arXiv subjects

Eric Huff

Publications and source records attributed to Eric Huff.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

arXiv2021

The RSD Sorting Hat: Unmixing Radial Scales in Projection

Future data sets will enable cross-correlations between redshift space distortions (RSD) and weak lensing (WL). While photometric lensing and clustering cross-correlations have provided some of the tightest cosmological constraints to date, it is not well understood how to optimally perform similar RSD/WL joint analyses in a lossless way. RSD is typically measured in $3D$ redshift space, but WL is inherently a projected signal, making angular statistics a natural choice for the combined analysis. Thus, we determine the amount of RSD information that can be extracted using projected statistics. Specifically we perform a Fisher analysis to forecast constraints and model bias comparing two different Fingers-of-God (FoG) models using both, the $3D$ power spectrum, $P(k, μ)$, and tomographic $C(\ell)$. We find that because naïve tomographic projection mixes large scales with poorly modelled nonlinear radial modes, it does not provide competitive constraints to the $3D$ RSD power spectrum without the model bias becoming unacceptably large. This is true even in the limit of narrow tomographic bins. In light of this we propose a new radial weighting scheme which unmixes radial RSD scales in projection yielding competitive constraints to the $3D$ RSD power spectrum, while keeping the model bias small. This work lays the groundwork for optimal joint analyses of RSD and cosmic shear.

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arXiv2021

x-cut Cosmic Shear: Optimally Removing Sensitivity to Baryonic and Nonlinear Physics with an Application to the Dark Energy Survey Year 1 Shear Data

We present a new method, called $x$-cut cosmic shear, which optimally removes sensitivity to poorly modeled scales from the two-point cosmic shear signal. We show that the $x$-cut cosmic shear covariance matrix can be computed from the correlation function covariance matrix in a few minutes, enabling a likelihood analysis at virtually no additional computational cost. Further we show how to generalize $x$-cut cosmic shear to galaxy-galaxy lensing. Performing an $x$-cut cosmic shear analysis of the Dark Energy Survey Year 1 (DESY1) shear data, we reduce the error on $S_8= σ_8 (Ω_m / 0.3) ^ {0.5}$ by $32 \%$ relative to a correlation function analysis with the same priors and angular scale cut criterion, while showing our constraints are robust to different baryonic feedback models. Largely driven by information at small angular scales, our result, $S_8= 0.734 \pm 0.026$, yields a $2.6 σ$ tension with the Planck Legacy analysis of the cosmic microwave background. As well as alleviating baryonic modelling uncertainties, our method can be used to optimally constrain a large number of theories of modified gravity where computational limitations make it infeasible to model the power spectrum down to extremely small scales. The key parts of our code are made publicly available.

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arXiv2020

The End of Galaxy Surveys

For nearly a century, imaging and spectroscopic surveys of galaxies have given us information about the contents of the universe. We attempt to define the logical endpoint of such surveys by defining not the next galaxy survey, but the final galaxy survey at NIR wavelengths; this would be the galaxy survey that exhausts the information content useful for addressing extant questions. Such a survey would require incredible advances in a number of technologies and the survey details will depend on the as yet poorly constrained properties of the earliest galaxies. Using an exposure time calculator, we define nominal surveys for extracting the useful information for three science cases: dark energy cosmology, galaxy evolution, and supernovae. We define scaling relations that trade off sky background, telescope aperture, and focal plane size to allow for a survey of a given depth over a given area. For optimistic assumptions, a 280m telescope with a marginally resolved focal plane of 20 deg$^2$ operating at L2 could potentially exhaust the cosmological information content of galaxies in a 10 year survey. For galaxy evolution (making use of gravitational lensing to magnify the earliest galaxies) and SN, the same telescope would suffice. We discuss the technological advances needed to complete the last galaxy survey. While the final galaxy survey remains well outside of our technical reach today, we present scaling relations that show how we can progress toward the goal of exhausting the information content encoded in the shapes, positions, and colors of galaxies.

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arXiv2020

Cosmology with the Wide-Field Infrared Survey Telescope -- Multi-Probe Strategies

We simulate the scientific performance of the Wide-Field Infrared Survey Telescope (WFIRST) High Latitude Survey (HLS) on dark energy and modified gravity. The 1.6 year HLS Reference survey is currently envisioned to image 2000 deg$^2$ in multiple bands to a depth of $\sim$26.5 in Y, J, H and to cover the same area with slit-less spectroscopy beyond z=3. The combination of deep, multi-band photometry and deep spectroscopy will allow scientists to measure the growth and geometry of the Universe through a variety of cosmological probes (e.g., weak lensing, galaxy clusters, galaxy clustering, BAO, Type Ia supernova) and, equally, it will allow an exquisite control of observational and astrophysical systematic effects. In this paper we explore multi-probe strategies that can be implemented given WFIRST's instrument capabilities. We model cosmological probes individually and jointly and account for correlated systematics and statistical uncertainties due to the higher order moments of the density field. We explore different levels of observational systematics for the WFIRST survey (photo-z and shear calibration) and ultimately run a joint likelihood analysis in N-dim parameter space. We find that the WFIRST reference survey alone (no external data sets) can achieve a standard dark energy FoM of >300 when including all probes. This assumes no information from external data sets and realistic assumptions for systematics. Our study of the HLS reference survey should be seen as part of a future community driven effort to simulate and optimize the science return of WFIRST.

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arXiv2020

Cosmology with the Wide-Field Infrared Survey Telescope -- Synergies with the Rubin Observatory Legacy Survey of Space and Time

We explore synergies between the space-based Wide-Field Infrared Survey Telescope (WFIRST) and the ground-based Rubin Observatory Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST). In particular, we consider a scenario where the currently envisioned survey strategy for WFIRST's High Latitude Survey (HLS), i.e., 2000 square degrees in four narrow photometric bands is altered in favor of a strategy that combines rapid coverage of the LSST area (to full LSST depth) in one band. We find that a 5-month WFIRST survey in the W-band can cover the full LSST survey area providing high-resolution imaging for >95% of the LSST Year 10 gold galaxy sample. We explore a second, more ambitious scenario where WFIRST spends 1.5 years covering the LSST area. For this second scenario we quantify the constraining power on dark energy equation of state parameters from a joint weak lensing and galaxy clustering analysis, and compare it to an LSST-only survey and to the Reference WFIRST HLS survey. Our survey simulations are based on the WFIRST exposure time calculator and redshift distributions from the CANDELS catalog. Our statistical uncertainties account for higher-order correlations of the density field, and we include a wide range of systematic effects, such as uncertainties in shape and redshift measurements, and modeling uncertainties of astrophysical systematics, such as galaxy bias, intrinsic galaxy alignment, and baryonic physics. Assuming the 5-month WFIRST wide scenario, we find a significant increase in constraining power for the joint LSST+WFIRST wide survey compared to LSST Y10 (FoM(Wwide)= 2.4 FoM(LSST)) and compared to LSST+WFIRST HLS (FoM(Wwide)= 5.5 FoM(HLS)).

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arXiv2019

Detecting Baryon Acoustic Oscillations in Dark Matter from Kinematic Weak Lensing Surveys

We investigate the feasibility of extracting Baryon Acoustic Oscillations (BAO) from cosmic shear tomography. We particularly focus on the BAO scale precision that can be achieved by future spectroscopy-based, kinematic weak lensing (KWL) surveys \citep[e.g.,][]{Huff13} in comparison to the traditional photometry-based weak lensing surveys. We simulate cosmic shear tomography data of such surveys with a few simple assumptions to focus on the BAO information, extract the spacial power spectrum, and constrain the recovered BAO feature. Due to the small shape noise and the shape of the lensing kernel, we find that a Dark Energy Task Force Stage IV version of such KWL survey can detect the BAO feature in dark matter by $3$-$σ$ and measure the BAO scale at the precision level of 4\% while it will be difficult to detect the feature in photometry-based weak lensing surveys. With a more optimistic assumption, a KWL-Stage IV could achieve a $\sim 2\%$ BAO scale measurement with $4.9$-$σ$ confidence. A built-in spectroscopic galaxy survey within such KWL survey will allow cross-correlation between galaxies and cosmic shear, which will tighten the constraint beyond the lower limit we present in this paper and therefore possibly allow a detection of the BAO scale bias between galaxies and dark matter.

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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.

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arXiv2018

Weak gravitational lensing with CO galaxies

Optical weak lensing surveys have become a powerful tool for precision cosmology, but remain subject to systematic effects that can severely bias cosmological parameter estimates if not carefully removed. We discuss the possibility of performing complementary weak lensing surveys at radio/microwave frequencies, using detections of CO-emitting galaxies with resolved continuum images from ngVLA. This method has completely different systematic uncertainties to optical weak lensing shear measurements (e.g. in terms of blending, PSF, and redshift uncertainties), and can provide additional information to help disentangle intrinsic alignments from the cosmological shear signal. A combined analysis of optical and CO galaxy lensing surveys would therefore provide an extremely stringent validation of highly-sensitive future surveys with Euclid, LSST, and WFIRST, definitively rejecting biases due to residual systematic effects. A lensing survey on ngVLA would also provide valuable spectral (kinematic) and polarimetric information, which can be used to develop novel cosmological analyses that are not currently possible in the optical.

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arXiv2018

WFIRST Science Investigation Team "Cosmology with the High Latitude Survey" Annual Report 2017

Cosmic acceleration is the most surprising cosmological discovery in many decades. Testing and distinguishing among possible explanations requires cosmological measurements of extremely high precision probing the full history of cosmic expansion and structure growth and, ideally, compare and contrast matter and relativistic tracers of the gravity potential. This program is one of the defining objectives of the Wide-Field Infrared Survey Telescope (WFIRST), as set forth in the New Worlds, New Horizons report (NWNH) in 2010. The WFIRST mission has the ability to improve these measurements by 1-2 orders of magnitude compared to the current state of the art, while simultaneously extending their redshift grasp, greatly improving control of systematic effects, and taking a unified approach to multiple probes that provide complementary physical information and cross-checks of cosmological results. We describe in this annual report the activities of the Science Investigation Team (SIT) "Cosmology with the High Latitude Survey (HLS)" during the year 2017. This team was selected by NASA in December 2015 in order to address the stringent challenges of the WFIRST dark energy (DE) program through the Project's formulation phase. This SIT has elected to jointly address Galaxy Redshift Survey, Weak Lensing and Cluster Growth and thus fully embrace the fact that the imaging and spectroscopic elements of the HLS will be realized as an integrated observing program, and they jointly impose requirements on performance and operations. WFIRST is designed to be able to deliver a definitive result on the origin of cosmic acceleration. It is not optimized for Figure of Merit sensitivity but for control of systematic uncertainties and for having multiple techniques each with multiple cross-checks. Our SIT work focuses on understanding the potential systematics in the WFIRST DE measurements.

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arXiv2018

Precision Projector Laboratory: Detector Characterization with an Astronomical Emulation Testbed

As astronomical observations from space benefit from improved sensitivity, the effectiveness of scientific programs is becoming limited by systematics that often originate in poorly understood image sensor behavior. Traditional, bottom-up detector characterization methods provide one way to model underlying detector physics, and generate ever more faithful numerical simulations, but this approach is vulnerable to preconceptions and over-simplification. The alternative top-down approach is laboratory emulation, which enables observation, calibration, and analysis scenarios to be tested without relying on a complete understanding of the underlying physics. This complements detector characterization and simulation efforts by testing their validity. We describe a laboratory facility and experimental testbed that supports the emulation of a wide range of mission concepts such as gravitational weak lensing measurements by WFIRST and high precision spectrophotometry of transiting exoplanets by JWST. An Offner relay projects readily customizable "scenes" (e.g. stars, galaxies, spectra) with very low optical aberration over the full area of a typical optical or near infrared image sensor. f/8 and slower focal ratios may be selected, spanning those of most proposed space missions and approximating the point spread function (PSF) size of seeing limited ground based surveys. Diffraction limited PSFs are projected over a wide field of view and wavelength range to deliver highly predictable image patterns down to sub-pixel scales with stable intensity and fine motion control. The testbed enables realistic validation of detector performance on science-like images, which aids mission design and survey strategy, as well as targeted investigations of various detector effects.

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arXiv2017

Metacalibration: Direct Self-Calibration of Biases in Shear Measurement

One of the primary limiting sources of systematic uncertainty in forthcoming weak lensing measurements is systematic uncertainty in the quantitative relationship between the distortions due to gravitational lensing and the measurable properties of galaxy images. We present a statistically principled, general solution to this problem. Our technique infers multiplicative shear calibration parameters by modifying the actual survey data to simulate the effects of a known shear. It can be applied to any shear estimation method based on weighted averages of galaxy shape measurements, which includes all methods used to date for shear estimation with real data. Use of the real images mitigates uncertainty due to unknown galaxy morphology, which is a serious concern for calibration of shear estimates based on image simulations. We test our results on simulated images from the GREAT3 challenge, and show that the method eliminates calibration biases for several different shape measurement techniques at the level of precision measurable with the GREAT3 simulations (a few tenths of a percent).

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arXiv2016

Cosmological constraints from the convergence 1-point probability distribution

We examine the cosmological information available from the 1-point probability distribution (PDF) of the weak-lensing convergence field, utilizing fast L-PICOLA simulations and a Fisher analysis. We find competitive constraints in the $Ω_m$-$σ_8$ plane from the convergence PDF with $188\ arcmin^2$ pixels compared to the cosmic shear power spectrum with an equivalent number of modes ($\ell < 886$). The convergence PDF also partially breaks the degeneracy cosmic shear exhibits in that parameter space. A joint analysis of the convergence PDF and shear 2-point function also reduces the impact of shape measurement systematics, to which the PDF is less susceptible, and improves the total figure of merit by a factor of $2-3$, depending on the level of systematics. Finally, we present a correction factor necessary for calculating the unbiased Fisher information from finite differences using a limited number of cosmological simulations.

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arXiv2015

Simulations of the OzDES AGN Reverberation Mapping Project

As part of the OzDES spectroscopic survey we are carrying out a large scale reverberation mapping study of $\sim$500 quasars over five years in the 30 deg$^2$ area of the Dark Energy Survey (DES) supernova fields. These quasars have redshifts ranging up to 4 and have apparent AB magnitudes between $16.8<r<22.5$ mag. The aim of the survey is to measure time lags between fluctuations in the quasar continuum and broad emission line fluxes of individual objects in order to measure black hole masses for a broad range of AGN and constrain the radius-luminosity ($R-L$) relationship. Here we investigate the expected efficiency of the OzDES reverberation mapping campaign and its possible extensions. We expect to recover lags for $\sim$35-45\% of the quasars. AGN with shorter lags and greater variability are more likely to yield a lag, and objects with lags $\lesssim$6 months or $\sim$1 year are expected be recovered the most accurately. The baseline OzDES reverberation mapping campaign is predicted to produce an unbiased measurement of the $R-L$ relationship parameters for H$β$, Mg II $λ$2798, and C IV $λ$1549. However, extending the baseline survey by either increasing the spectroscopic cadence, extending the survey season, or improving the emission line flux measurement accuracy will significantly improve the $R-L$ parameter constraints for all broad emission lines.

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arXiv2015

Sloan Digital Sky Survey III Photometric Quasar Clustering: Probing the Initial Conditions of the Universe using the Largest Volume

The Sloan Digital Sky Survey has surveyed 14,555 square degrees of the sky, and delivered over a trillion pixels of imaging data. We present the large-scale clustering of 1.6 million quasars between z = 0.5 and z = 2.5 that have been classified from this imaging, representing the highest density of quasars ever studied for clustering measurements. This data set spans ~11,000 square degrees and probes a volume of 80(Gpc/h)^3. In principle, such a large volume and medium density of tracers should facilitate high-precision cosmological constraints. We measure the angular clustering of photometrically classified quasars using an optimal quadratic estimator in four redshift slices with an accuracy of ~25% over a bin width of l ~10 - 15 on scales corresponding to matter-radiation equality and larger (l ~ 2 - 30). Observational systematics can strongly bias clustering measurements on large scales, which can mimic cosmologically relevant signals such as deviations from Gaussianity in the spectrum of primordial perturbations. We account for systematics by employing a new method recently proposed by Agarwal et al. (2014) to the clustering of photometrically classified quasars. We carefully apply our methodology to mitigate known observational systematics and further remove angular bins that are contaminated by unknown systematics. Combining quasar data with the photometric luminous red galaxy (LRG) sample of Ross et al. (2011) and Ho et al. (2012), and marginalizing over all bias and shot noise-like parameters, we obtain a constraint on local primordial non-Gaussianity of fNL = -113+/-154 (1σerror). [Abridged]

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arXiv2014

Intrinsic alignments of group and cluster galaxies in photometric surveys

Intrinsic alignments of galaxies have been shown to contaminate weak gravitational lensing observables on linear scales, $r>$ 10 $h^{-1}$Mpc, but studies of alignments in the non-linear regime have thus far been inconclusive. We present an estimator for extracting the intrinsic alignment signal of galaxies around stacked clusters of galaxies from multiband imaging data. Our estimator removes the contamination caused by galaxies that are gravitationally lensed by the clusters and scattered in redshift space due to photometric redshift uncertainties. It uses posterior probability distributions for the redshifts of the galaxies in the sample and it is easily extended to obtain the weak gravitational lensing signal while removing the intrinsic alignment contamination. We apply this algorithm to groups and clusters of galaxies identified in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey `Stripe 82' coadded imaging data over $\sim 150$ deg$^2$. We find that the intrinsic alignment signal around stacked clusters in the redshift range $0.1<z<0.4$ is consistent with zero. In terms of the tidal alignment model of Catelan et al. (2001), we set joint constraints on the strength of the alignment and the bias of the lensing groups and clusters on scales between 0.1 and $10\,h^{-1}$ Mpc, $b_LC_1ρ_{\rm crit} = -2_{-14}^{+14} \times 10^{-4}$. This constrains the contamination fraction of alignment to lensing signal to the range between $[-18,23]$ per cent below scales of 1 $h^{-1}$ Mpc at 95 per cent confidence level, and this result depends on our photometric redshift quality and selection criteria used to identify background galaxies. Our results are robust to the choice of photometric band in which the shapes are measured ($i$ and $r$) and to centring on the Brightest Cluster Galaxy or on the geometrical centre of the clusters.

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arXiv2014

A New Framework for a Model-Based Data Science Computational Platform

Astronomy produces extremely large data sets from ground-based telescopes, space missions, and simulation. The volume and complexity of these rich data sets require new approaches and advanced tools to understand the information contained therein. No one can load this data on their own computer, most cannot even keep it at their institution, and worse, no platform exists that allows one to evaluate their models across the whole of the data. Simply having an extremely large volume of data available in one place is not sufficient; one must be able to make valid, rigorous, scientific comparisons across very different data sets from very different instrumentation. We propose a framework to directly address this which has the following components: a model-based computational platform, streamlined access to large volumes of data, and an educational and social platform for both researchers and the public.

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arXiv2009

Training the Next Generation of Astronomers

While both society and astronomy have evolved greatly over the past fifty years, the academic institutions and incentives that shape our field have remained largely stagnant. As a result, the astronomical community is faced with several major challenges, including: (1) the training that we provide does not align with the skills that future astronomers will need, (2) the postdoctoral phase is becoming increasingly demanding and demoralizing, and (3) our jobs are increasingly unfriendly to families with children. Solving these problems will require conscious engineering of our profession. Fortunately, this Decadal Review offers the opportunity to revise outmoded practices to be more effective and equitable. The highest priority of the Subcommittee on the State of the Profession should be to recommend specific, funded activities that will ensure the field meets the challenges we describe.

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arXiv2007

Cluster Formation in Contracting Molecular Clouds

We explore, through a simplified, semi-analytic model, the formation of dense clusters containing massive stars. The parent cloud spawning the cluster is represented as an isothermal sphere. This sphere is in near force balance between self-gravity and turbulent pressure. Self-gravity, mediated by turbulent dissipation, drives slow contraction of the cloud, eventually leading to a sharp central spike in density and the onset of dynamical instability. We suggest that, in a real cloud, this transition marks the late and rapid production of massive stars. We also offer an empirical prescription, akin to the Schmidt law, for low-mass star formation in our contracting cloud. Applying this prescription to the Orion Nebula Cluster, we are able to reproduce the accelerating star formation previously inferred from the distribution of member stars in the HR diagram. The cloud turns about 10 percent of its mass into low-mass stars before becoming dynamically unstable. Over a cloud free-fall time, this figure drops to 1 percent, consistent with the overall star formation efficiency of molecular clouds in the Galaxy.

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