arXiv subjects

I. Szapudi

Publications and source records attributed to I. Szapudi.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Probing dark energy evolution with Quaia quasars through the integrated Sachs-Wolfe effect

The Integrated Sachs--Wolfe (ISW) effect probes the late-time evolution of gravitational potentials and provides a complementary test of the nature of dark energy. We investigate whether the redshift evolution of the ISW effect can provide new constraints on the time evolution of dark energy. We consider theoretical predictions for the standard $Λ$CDM cosmology and alternative $w_0w_a$CDM models favoured by recent DESI BAO and DES Y6 constraints. We perform a tomographic cross-correlation analysis of the {\it Quaia} quasar catalogue and \textit{Planck} CMB temperature maps to measure the ISW signal over a broad redshift range, spanning about $(10h^{-1}~\mathrm{Gpc})^3$ comoving volume. We assess the robustness of the inferred ISW amplitude against variations in sky coverage, multipole range, and tomographic binning. We detect the ISW effect at a significance of $2.8 \, σ$, corresponding to an amplitude of $A_{\rm ISW}\simeq1.69\pm0.61$ relative to the \textit{Planck} $Λ$CDM prediction. The inferred signal remains stable against various analysis choices, including various CMB maps (SMICA, NILC, SEVEM), different choices of $\ell_{\rm max}$ and the number of multipole bins, and an alternative quasar bias model. The measured ISW amplitude is moderately stronger than predicted by the fiducial $Λ$CDM cosmology, and the alternative $w_0w_a$CDM models do not account for this discrepancy. Future tomographic ISW measurements with improved quasar catalogues from {\it Gaia} and forthcoming wide-area galaxy surveys such as {\it Euclid} and DESI will help clarify the origin of this difference.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2025

Euclid preparation: TBD. Cosmic Dawn Survey: evolution of the galaxy stellar mass function across 0.2<z<6.5 measured over 10 square degrees

The Cosmic Dawn Survey Pre-launch (PL) catalogues cover an effective 10.13 deg$^{2}$ area with uniform deep Spitzer/IRAC data ($m\sim25$ mag, 5$σ$), the largest area covered to these depths in the infrared. These data are used to gain new insight into the growth of stellar mass across cosmic history by characterising the evolution of the galaxy stellar mass function (GSMF) through $0.2 < z \leq 6.5$. The total volume (0.62 Gpc$^{3}$) represents a tenfold increase compared to previous works that have explored $z > 3$ and significantly reduces cosmic variance, yielding strong constraints on the abundance of massive galaxies. Results are generally consistent with the literature but now provide firm estimates of number density where only upper limits were previously available. Contrasting the GSMF with the dark matter halo mass function suggests that massive galaxies ($M \gtrsim10^{11}$ M$_{\odot}$) at $z > 3.5$ required integrated star-formation efficiencies of $M/(M_{\rm h}f_{\rm b}) \gtrsim$ 0.25--0.5, in excess of the commonly-held view of ``universal peak efficiency" from studies on the stellar-to-halo mass relation (SHMR). Such increased efficiencies imply an evolving peak in the SHMR at $z > 3.5$ which can be maintained if feedback mechanisms from active galactic nuclei and stellar processes are ineffective at early times. In addition, a significant fraction of the most massive quiescent galaxies are observed to be in place already by $z\sim 2.5$--3. The apparent lack in change of their number density by $z\sim 0.2$ is consistent with relatively little mass growth from mergers. Utilising the unique volume, evidence for an environmental dependence of the galaxy stellar mass function is found all the way through $z\sim 3.5$ for the first time, though a more careful characterisation of the density field is ultimately required for confirmation.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2025

Euclid preparation LXIII. Simulations and nonlinearities beyond $Λ$CDM. 2. Results from non-standard simulations

The Euclid mission will measure cosmological parameters with unprecedented precision. To distinguish between cosmological models, it is essential to generate realistic mock observables from cosmological simulations that were run in both the standard $Λ$-cold-dark-matter ($Λ$CDM) paradigm and in many non-standard models beyond $Λ$CDM. We present the scientific results from a suite of cosmological N-body simulations using non-standard models including dynamical dark energy, k-essence, interacting dark energy, modified gravity, massive neutrinos, and primordial non-Gaussianities. We investigate how these models affect the large-scale-structure formation and evolution in addition to providing synthetic observables that can be used to test and constrain these models with Euclid data. We developed a custom pipeline based on the Rockstar halo finder and the nbodykit large-scale structure toolkit to analyse the particle output of non-standard simulations and generate mock observables such as halo and void catalogues, mass density fields, and power spectra in a consistent way. We compare these observables with those from the standard $Λ$CDM model and quantify the deviations. We find that non-standard cosmological models can leave significant imprints on the synthetic observables that we have generated. Our results demonstrate that non-standard cosmological N-body simulations provide valuable insights into the physics of dark energy and dark matter, which is essential to maximising the scientific return of Euclid.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2024

Euclid preparation. The Cosmic Dawn Survey (DAWN) of the Euclid Deep and Auxiliary Fields

Euclid will provide deep NIR imaging to $\sim$26.5 AB magnitude over $\sim$59 deg$^2$ in its deep and auxiliary fields. The Cosmic DAWN survey complements the deep Euclid data with matched depth multiwavelength imaging and spectroscopy in the UV--IR to provide consistently processed Euclid selected photometric catalogs, accurate photometric redshifts, and measurements of galaxy properties to a redshift of $z\sim 10$. In this paper, we present an overview of the survey, including the footprints of the survey fields, the existing and planned observations, and the primary science goals for the combined data set.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2024

Euclid Preparation. Cosmic Dawn Survey: Data release 1 multiwavelength catalogues for Euclid Deep Field North and Euclid Deep Field Fornax

The Cosmic Dawn Survey (DAWN survey) provides multiwavelength (UV/optical to mid-IR) data across the combined 59 deg$^{2}$ of the Euclid Deep and Auxiliary fields (EDFs and EAFs). Here, the first public data release (DR1) from the DAWN survey is presented. DR1 catalogues are made available for a subset of the full DAWN survey that consists of two Euclid Deep fields: Euclid Deep Field North (EDF-N) and Euclid Deep Field Fornax (EDF-F). The DAWN survey DR1 catalogues do not include $Euclid$ data as they are not yet public for these fields. Nonetheless, each field has been covered by the ongoing Hawaii Twenty Square Degree Survey (H20), which includes imaging from CFHT MegaCam in the new $u$ filter and from Subaru Hyper Suprime-Cam (HSC) in the $griz$ filters. Each field is further covered by $Spitzer$/IRAC 3.6-4.5$μ$m imaging spanning 10 deg$^{2}$ and reaching $\sim$25 mag AB (5$σ$). All present H20 imaging and all publicly available imaging from the aforementioned facilities are combined with the deep $Spitzer$/IRAC data to create source catalogues spanning a total area of 16.87 deg$^{2}$ in EDF-N and 2.85 deg$^{2}$ in EDF-F for this first release. Photometry is measured using The Farmer, a well-validated model-based photometry code. Photometric redshifts and stellar masses are computed using two independent codes for modeling spectral energy distributions: EAZY and LePhare. Photometric redshifts show good agreement with spectroscopic redshifts ($σ_{\rm NMAD} \sim 0.5, η< 8\%$ at $i < 25$). Number counts, photometric redshifts, and stellar masses are further validated in comparison to the COSMOS2020 catalogue. The DAWN survey DR1 catalogues are designed to be of immediate use in these two EDFs and will be continuously updated. Future data releases will provide catalogues of all EDFs and EAFs and include $Euclid$ data.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2024

Euclid: ERO -- NISP-only sources and the search for luminous $z=6-8$ galaxies

This paper presents a search for high redshift galaxies from the Euclid Early Release Observations program "Magnifying Lens." The 1.5 deg$^2$ area covered by the twin Abell lensing cluster fields is comparable in size to the few other deep near-infrared surveys such as COSMOS, and so provides an opportunity to significantly increase known samples of rare UV-bright galaxies at $z\approx6-8$ ($M_{\rm UV}\lesssim-22$). Beyond their still uncertain role in reionisation, these UV-bright galaxies are ideal laboratories from which to study galaxy formation and constrain the bright-end of the UV luminosity function. Of the 501994 sources detected from a combined $Y_{\rm E}$, $J_{\rm E}$, and $H_{\rm E}$ NISP detection image, 168 do not have any appreciable VIS/$I_{\rm E}$ flux. These objects span a range in spectral colours, separated into two classes: 139 extremely red sources; and 29 Lyman-break galaxy candidates. Best-fit redshifts and spectral templates suggest the former is composed of both $z\gtrsim5$ dusty star-forming galaxies and $z\approx1-3$ quiescent systems. The latter is composed of more homogeneous Lyman break galaxies at $z\approx6-8$. In both cases, contamination by L- and T-type dwarfs cannot be ruled out with Euclid images alone. Additional contamination from instrumental persistence is investigated using a novel time series analysis. This work lays the foundation for future searches within the Euclid Deep Fields, where thousands more $z\gtrsim6$ Lyman break systems and extremely red sources will be identified.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2023

The CMB lensing imprint of cosmic voids detected in the WISE-Pan-STARRS luminous red galaxy catalog

The cross-correlation of cosmic voids with the lensing convergence ($κ$) map of the CMB fluctuations offers a powerful tool to refine our understanding of the dark sector in the consensus cosmological model. Our principal aim is to compare the lensing signature of our galaxy data set with simulations based on the concordance model and characterize the results with an $A_κ$ consistency parameter. In particular, our measurements contribute to the understanding of the "lensing-is-low" tension of the $Λ$CDM model. We selected luminous red galaxies from the WISE-Pan-STARSS data set, allowing an extended 14,200 deg$^2$ sky area, that offers a more precise measurement compared to previous studies. We created 2D and 3D void catalogs to cross-correlate their locations with the Planck lensing map and studied their average imprint signal using a stacking methodology. Applying the same procedure, we also generated a mock catalog from the WebSky simulation for comparison. The 2D void analysis revealed good agreement with the standard cosmological model with $A_κ\approx1.06 \pm 0.08$, i.e. $S/N=13.3$, showing a higher $S/N$ than previous studies using voids detected in the Dark Energy Survey data set. The 3D void analysis exhibited a lower $S/N$ and demonstrated worse agreement with our mock catalog than the 2D voids. These deviations might be attributed to limitations in the mock catalog, such as imperfections in the LRG selection, as well as a potential asymmetry between the North and South patches of the WISE-Pan-STARSS data set in terms of data quality. Overall, we present a significant detection of a CMB lensing signal associated with cosmic voids, largely consistent with the concordance model. Future analyses using even larger data sets also hold great promise of further sharpening these results, given their complementary nature to large-scale structure analyses.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2022

Evidence for a high-z ISW signal from supervoids in the distribution of eBOSS quasars

The late-time integrated Sachs-Wolfe (ISW) imprint of $R\gtrsim 100~h^{-1}{\rm Mpc}$ super-structures is sourced by evolving large-scale potentials due to a dominant dark energy component in the $Λ$CDM model. The aspect that makes the ISW effect distinctly interesting is the repeated observation of stronger-than-expected imprints from supervoids at $z\lesssim0.9$. Here we analyze the un-probed key redshift range $0.8<z<2.2$ where the ISW signal is expected to fade in $Λ$CDM, due to a weakening dark energy component, and eventually become consistent with zero in the matter dominated epoch. On the contrary, alternative cosmological models, proposed to explain the excess low-$z$ ISW signals, predicted a sign-change in the ISW effect at $z\approx1.5$ due to the possible growth of large-scale potentials that is absent in the standard model. To discriminate, we estimated the high-$z$ $Λ$CDM ISW signal using the Millennium XXL mock catalogue, and compared it to our measurements from about 800 supervoids identified in the eBOSS DR16 quasar catalogue. At $0.8<z<1.2$, we found an excess ISW signal with $A_\mathrm{ ISW}\approx3.6\pm2.1$ amplitude. The signal is then consistent with the $Λ$CDM expectation ($A_\mathrm{ ISW}=1$) at $1.2<z<1.5$ where the standard and alternative models predict similar amplitudes. Most interestingly, we also detected an opposite-sign ISW signal at $1.5<z<2.2$ that is in $2.7σ$ tension with the $Λ$CDM prediction. Taken at face value, these moderately significant detections of ISW anomalies suggest an alternative growth rate of structure in low-density environments at $\sim100~h^{-1}{\rm Mpc}$ scales.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2021

Euclid preparation: XVIII. Cosmic Dawn Survey. Spitzer observations of the Euclid deep fields and calibration fields

We present a new infrared survey covering the three Euclid deep fields and four other Euclid calibration fields using Spitzer's Infrared Array Camera (IRAC). We have combined these new observations with all relevant IRAC archival data of these fields in order to produce the deepest possible mosaics of these regions. In total, these observations represent nearly 11% of the total Spitzer mission time. The resulting mosaics cover a total of approximately 71.5deg$^2$ in the 3.6 and 4.5um bands, and approximately 21.8deg$^2$ in the 5.8 and 8um bands. They reach at least 24 AB magnitude (measured to sigma, in a 2.5 arcsec aperture) in the 3.6um band and up to ~ 5 mag deeper in the deepest regions. The astrometry is tied to the Gaia astrometric reference system, and the typical astrometric uncertainty for sources with 16<[3.6]<19 is <0.15 arcsec. The photometric calibration is in excellent agreement with previous WISE measurements. We have extracted source number counts from the 3.6um band mosaics and they are in excellent agreement with previous measurements. Given that the Spitzer Space Telescope has now been decommissioned these mosaics are likely to be the definitive reduction of these IRAC data. This survey therefore represents an essential first step in assembling multi-wavelength data on the Euclid deep fields which are set to become some of the premier fields for extragalactic astronomy in the 2020s.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2021

Intensity correlation speckles as a technique for removing Doppler broadening

A method involving intensity correlation measurements is described, which allows for the complete removal of Doppler broadening in the emission of electromagnetic radiation from far-away sources that are inaccessible to conventional Doppler-free measurements. The technique, relying on a correction to g(2) of order N-1, probes the separation between neighboring spectral lines and is also applicable to the elimination of broadening due to collisions (N is the number of emitting particles and g(2) is the second-order field correlation function). Possible applications include a determination of cosmological parameters from red shifts of gravitationally-lensed quasars.

physics.optics↗

arXiv2015

Improving constraints on the neutrino mass using sufficient statistics

We use the "Dark Energy and Massive Neutrino Universe" (DEMNUni) simulations to compare the constraining power of "sufficient statistics" with the standard matter power spectrum on the sum of neutrino masses, $M_ν\equiv \sum m_ν$. In general, the power spectrum, even supplemented with higher moments of the distribution, captures only a fraction of the available cosmological information due to correlations between the Fourier modes. In contrast, the non-linear transform of sufficient statistics, approximated by a logarithmic mapping A=ln(1+δ), was designed to capture all the available cosmological information contained in the matter clustering; in this sense it is an optimal observable. Our analysis takes advantage of the recent analytical model developed by Carron et al. 2014 to estimate both the matter power spectrum and the A-power spectrum covariance matrices. Using a Fisher information approach, we find that using sufficient statistics increases up to 8 times the available information on the total neutrino mass at z=0, thus tightening the constraints by almost a factor of 3 compared to the matter power spectrum.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2015

On the total cosmological information in galaxy clustering: an analytical approach

Beyond the linear regime of structure formation, part of cosmological information encoded in galaxy clustering becomes inaccessible to the usual power spectrum. "Sufficient statistics", A*, were introduced recently to recapture the lost, and ultimately extract all, cosmological information. We present analytical approximations for the A* and traditional power spectra as well as for their covariance matrices in order to calculate analytically their cosmological information content in the context of Fisher information theory. Our approach allows the precise quantitative comparison of the techniques with each other and to the total information in the data, and provides insights into sufficient statistics. In particular, we find that while the A* power spectrum has a similar shape to the usual galaxy power spectrum, its amplitude is strongly modulated by small scale statistics. This effect is mostly responsible for the ability of the A* power spectrum to recapture the information lost for the usual power spectrum. We use our framework to forecast the best achievable cosmological constraints for projected surveys as a function of their galaxy density, and compare the information content of the two power spectra. We find that sufficient statistics extract all cosmological information, resulting in an approximately factor of ~2 gain for dense projected surveys at low redshift. This increase in the effective volume of projected surveys is consistent with previous numerical calculations.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2014

Unveiling the cosmological information beyond linear scales: forecasts for sufficient statistics

Beyond the linear regime, Fourier modes of cosmological random fields become correlated, and the power spectrum of density fluctuations contains only a fraction of the available cosmological information. To unveil this formerly hidden information, the A* non-linear transform was introduced; it is optimized both for the nonlinearities induced by gravity and observational noise. Quantifying the resulting increase of our knowledge of cosmological parameters, we forecast the constraints from the angular power spectrum and that of A* from l ~ 200 to 3000 for upcoming galaxy surveys such as: the Wide-Field Infrared Survey Telescope (WFIRST), the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST), Euclid, the Hyper Suprime-Cam (HSC) and the Dark Energy Survey (DES). We find that at low redshifts this new data analysis strategy can double the extracted information, effectively doubling the survey area. To test the accuracy of our forecasting and the power of our data analysis methods, we apply the A* transformation to the latest release of the Canada-France-Hawaii-Telescope Legacy Survey (CFHTLS) Wide. While this data set is too sparse to allow for more than modest gains (~1.1-1.2), the realized gain from our method is in excellent agreement with our forecast, thus verifying the robustness of our analysis and prediction pipelines.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2006

GalICS V : Low and high order clustering in mock SDSS's

[Abridged] We use mock catalogues based on the GALICS model (Hatton et al. 03) to explore the nature of galaxy clustering observed in the SDSS. We measure low and high order angular clustering statistic from these mock catalogues, after selecting galaxies the same way as for observations, and compare them directly to estimates from SDSS data. Note that we also present measurements of S3-S5 on the SDSS DR1. We find that our model is in general good agreement with observations in the scale/luminosity range where we can trust the predictions. This range is found to be limited (i) by the size of the dark matter simulation used -- which introduces finite volume effects at large scales -- and by the mass resolution of this simulation -- which introduces incompleteness at apparent magnitudes fainter than $r\sim 20$. We then focus on the small scale clustering properties of galaxies and investigate the behaviour of three different prescriptions for positioning galaxies within haloes of dark matter. We show that galaxies are poor tracers both of DM particles or DM sub-structures, within groups and clusters. Instead, SDSS data tells us that the distribution of galaxies lies somewhat in between these two populations. This confirms the general theoretical expectation from numerical simulations and semi-analytic modelling.

astro-ph↗

arXiv2006

The Effect of Large-Scale Structure on the SDSS Galaxy Three-Point Correlation Function

We present measurements of the normalised redshift-space three-point correlation function (Q_z) of galaxies from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) main galaxy sample. We have applied our "npt" algorithm to both a volume-limited (36738 galaxies) and magnitude-limited sample (134741 galaxies) of SDSS galaxies, and find consistent results between the two samples, thus confirming the weak luminosity dependence of Q_z recently seen by other authors. We compare our results to other Q_z measurements in the literature and find it to be consistent within the full jack-knife error estimates. However, we find these errors are significantly increased by the presence of the ``Sloan Great Wall'' (at z ~ 0.08) within these two SDSS datasets, which changes the 3-point correlation function (3PCF) by 70% on large scales (s>=10h^-1 Mpc). If we exclude this supercluster, our observed Q_z is in better agreement with that obtained from the 2dFGRS by other authors, thus demonstrating the sensitivity of these higher-order correlation functions to large-scale structures in the Universe. This analysis highlights that the SDSS datasets used here are not ``fair samples'' of the Universe for the estimation of higher-order clustering statistics and larger volumes are required. We study the shape-dependence of Q_z(s,q,theta) as one expects this measurement to depend on scale if the large scale structure in the Universe has grown via gravitational instability from Gaussian initial conditions. On small scales (s <= 6h^-1 Mpc), we see some evidence for shape-dependence in Q_z, but at present our measurements are consistent with a constant within the errors (Q_z ~ 0.75 +/- 0.05). On scales >10h^-1 Mpc, we see considerable shape-dependence in Q_z.

astro-ph↗

arXiv2005

The Luminosity and Color Dependence of the Galaxy Correlation Function

We study the luminosity and color dependence of the galaxy 2-point correlation function in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, starting from a sample of 200,000 galaxies over 2500 deg^2. We concentrate on the projected correlation function w(r_p), which is directly related to the real space ξ(r). The amplitude of w(r_p) grows continuously with luminosity, rising more steeply above the characteristic luminosity L_*. Redder galaxies exhibit a higher amplitude and steeper correlation function at all luminosities. The correlation amplitude of blue galaxies increases continuously with luminosity, but the luminosity dependence for red galaxies is less regular, with bright red galaxies more strongly clustered at large scales and faint red galaxies more strongly clustered at small scales. We interpret these results using halo occupation distribution (HOD) models assuming concordance cosmological parameters. For most samples, an HOD model with two adjustable parameters fits the w(r_p) data better than a power-law, explaining inflections at r_p ~ 1-3 Mpc/h as the transition between the 1-halo and 2-halo regimes of ξ(r). The implied minimum mass for a halo hosting a central galaxy above a luminosity threshold L grows as M_min ~ L at low luminosities and more steeply above L_*. The mass at which an average halo has one satellite galaxy brighter than L is M_1 ~ 23 M_min(L). These results imply a conditional luminosity function (at fixed halo mass) in which central galaxies lie far above a Schechter function extrapolation of the satellite population. HOD models nicely explain the joint luminosity-color dependence of w(r_p) in terms of the color fractions of central and satellite populations as a function of halo mass. The inferred HOD properties are in good qualitative agreement with theoretical predictions.

astro-ph↗

arXiv2005

Detection of the Baryon Acoustic Peak in the Large-Scale Correlation Function of SDSS Luminous Red Galaxies

We present the large-scale correlation function measured from a spectroscopic sample of 46,748 luminous red galaxies from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. The survey region covers 0.72 h^{-3} Gpc^3 over 3816 square degrees and 0.16<z<0.47, making it the best sample yet for the study of large-scale structure. We find a well-detected peak in the correlation function at 100h^{-1} Mpc separation that is an excellent match to the predicted shape and location of the imprint of the recombination-epoch acoustic oscillations on the low-redshift clustering of matter. This detection demonstrates the linear growth of structure by gravitational instability between z=1000 and the present and confirms a firm prediction of the standard cosmological theory. The acoustic peak provides a standard ruler by which we can measure the ratio of the distances to z=0.35 and z=1089 to 4% fractional accuracy and the absolute distance to z=0.35 to 5% accuracy. From the overall shape of the correlation function, we measure the matter density Omega_mh^2 to 8% and find agreement with the value from cosmic microwave background (CMB) anisotropies. Independent of the constraints provided by the CMB acoustic scale, we find Omega_m = 0.273 +- 0.025 + 0.123 (1+w_0) + 0.137 Omega_K. Including the CMB acoustic scale, we find that the spatial curvature is Omega_K=-0.010+-0.009 if the dark energy is a cosmological constant. More generally, our results provide a measurement of cosmological distance, and hence an argument for dark energy, based on a geometric method with the same simple physics as the microwave background anisotropies. The standard cosmological model convincingly passes these new and robust tests of its fundamental properties.

astro-ph↗

arXiv2004

Cosmological parameters from SDSS and WMAP

We measure cosmological parameters using the three-dimensional power spectrum P(k) from over 200,000 galaxies in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) in combination with WMAP and other data. Our results are consistent with a ``vanilla'' flat adiabatic Lambda-CDM model without tilt (n=1), running tilt, tensor modes or massive neutrinos. Adding SDSS information more than halves the WMAP-only error bars on some parameters, tightening 1 sigma constraints on the Hubble parameter from h~0.74+0.18-0.07 to h~0.70+0.04-0.03, on the matter density from Omega_m~0.25+/-0.10 to Omega_m~0.30+/-0.04 (1 sigma) and on neutrino masses from <11 eV to <0.6 eV (95%). SDSS helps even more when dropping prior assumptions about curvature, neutrinos, tensor modes and the equation of state. Our results are in substantial agreement with the joint analysis of WMAP and the 2dF Galaxy Redshift Survey, which is an impressive consistency check with independent redshift survey data and analysis techniques. In this paper, we place particular emphasis on clarifying the physical origin of the constraints, i.e., what we do and do not know when using different data sets and prior assumptions. For instance, dropping the assumption that space is perfectly flat, the WMAP-only constraint on the measured age of the Universe tightens from t0~16.3+2.3-1.8 Gyr to t0~14.1+1.0-0.9 Gyr by adding SDSS and SN Ia data. Including tensors, running tilt, neutrino mass and equation of state in the list of free parameters, many constraints are still quite weak, but future cosmological measurements from SDSS and other sources should allow these to be substantially tightened.

astro-ph↗