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Christophe Pichon

Publications and source records attributed to Christophe Pichon.

At least 127 records · Page 7Linked to original sources

Non Gaussian Minkowski functionals and extrema counts for 2D sky maps

In the conference presentation we have reviewed the theory of non-Gaussian geometrical measures for the 3D Cosmic Web of the matter distribution in the Universe and 2D sky data, such as Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) maps that was developed in a series of our papers. The theory leverages symmetry of isotropic statistics such as Minkowski functionals and extrema counts to develop post- Gaussian expansion of the statistics in orthogonal polynomials of invariant descriptors of the field, its first and second derivatives. The application of the approach to 2D fields defined on a spherical sky was suggested, but never rigorously developed. In this paper we present such development treating effects of the curvature and finiteness of the spherical space $S_2$ exactly, without relying on the flat-sky approximation. We present Minkowski functionals, including Euler characteristic and extrema counts to the first non-Gaussian correction, suitable for weakly non-Gaussian fields on a sphere, of which CMB is the prime example.

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Modeling Lyman-α Forest Cross-Correlations with LyMAS

We use the Ly-$α$ Mass Association Scheme (LyMAS; Peirani et al. 2014) to predict cross-correlations at $z=2.5$ between dark matter halos and transmitted flux in the Ly-$α$ forest, and compare to cross-correlations measured for quasars and damped Ly-$α$ systems (DLAs) from the Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (BOSS) by Font-Ribera et al. (2012, 2013). We calibrate LyMAS using Horizon-AGN hydrodynamical cosmological simulations of a $(100\ h^{-1}\ \mathrm{Mpc})^3$ comoving volume. We apply this calibration to a $(1\ h^{-1}\ \mathrm{Gpc})^3$ simulation realized with $2048^3$ dark matter particles. In the 100 $h^{-1}$ Mpc box, LyMAS reproduces the halo-flux correlations computed from the full hydrodynamic gas distribution very well. In the 1 $h^{-1}$ Gpc box, the amplitude of the large scale cross-correlation tracks the halo bias $b_h$ as expected. We provide empirical fitting functions that describe our numerical results. In the transverse separation bins used for the BOSS analyses, LyMAS cross-correlation predictions follow linear theory accurately down to small scales. Fitting the BOSS measurements requires inclusion of random velocity errors; we find best-fit RMS velocity errors of 399 km s$^{-1}$ and 252 km s$^{-1}$ for quasars and DLAs, respectively. We infer bias-weighted mean halo masses of $M_h/10^{12}\ h^{-1}M_\odot=2.19^{+0.16}_{-0.15}$ and $0.69^{+0.16}_{-0.14}$ for the host halos of quasars and DLAs, with $\sim 0.2$ dex systematic uncertainty associated with redshift evolution, IGM parameters, and selection of data fitting range.

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Caught in the rhythm: how satellites settle into a plane around their central galaxy

Using the cosmological hydrodynamics simulation Horizon-AGN, we investigate the spatial distribution of satellite galaxies relative to their central counterpart in the redshift range between 0.3 and 0.8. We find that, on average, these satellites tend to be located on the galactic plane of the central object. This effect is detected for central galaxies with a stellar mass larger than 10^10 solar masses and found to be strongest for red passive galaxies, while blue galaxies exhibit a weaker trend. For galaxies with a minor axis parallel to the direction of the nearest filament, we find that the coplanarity is stronger in the vicinity of the central galaxy, and decreases when moving towards the outskirts of the host halo. By contrast, the spatial distribution of satellite galaxies relative to their closest filament follows the opposite trend: their tendency to align with them dominates at large distances from the central galaxy, and fades away in its vicinity. Relying on mock catalogs of galaxies in that redshift range, we show that massive red centrals with a spin perpendicular to their filament also have corotating satellites well aligned with both the galactic plane and the filament. On the other hand, lower-mass blue centrals with a spin parallel to their filament have satellites flowing straight along this filament, and hence orthogonally to their galactic plane. The orbit of these satellites is then progressively bent towards a better alignment with the galactic plane as they penetrate the central region of their host halo. The kinematics previously described are consistent with satellite infall and spin build-up via quasi-polar flows, followed by a re-orientation of the spin of massive red galaxies through mergers.

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Redshift and luminosity evolution of the intrinsic alignments of galaxies in Horizon-AGN

Intrinsic galaxy shape and angular momentum alignments can arise in cosmological large-scale structure due to tidal interactions or galaxy formation processes. Cosmological hydrodynamical simulations have recently come of age as a tool to study these alignments and their contamination to weak gravitational lensing. We probe the redshift and luminosity evolution of intrinsic alignments in Horizon-AGN between z=0 and z=3 for galaxies with an r-band absolute magnitude of <-20. Alignments transition from being radial at low redshifts and high luminosities, dominated by the contribution of ellipticals, to being tangential at high redshift and low luminosities, where discs dominate the signal. This cannot be explained by the evolution of the fraction of ellipticals and discs alone: intrinsic evolution in the amplitude of alignments is necessary. The alignment amplitude of elliptical galaxies alone is smaller in amplitude by a factor of ~2, but has similar luminosity and redshift evolution as in current observations and in the nonlinear tidal alignment model at projected separations of > 1 Mpc. Alignments of discs are null in projection and consistent with current low redshift observations. The combination of the two populations yields an overall amplitude a factor of ~4 lower than observed alignments of luminous red galaxies with a steeper luminosity dependence. The restriction on accurate galaxy shapes implies that the galaxy population in the simulation is complete only to an r-band absolute magnitude of <-20. Higher resolution simulations will be necessary to avoid extrapolation of the intrinsic alignment predictions to the range of luminosities probed by future surveys.

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The Detailed Science Case for the Maunakea Spectroscopic Explorer: the Composition and Dynamics of the Faint Universe

MSE is an 11.25m aperture observatory with a 1.5 square degree field of view that will be fully dedicated to multi-object spectroscopy. More than 3200 fibres will feed spectrographs operating at low (R ~ 2000 - 3500) and moderate (R ~ 6000) spectral resolution, and approximately 1000 fibers will feed spectrographs operating at high (R ~ 40000) resolution. MSE is designed to enable transformational science in areas as diverse as tomographic mapping of the interstellar and intergalactic media; the in-situ chemical tagging of thick disk and halo stars; connecting galaxies to their large scale structure; measuring the mass functions of cold dark matter sub-halos in galaxy and cluster-scale hosts; reverberation mapping of supermassive black holes in quasars; next generation cosmological surveys using redshift space distortions and peculiar velocities. MSE is an essential follow-up facility to current and next generations of multi-wavelength imaging surveys, including LSST, Gaia, Euclid, WFIRST, PLATO, and the SKA, and is designed to complement and go beyond the science goals of other planned and current spectroscopic capabilities like VISTA/4MOST, WHT/WEAVE, AAT/HERMES and Subaru/PFS. It is an ideal feeder facility for E-ELT, TMT and GMT, and provides the missing link between wide field imaging and small field precision astronomy. MSE is optimized for high throughput, high signal-to-noise observations of the faintest sources in the Universe with high quality calibration and stability being ensured through the dedicated operational mode of the observatory. (abridged)

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The cosmic evolution of massive black holes in the Horizon-AGN simulation

We analyse the demographics of black holes (BHs) in the large-volume cosmological hydrodynamical simulation Horizon-AGN. This simulation statistically models how much gas is accreted onto BHs, traces the energy deposited into their environment and, consequently, the back-reaction of the ambient medium on BH growth. The synthetic BHs reproduce a variety of observational constraints such as the redshift evolution of the BH mass density and the mass function. Strong self-regulation via AGN feedback, weak supernova feedback, and unresolved internal processes result in a tight BH-galaxy mass correlation. Starting at z~2, tidal stripping creates a small population of BHs over-massive with respect to the halo. The fraction of galaxies hosting a central BH or an AGN increases with stellar mass. The AGN fraction agrees better with multi-wavelength studies, than single-wavelength ones, unless obscuration is taken into account. The most massive halos present BH multiplicity, with additional BHs gained by ongoing or past mergers. In some cases, both a central and an off-centre AGN shine concurrently, producing a dual AGN. This dual AGN population dwindles with decreasing redshift, as found in observations. Specific accretion rate and Eddington ratio distributions are in good agreement with observational estimates. The BH population is dominated in turn by fast, slow, and very slow accretors, with transitions occurring at z=3 and z=2 respectively.

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Back in the saddle: Large-deviation statistics of the cosmic log-density field

We present a first principle approach to obtain analytical predictions for spherically-averaged cosmic densities in the mildly non-linear regime that go well beyond what is usually achieved by standard perturbation theory. A large deviation principle allows us to compute the leading-order cumulants of average densities in concentric cells. In this symmetry, the spherical collapse model leads to cumulant generating functions that are robust for finite variances and free of critical points when logarithmic density transformations are implemented. They yield in turn accurate density probability distribution functions (PDFs) from a straightforward saddle-point approximation valid for all density values. Based on this easy-to-implement modification, explicit analytic formulas for the evaluation of the one- and two-cell PDF are provided. The theoretical predictions obtained for the PDFs are accurate to a few percent compared to the numerical integration, regardless of the density under consideration and in excellent agreement with N-body simulations for a wide range of densities. This formalism should prove valuable for accurately probing the quasi-linear scales of low redshift surveys for arbitrary primordial power spectra.

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The large-scale correlations of multi-cell densities and profiles, implications for cosmic variance estimates

In order to quantify the error budget in the measured probability distribution functions of cell densities, the two-point statistics of cosmic densities in concentric spheres is investigated. Bias functions are introduced as the ratio of their two-point correlation function to the two-point correlation of the underlying dark matter distribution. They describe how cell densities are spatially correlated. They are computed here via the so-called large deviation principle in the quasi-linear regime. Their large-separation limit is presented and successfully compared to simulations for density and density slopes: this regime is shown to be rapidly reached allowing to get sub-percent precision for a wide range of densities and variances. The corresponding asymptotic limit provides an estimate of the cosmic variance of standard concentric cell statistics applied to finite surveys. More generally, no assumption on the separation is required for some specific moments of the two-point statistics, for instance when predicting the generating function of cumulants containing any powers of concentric densities in one location and one power of density at some arbitrary distance from the rest. This exact "one external leg" cumulant generating function is used in particular to probe the rate of convergence of the large-separation approximation.

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Peak exclusion, stochasticity and convergence of perturbative bias expansions in 1+1 gravity

The Lagrangian peaks of a 1D cosmological random field representing dark matter are used as a proxy for a catalogue of biased tracers in order to investigate the small-scale exclusion in the two-halo term. The two-point correlation function of peaks of a given height is numerically estimated and analytical approximations that are valid inside the exclusion zone are derived. The resulting power spectrum of these tracers is investigated and shows clear deviations from Poisson noise at low frequencies. On large scales, the convergence of a perturbative bias expansion is discussed. Finally, we go beyond Gaussian statistics for the initial conditions and investigate the subsequent evolution of the two-point clustering of peaks through their Zel'dovich ballistic displacement, to clarify how exclusion effects mix up with scale-dependencies induced by nonlinear gravitational evolution. While the expected large-scale separation limit is recovered, significant deviations are found in the exclusion zone that tends in particular to be reduced at later times. Even though these findings apply to the clustering of one-dimensional tracers, they provide useful insights into halo exclusion and its impact on the two-halo term.

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Intrinsic alignments of galaxies in the Horizon-AGN cosmological hydrodynamical simulation

The intrinsic alignments of galaxies are recognised as a contaminant to weak gravitational lensing measurements. In this work, we study the alignment of galaxy shapes and spins at low redshift ($z\sim 0.5$) in Horizon-AGN, an adaptive-mesh-refinement hydrodynamical cosmological simulation box of 100 Mpc/h a side with AGN feedback implementation. We find that spheroidal galaxies in the simulation show a tendency to be aligned radially towards over-densities in the dark matter density field and other spheroidals. This trend is in agreement with observations, but the amplitude of the signal depends strongly on how shapes are measured and how galaxies are selected in the simulation. Disc galaxies show a tendency to be oriented tangentially around spheroidals in three-dimensions. While this signal seems suppressed in projection, this does not guarantee that disc alignments can be safely ignored in future weak lensing surveys. The shape alignments of luminous galaxies in Horizon-AGN are in agreement with observations and other simulation works, but we find less alignment for lower luminosity populations. We also characterize the systematics of galaxy shapes in the simulation and show that they can be safely neglected when measuring the correlation of the density field and galaxy ellipticities.

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Secular diffusion in discrete self-gravitating tepid discs II: accounting for swing amplification via the matrix method

The secular evolution of an infinitely thin tepid isolated galactic disc made of a finite number of particles is investigated using the inhomogeneous Balescu-Lenard equation expressed in terms of angle-action variables. The matrix method is implemented numerically in order to model the induced gravitational polarization. Special care is taken to account for the amplification of potential fluctuations of mutually resonant orbits and the unwinding of the induced swing amplified transients. Quantitative comparisons with ${N-}$body simulations yield consistent scalings with the number of particles and with the self-gravity of the disc: the fewer particles and the colder the disc, the faster the secular evolution. Secular evolution is driven by resonances, but does not depend on the initial phases of the disc. For a Mestel disc with ${Q \sim 1.5}$, the polarization cloud around each star boosts up its secular effect by a factor of the order of a thousand or more, promoting accordingly the dynamical relevance of self-induced collisional secular evolution. The position and shape of the induced resonant ridge are found to be in very good agreement with the prediction of the Balescu-Lenard equation, which scales with the square of the susceptibility of the disc. In astrophysics, the inhomogeneous Balescu-Lenard equation may describe the secular diffusion of giant molecular clouds in galactic discs, the secular migration and segregation of planetesimals in proto-planetary discs, or even the long-term evolution of population of stars within the Galactic centre. It could be used as a valuable check of the accuracy of ${N-}$body integrators over secular timescales.

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Spin alignments within the cosmic web: a theory of constrained tidal torques near filaments

The geometry of the cosmic web drives in part the spin acquisition of galaxies. This can be explained in a Lagrangian framework, by identifying the specific long-wavelength correlations within the primordial Gaussian random field which are relevant to spin acquisition. Tidal Torque Theory is revisited in the context of such anisotropic environments, biased by the presence of a filament within a wall. The point process of filament-type saddles represents it most efficiently. The constrained misalignment between the tidal and the inertia tensors in the vicinity of filament-type saddles simply explains the distribution of spin directions. This misalignment implies in particular an azimuthal orientation for the spins of more massive galaxies and a spin alignment with the filament for less massive galaxies. This prediction is found to be in qualitative agreement with measurements in Gaussian random fields and N-body simulations. It relates the transition mass to the geometry of the saddle, and accordingly predicts its measured scaling with the mass of non-linearity. Implications for galaxy formation and weak lensing are briefly discussed, as is the dual theory of spin alignments in walls.

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Secular diffusion in discrete self-gravitating tepid discs I : analytic solution in the tightly wound limit

The secular evolution of an infinitely thin tepid isolated galactic disc made of a finite number of particles is described using the inhomogeneous Balescu-Lenard equation. Assuming that only tightly wound transient spirals are present in the disc, a WKB approximation provides a simple and tractable quadrature for the corresponding drift and diffusion coefficients. It provides insight into the physical processes at work during the secular diffusion of a self-gravitating discrete disc and makes quantitative predictions on the initial variations of the distribution function in action space. When applied to the secular evolution of an isolated stationary self-gravitating Mestel disc, this formalism predicts initially the importance of the corotation resonance in the inner regions of the disc leading to a regime involving radial migration and heating. It predicts in particular the formation of a "ridge like" feature in action space, in agreement with simulations, but over-estimates the timescale involved in its appearance. Swing amplification is likely to resolve this discrepancy. In astrophysics, the inhomogeneous Balescu-Lenard equation and its WKB limit may also describe the secular diffusion of giant molecular clouds in galactic discs, the secular migration and segregation of planetesimals in proto-planetary discs, or even the long-term evolution of population of stars within the Galactic center.

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Self-gravity, resonances and orbital diffusion in stellar discs

Fluctuations in a stellar system's gravitational field cause the orbits of stars to evolve. The resulting evolution of the system can be computed with the orbit-averaged Fokker-Planck equation once the diffusion tensor is known. We present the formalism that enables one to compute the diffusion tensor from a given source of noise in the gravitational field when the system's dynamical response to that noise is included. In the case of a cool stellar disc we are able to reduce the computation of the diffusion tensor to a one-dimensional integral. We implement this formula for a tapered Mestel disc that is exposed to shot noise and find that we are able to explain analytically the principal features of a numerical simulation of such a disc. In particular the formation of narrow ridges of enhanced density in action space is recovered. As the disc's value of Toomre's $Q$ is reduced and the disc becomes more responsive, there is a transition from a regime of heating in the inner regions of the disc through the inner Lindblad resonance to one of radial migration of near-circular orbits via the corotation resonance in the intermediate regions of the disc. The formalism developed here provides the ideal framework in which to study the long-term evolution of all kinds of stellar discs.

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Secular resonant dressed orbital diffusion I : method and WKB limit for tepid discs

The equation describing the secular diffusion of a self-gravitating collisionless system induced by an exterior perturbation is derived while assuming that the timescale corresponding to secular evolution is much larger than that corresponding to the natural frequencies of the system. Its two dimensional formulation for a tepid galactic disc is also derived using the epicyclic approximation. Its WKB limit is found while assuming that only tightly wound transient spirals are sustained by the disc. It yields a simple quadrature for the diffusion coefficients which provides a straightforward understanding of the loci of maximal diffusion within the disc.

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Secular resonant dressed orbital diffusion II : application to an isolated self similar tepid galactic disc

The main orbital signatures of the secular evolution of an isolated self-gravitating stellar Mestel disc are recovered using a dressed Fokker-Planck formalism in angle-action variables. The shot-noise-driven formation of narrow ridges of resonant orbits is recovered in the WKB limit of tightly wound transient spirals, for a tepid Toomre-stable tapered disc. The relative effect of the bulge, the halo, the disc temperature and the spectral properties of the shot noise are investigated in turn. For such galactic discs all elements seem to impact the locus and direction of the ridge. For instance, when the halo mass is decreased, we observe a transition between a regime of heating in the inner regions of the disc through the inner Lindblad resonance to a regime of radial migration of quasi-circular orbits via the corotation resonance in the outer part of the disc. The dressed secular formalism captures both the nature of collisionless systems (via their natural frequencies and susceptibility), and their nurture via the structure of the external perturbing power spectrum. Hence it provides the ideal framework in which to study their long term evolution.

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The rise and fall of stellar discs across the peak of cosmic star formation history: mergers versus smooth accretion

Building galaxy merger trees from a state-of-the-art cosmological hydrodynamics simulation, Horizon-AGN, we perform a statistical study of how mergers and smooth accretion drive galaxy morphologic properties above $z > 1$. More specifically, we investigate how stellar densities, effective radii and shape parameters derived from the inertia tensor depend on mergers of different mass ratios. We find strong evidence that smooth accretion tends to flatten small galaxies over cosmic time, leading to the formation of disks. On the other hand, mergers, and not only the major ones, exhibit a propensity to puff up and destroy stellar disks, confirming the origin of elliptical galaxies. We also find that elliptical galaxies are more susceptible to grow in size through mergers than disc galaxies with a size-mass evolution $r \prop M^{1.2}$ instead of $r \prop M^{-0.5} - M^{0.5}$ depending on the merger mass ratio. The gas content drive the size-mass evolution due to merger with a faster size growth for gas-poor galaxies $r \prop M^2$ than for gas-rich galaxies $r \prop M$.

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Intrinsic alignment of simulated galaxies in the cosmic web: implications for weak lensing surveys

The intrinsic alignment of galaxy shapes (by means of their angular momentum) and their cross-correlation with the surrounding dark matter tidal field are investigated using the 160 000, z=1.2 synthetic galaxies extracted from the high-resolution cosmological hydrodynamical simulation Horizon-AGN. One- and two-point statistics of the spin of the stellar component are measured as a function of mass and colour. For the low-mass galaxies, this spin is locally aligned with the tidal field `filamentary' direction while, for the high-mass galaxies, it is perpendicular to both filaments and walls. The bluest galaxies of our synthetic catalog are more strongly correlated with the surrounding tidal field than the reddest galaxies, and this correlation extends up to 10 Mpc/h comoving distance. We also report a correlation of the projected ellipticities of blue, intermediate mass galaxies on a similar scale at a level of 10^(-4) which could be a concern for cosmic shear measurements. We do not report any measurable intrinsic alignments of the reddest galaxies of our sample. This work is a first step toward the use of very realistic catalog of synthetic galaxies to evaluate the contamination of weak lensing measurement by the intrinsic galactic alignments.

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