arXiv subjects

Chen Heinrich

Publications and source records attributed to Chen Heinrich.

24 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

arXiv2019

BAO Modulation as a Probe of Compensated Isocurvature Perturbations

Compensated isocurvature perturbations (CIPs) are opposite spatial fluctuations in the baryon and dark matter density. They can be generated for example in the curvaton model in the early Universe but are difficult to observe because their gravitational imprint nearly cancels. We therefore propose a new measurement method by searching for a spatial modulation of the baryon acoustic oscillation (BAO) scale that CIPs induce. We find that for a Euclid-like survey the sensitivity is marginally better than the WMAP cosmic microwave background (CMB) constraint, which exploits the CIP-induced modulation of the CMB sound horizon. For a cosmic-variance limited BAO survey using emission-line galaxies up to $z\sim7$ the sensitivity is between stage 3 and stage 4 CMB experiments. These results include using CIP-galaxy cross-correlations, which improves the sensitivity by a factor of $\sim2-3$ for correlated CIPs. The method could be further improved with an optimal estimator, similarly to the CMB, and could provide a useful cross-check of other CIP probes. Finally, if CIPs exist, they can bias cosmological measurements made assuming no CIPs. In particular, they can act as a super-sample fluctuation of the baryon density and bias measurements of the BAO scale. For modern BAO surveys, the largest 2$σ$ CIP fluctuation allowed by Planck's 95\% bound could bias BAO measurements of $H(z)$ by 2.2\%, partially reducing the tension with the local $H_0$ measurements from 3.1$σ$ to 2.3$σ$.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2019

The Wide Field Infrared Survey Telescope: 100 Hubbles for the 2020s

The Wide Field Infrared Survey Telescope (WFIRST) is a 2.4m space telescope with a 0.281 deg^2 field of view for near-IR imaging and slitless spectroscopy and a coronagraph designed for > 10^8 starlight suppresion. As background information for Astro2020 white papers, this article summarizes the current design and anticipated performance of WFIRST. While WFIRST does not have the UV imaging/spectroscopic capabilities of the Hubble Space Telescope, for wide field near-IR surveys WFIRST is hundreds of times more efficient. Some of the most ambitious multi-cycle HST Treasury programs could be executed as routine General Observer (GO) programs on WFIRST. The large area and time-domain surveys planned for the cosmology and exoplanet microlensing programs will produce extraordinarily rich data sets that enable an enormous range of Archival Research (AR) investigations. Requirements for the coronagraph are defined based on its status as a technology demonstration, but its expected performance will enable unprecedented observations of nearby giant exoplanets and circumstellar disks. WFIRST is currently in the Preliminary Design and Technology Completion phase (Phase B), on schedule for launch in 2025, with several of its critical components already in production.

astro-ph.IM↗

arXiv2018

Inflationary vs. Reionization Features from Planck 2015 Data

Features during inflation and reionization leave corresponding features in the temperature and polarization power spectra that could potentially explain anomalies in the Planck 2015 data but require a joint analysis to disentangle. We study the interplay between these two effects using a model-independent parametrization of the inflationary power spectrum and the ionization history. Preference for a sharp suppression of large scale power is driven by a feature in the temperature power spectrum at multipoles $\ell \sim 20$, whereas preference for a component of high redshift ionization is driven by a sharp excess of polarization power at $\ell \sim 10$ when compared with the lowest multipoles. Marginalizing inflationary freedom does not weaken the preference for $z \gtrsim 10$ ionization, whereas marginalizing reionization freedom slightly enhances the preference for an inflationary feature but can also mask its direct signature in polarization. The inflation and reionization interpretation of these features makes predictions for the polarization spectrum which can be tested in future precision measurements especially at $10\lesssim \ell \lesssim 40$.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2018

Does Planck 2015 polarization favor high redshift reionization?

We study the relationship between signatures of high redshift ionization in large-angle CMB polarization power spectra and features in the Planck 2015 data. Using a principal component (PC) ionization basis that is complete to the cosmic variance limit out to $z_{\rm max}=30,40,50$, we find a robust $>95\%$ CL preference for ionization at $z>15$ with no preference for $z>40$. This robustness originates from the $\ell \sim 10$ region of the data which show high power relative to $\ell \le 8$ and result in a poor fit to a steplike model of reionization. Instead by allowing for high redshift reionization, the PCs provide a better fit by $2Δ\mathrm{ln}\mathcal{L} = 5-6$. Due to a degeneracy in the ionization redshift response, this improved fit is due to a single aspect of the model: the ability to accommodate $z>10$ component to the ionization as we illustrate with a two-step reionization model. For this and other models that accommodate such a component, its presence is allowed and even favored; for models that do not, their poor fit reflects statistical or systematic fluctuations. These possibilities produce very different and testable predictions at $\ell \sim 15-20$, as well as small but detectable differences at $\ell>30$ that can further restrict the high redshift limit of reionization.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2017

Lensing Bias to CMB Polarization Measurements of Compensated Isocurvature Perturbations

Compensated isocurvature perturbations are opposite spatial fluctuations in the baryon and dark matter (DM) densities. They arise in the curvaton model and some models of baryogenesis. While the gravitational effects of baryon fluctuations are compensated by those of DM, leaving no observable impacts on the cosmic microwave background (CMB) at first order, they modulate the sound horizon at recombination, thereby correlating CMB anisotropies at different multipoles. As a result, CIPs can be reconstructed using quadratic estimators similarly to CMB detection of gravitational lensing. Because of these similarities, however, the CIP estimators are biased with lensing contributions that must be subtracted. These lensing contributions for CMB polarization measurement of CIPs are found to roughly triple the noise power of the total CIP estimator on large scales. In addition, the cross power with temperature and $E$-mode polarization are contaminated by lensing-ISW (integrated Sachs-Wolfe) correlations and reionization-lensing correlations respectively. For a cosmic-variance-limited (CVL) temperature and polarization experiment measuring out to multipoles $l_{\max} = 2500$, the lensing noise raises the detection threshold by a factor of 1.5, leaving a $2.7σ$ detection possible for the maximal CIP signal in the curvaton model.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2017

Inflationary Features and Shifts in Cosmological Parameters from Planck 2015 Data

We explore the relationship between features in the Planck 2015 temperature and polarization data, shifts in the cosmological parameters, and features from inflation. Residuals in the temperature data at low multipole $\ell$, which are responsible for the high $H_0\approx 70$ km s$^{-1}$Mpc$^{-1}$ and low $σ_8Ω_m^{1/2}$ values from $\ell<1000$ in power-law $Λ$CDM models, are better fit to inflationary features with a $1.9σ$ preference for running of the running of the tilt or a stronger $99\%$ CL local significance preference for a sharp drop in power around $k=0.004$ Mpc$^{-1}$ in generalized slow roll and a lower $H_0\approx 67$ km s$^{-1}$Mpc$^{-1}$. The same in-phase acoustic residuals at $\ell>1000$ that drive the global $H_0$ constraints and appear as a lensing anomaly also favor running parameters which allow even lower $H_0$, but not once lensing reconstruction is considered. Polarization spectra are intrinsically highly sensitive to these parameter shifts, and even more so in the Planck 2015 TE data due to an outlier at $\ell \approx 165$, which disfavors the best fit $H_0$ $Λ$CDM solution by more than $2σ$, and high $H_0$ value at almost $3σ$. Current polarization data also slightly enhance the significance of a sharp suppression of large-scale power but leave room for large improvements in the future with cosmic variance limited $E$-mode measurements.

astro-ph.CO↗