euclid Flagship simulation. We identify voids in the Flagship light-cone, which closely matches the features of the upcoming Euclid spectroscopic data set. We model the void size function considering a state-of-the art methodology: we rely on the volume conserving (Vdn) model, a modification of the popular Sheth & van de Weygaert model for void number counts, extended by means of a linear function of the large-scale galaxy bias. We find an excellent agreement between model predictions and measured mock void number counts. We compute updated forecasts for the Euclid mission on DE from the void size function and provide reliable void number estimates to serve as a basis for further forecasts of cosmological applications using voids. We analyse two different cosmological models for DE: the first described by a constant DE equation of state parameter, $w$, and the second by a dynamic equation of state with coefficients $w_0$ and $w_a$. We forecast $1σ$ errors on $w$ lower than $10\%$, and we estimate an expected figure of merit (FoM) for the dynamical DE scenario $\mathrm{FoM}_{w_0,w_a} = 17$ when considering only the neutrino mass as additional free parameter of the model. The analysis is based on conservative assumptions to ensure full robustness, and is a pathfinder for future enhancements of the technique. Our results showcase the impressive constraining power of the void size function from the Euclid spectroscopic sample, both as a stand-alone probe, and to be combined with other Euclid cosmological probes.

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arXiv2022

Euclid preparation. XXVII. Covariance model validation for the 2-point correlation function of galaxy clusters

Aims. We validate a semi-analytical model for the covariance of real-space 2-point correlation function of galaxy clusters. Methods. Using 1000 PINOCCHIO light cones mimicking the expected Euclid sample of galaxy clusters, we calibrate a simple model to accurately describe the clustering covariance. Then, we use such a model to quantify the likelihood analysis response to variations of the covariance, and investigate the impact of a cosmology-dependent matrix at the level of statistics expected for the Euclid survey of galaxy clusters. Results. We find that a Gaussian model with Poissonian shot-noise does not correctly predict the covariance of the 2-point correlation function of galaxy clusters. By introducing few additional parameters fitted from simulations, the proposed model reproduces the numerical covariance with 10 per cent accuracy, with differences of about 5 per cent on the figure of merit of the cosmological parameters $Ω_{\rm m}$ and $σ_8$. Also, we find that the cosmology-dependence of the covariance adds valuable information that is not contained in the mean value, significantly improving the constraining power of cluster clustering. Finally, we find that the cosmological figure of merit can be further improved by taking mass binning into account. Our results have significant implications for the derivation of cosmological constraints from the 2-point clustering statistics of the Euclid survey of galaxy clusters.

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arXiv2022

Euclid preparation: XX. The Complete Calibration of the Color-Redshift Relation survey: LBT observations and data release

The Complete Calibration of the Color-Redshift Relation survey (C3R2) is a spectroscopic programme designed to empirically calibrate the galaxy color-redshift relation to the Euclid depth (I_E=24.5), a key ingredient for the success of Stage IV dark energy projects based on weak lensing cosmology. A spectroscopic calibration sample as representative as possible of the galaxies in the Euclid weak lensing sample is being collected, selecting galaxies from a self-organizing map (SOM) representation of the galaxy color space. Here, we present the results of a near-infrared H- and K-bands spectroscopic campaign carried out using the LUCI instruments at the LBT. For a total of 251 galaxies, we present new highly-reliable redshifts in the 1.3<= z <=1.7 and 2<= z<=2.7 ranges. The newly-determined redshifts populate 49 SOM cells which previously contained no spectroscopic measurements and almost double the occupation numbers of an additional 153 SOM cells. A final optical ground-based observational effort is needed to calibrate the missing cells in particular in the redshift range 1.7<= z<=2.7 that lack spectroscopic calibration. In the end, Euclid itself will deliver telluric-free NIR spectra that can complete the calibration.

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arXiv2022

Euclid: Fast two-point correlation function covariance through linear construction

We present a method for fast evaluation of the covariance matrix for a two-point galaxy correlation function (2PCF) measured with the Landy-Szalay estimator. The standard way of evaluating the covariance matrix consists in running the estimator on a large number of mock catalogs, and evaluating their sample covariance. With large random catalog sizes (data-to-random objects ratio M>>1) the computational cost of the standard method is dominated by that of counting the data-random and random-random pairs, while the uncertainty of the estimate is dominated by that of data-data pairs. We present a method called Linear Construction (LC), where the covariance is estimated for small random catalogs of size M = 1 and M = 2, and the covariance for arbitrary M is constructed as a linear combination of these. We validate the method with PINOCCHIO simulations in range r = 20-200 Mpc/h, and show that the covariance estimate is unbiased. With M = 50 and with 2 Mpc/h bins, the theoretical speed-up of the method is a factor of 14. We discuss the impact on the precision matrix and parameter estimation, and derive a formula for the covariance of covariance.

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arXiv2021

$Euclid$ preparation: XV. Forecasting cosmological constraints for the $Euclid$ and CMB joint analysis

The combination and cross-correlation of the upcoming $Euclid$ data with cosmic microwave background (CMB) measurements is a source of great expectation since it will provide the largest lever arm of epochs, ranging from recombination to structure formation across the entire past light cone. In this work, we present forecasts for the joint analysis of $Euclid$ and CMB data on the cosmological parameters of the standard cosmological model and some of its extensions. This work expands and complements the recently published forecasts based on $Euclid$-specific probes, namely galaxy clustering, weak lensing, and their cross-correlation. With some assumptions on the specifications of current and future CMB experiments, the predicted constraints are obtained from both a standard Fisher formalism and a posterior-fitting approach based on actual CMB data. Compared to a $Euclid$-only analysis, the addition of CMB data leads to a substantial impact on constraints for all cosmological parameters of the standard $Λ$-cold-dark-matter model, with improvements reaching up to a factor of ten. For the parameters of extended models, which include a redshift-dependent dark energy equation of state, non-zero curvature, and a phenomenological modification of gravity, improvements can be of the order of two to three, reaching higher than ten in some cases. The results highlight the crucial importance for cosmological constraints of the combination and cross-correlation of $Euclid$ probes with CMB data.

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arXiv2020

Planck intermediate results. LV. Reliability and thermal properties of high-frequency sources in the Second Planck Catalogue of Compact Sources

We describe an extension of the most recent version of the Planck Catalogue of Compact Sources (PCCS2), produced using a new multi-band Bayesian Extraction and Estimation Package (BeeP). BeeP assumes that the compact sources present in PCCS2 at 857 GHz have a dust-like spectral energy distribution, which leads to emission at both lower and higher frequencies, and adjusts the parameters of the source and its SED to fit the emission observed in Planck's three highest frequency channels at 353, 545, and 857 GHz, as well as the IRIS map at 3000 GHz. In order to reduce confusion regarding diffuse cirrus emission, BeeP's data model includes a description of the background emission surrounding each source, and it adjusts the confidence in the source parameter extraction based on the statistical properties of the spatial distribution of the background emission. BeeP produces the following three new sets of parameters for each source: (a) fits to a modified blackbody (MBB) thermal emission model of the source; (b) SED-independent source flux densities at each frequency considered; and (c) fits to an MBB model of the background in which the source is embedded. BeeP also calculates, for each source, a reliability parameter, which takes into account confusion due to the surrounding cirrus. We define a high-reliability subset (BeeP/base), containing 26 083 sources (54.1 per cent of the total PCCS2 catalogue), the majority of which have no information on reliability in the PCCS2. The results of the BeeP extension of PCCS2, which are made publicly available via the PLA, will enable the study of the thermal properties of well-defined samples of compact Galactic and extra-galactic dusty sources.

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arXiv2019

Euclid preparation: V. Predicted yield of redshift 7<z<9 quasars from the wide survey

We provide predictions of the yield of $7 8$ may be selected from Euclid $OYJH$ photometry alone, but selection over the redshift interval $7 7.5$ should be found in the DR1 data release, expected in 2024. It will be possible to determine the bright-end slope of the QLF, $7<z<8$, $M_{1450}<-25$, using 8m class telescopes to confirm candidates, but follow-up with JWST or E-ELT will be required to measure the faint-end slope. Contamination of the candidate lists is predicted to be modest even at $J_{AB}\sim23$. The precision with which $k$ can be determined over $7<z<8$ depends on the value of $k$, but assuming $k=-0.72$ it can be measured to a 1 sigma uncertainty of 0.07.

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arXiv2019

Needlet thresholding methods in component separation

Foreground components in the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) are sparse in a needlet representation, due to their specific morphological features (anisotropy, non-Gaussianity). This leads to the possibility of applying needlet thresholding procedures as a component separation tool. In this work, we develop algorithms based on different needlet-thresholding schemes and use them as extensions of existing, well-known component separation techniques, namely ILC and template-fitting. We test soft- and hard-thresholding schemes, using different procedures to set the optimal threshold level. We find that thresholding can be useful as a denoising tool for internal templates in experiments with few frequency channels, in conditions of low signal-to-noise. We also compare our method with other denoising techniques, showing that thresholding achieves the best performance in terms of reconstruction accuracy and data compression while preserving the map resolution. The best results in our tests are in particular obtained when considering template-fitting in an LSPE like experiment, especially for B-mode spectra.

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arXiv2014

Probing Modified Gravity Theories with ISW and CMB Lensing

We use the optimised skew-spectrum as well as the skew-spectra associated with the Minkowski Functionals (MFs) to test the possibility of using the cross-correlation of the Integrated Sachs-Wolfe effect (ISW) and lensing of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) radiation to detect deviations in the theory of gravity away from General Relativity (GR). We find that the although both statistics can put constraints on modified gravity, the optimised skew-spectra are especially sensitive to the parameter $\rm B_0$ that denotes the the {\em Compton wavelength} of the scalaron at the present epoch. We investigate three modified gravity theories, namely: the Post-Parametrised Friedmanian (PPF) formalism; the Hu-Sawicki (HS) model; and the Bertschinger-Zukin (BZ) formalism. Employing a likelihood analysis for an experimental setup similar to ESA's Planck mission, we find that, assuming GR to be the correct model, we expect the constraints from the first two skew-spectra, $S_{\ell}^{(0)}$ and $S_{\ell}^{(1)}$, to be the same: $\rm B_0<0.45$ at $95%$ confidence level (CL), and $\rm B_0<0.67$ at $99%$ CL in the BZ model. The third skew-spectrum does not give any meaningful constraint. We find that the optimal skew-spectrum provides much more powerful constraint, giving $\rm B_0<0.071$ at $95%$ CL and $\rm B_0<0.15$ at $99%$ CL, which is essentially identical to what can be achieved using the full bispectrum.

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