arXiv subjects

Juan Mena-Fernández

Publications and source records attributed to Juan Mena-Fernández.

11 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Angular Baryon Acoustic Oscillations with DESI DR1

We present the angular BAO analysis using DESI DR1 data as a complementary approach to DESI's primary 3D BAO analysis. We perform the analysis using the two-point angular correlation function $w(θ)$ in tomographic redshift shells of $δz = 0.02, 0.05$, spanning the redshift range $0.4 < z < 2.1$ using the DESI tracers: LRG1, LRG2, LRG3+ELG1, ELG2 and QSO. The main benefit is that it requires no fiducial cosmology to convert redshifts into distances and yields a direct measurement of the transverse dilation parameter $α_{\perp}(z)$. We fit each tracer with a single shared $α_{\perp}(z)$ using templates constructed in a fiducial cosmology and a mock-based covariance from 1000 EZmock realisations. We measure $α_\perp$ to $2.5$ -- $4.2\%$ precision in each tracer bin. Compared to the $D_M/r_{\rm d}$ measurements obtained from the DESI DR1 3D analysis for the same tracers, our results are consistent within the statistical precision. We find no evidence for a shift in the transverse BAO scale between the 2D and 3D analyses. Flat $Λ$CDM fits to $α_\perp(z)$ alone give $Ω_{\rm m} = 0.198^{+0.045}_{-0.068}$, $1.6σ$ below the DESI 3D value, and the pull is dominated by the $z =1.49$ QSO bin, whose $α_\perp(z=1.49)=1.058\pm0.028$ sits $\sim 2σ$ above the fiducial. Restricting to LRGs and ELGs only, our $Ω_{\rm m}$ and $H_0 r_{\rm d}$ agree with the 3D transverse-only fit over the same bins to better than $0.1σ$. With an additional BBN prior, the full 2D sample gives $H_0 = 63.9^{+1.9}_{-3.3}\, {\rm km\,s^{-1}\,Mpc^{-1}}$. This pipeline is implementable on forthcoming DESI data releases, where the increase in volume and sampling density will determine if the QSO offset persists and will also tighten 2D BAO constraints.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2026

Challenges to the cosmological constant model following results from the Dark Energy Survey

In the last year, several pieces of evidence have pointed to a possible deviation from the standard cosmological model, $Λ$CDM. The recent work by the Dark Energy Survey (DES) collaboration reports a preference in the ballpark of $3σ$ in favor of dynamical dark energy against the standard cosmological model. For that, it used its final analyses of Baryonic Acoustic Oscillations and type Ia Supernovae, both sensitive to the expansion history of the Universe, in combination with the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) from Planck. This adds to the growing debate about the nature of dark energy. Published as a Perspective in Nature Astronomy in August 2025.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2026

$4\times3$ Point Correlation Functions in Galaxy Surveys: Impact of Baryonic Feedback

We investigate the impact of baryonic feedback on two-point and three-point correlation functions (2PCFs and 3PCFs hereafter, respectively) involving galaxy density fields (g) and weak lensing shear fields (G), from simulated photometric catalogs of galaxies. Specifically, we baryonify high-resolution simulation using a baryonic correction model (BCM) and explore the consequences down to sub-arcminute (arcmin) scales, varying two model parameters with the largest impact on our probes: $M_{\rm c}$, which governs the amount of gas expelled beyond the halo boundary, and $θ_{\rm ej}$, which encodes the maximal ejection radius relative to halo boundary. We create lensing maps and galaxy catalogs assuming survey properties of the upcoming Year-10 data for the Vera C. Rubin Observatory's Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST), and investigate the impact of baryonic feedback on the observed correlations, including the galaxy--galaxy--shear (ggG) and the galaxy--shear--shear (gGG) 3PCFs, which are measured, for the first time from simulations, with \textsc{TreeCorr}. Focusing on equilateral 3PCFs, we find that small scales are more heavily affected by baryonic effects than the corresponding 2PCFs, by up to 90 percent depending on the probe, redshift and BCM model. The galaxy--galaxy--galaxy (ggg) 3PCF is significantly affected at scales smaller than about 4 arcmin; a similar effect occurs at 10 arcmin for the ggG 3PCF, at 40 arcmin for the gGG 3PCF, and at about a degree for the shear--shear--shear (GGG) 3PCF. These four three-point statistics, which are collectively referred to as the $4\times3$PCFs, can be used at large scales to robustly constrain cosmological parameters. At smaller scales, their enhanced sensitivity to baryonic effects provides valuable leverage for constraining the BCM parameters and supplying informative priors. [Abridged]

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2026

Dimensional reduction for sampled priors and application to photometric redshift distributions

A typical Bayesian inference on the values of some parameters of interest $\bf q$ from some data $D$ involves running a Markov Chain (MC) to sample from the posterior $p({\bf q},{\bf n} | D) \propto \mathcal{L}(D | {\bf q},{\bf n}) p({\bf q}) p({\bf n}),$ where $\bf n$ are some nuisance parameters with separable prior. In some cases, the nuisance parameters are high-dimensional, and their prior $p({\bf n})$ is itself defined only by a set of samples that have been drawn from some other MC. The MC for the posterior will typically require evaluation of $p({\bf n})$ at arbitrary values of ${\bf n},$ i.e.\ one needs to provide a density estimator over the full $\bf n$ space from the provided samples. But the high dimensionality of $\bf n$ hinders both the density estimation and the efficiency of the MC for the posterior. We describe a solution to this problem: a linear compression of the $\bf n$ space into a much lower-dimensional space $\bf u$ which projects away directions in $\bf n$ space that cannot appreciably alter $\mathcal{L}.$ The algorithm for doing so is a slight modification to principal components analysis, and is less restrictive on $p(\bf n)$ than other proposed solutions to this issue. We demonstrate this ``mode projection'' technique using the analysis of 2-point correlation functions of weak lensing fields and galaxy density in the \textit{Dark Energy Survey}, where $\bf n$ is a binned representation of the redshift distribution $n(z)$ of the galaxies.

astro-ph.IM↗

arXiv2026

Brightest Cluster Galaxy ellipticity as proxy for halo shape: Orientation bias, assembly bias, and potential selection effects in SZ-selected clusters

The orientation of triaxial galaxy clusters with respect to the line-of-sight is expected to be one of the prime sources of scatter and potential bias in optical observables (e.g., richness and weak-lensing signal) of galaxy clusters. In this work, we use the observed shape of the central Brightest Cluster Galaxy (BCG) as proxy for the orientation along the line-of-sight for clusters selected via the Sunyaev-Zel'dovich (SZ) effect from the South Pole Telescope (SPT) and Atacama Cosmology Telescope (ACT) surveys, matched to optically selected clusters from the Dark Energy Survey Year 3 (DES). We construct two samples of clusters that are designed to be identical in SZ mass estimate and redshift but with the roundest vs. the most elliptical BCGs, which we expect to correspond to BCGs (and clusters) with major axes aligned along the line-of-sight vs. in the plane of the sky, respectively. We find that the optical richness of round-BCG clusters is $\sim 10$\% larger than that of elliptical-BCG clusters, in agreement with the expectation from projection effects and presenting the first such detection in data. The density profiles, however, are not in agreement with the expectation from projection effects: the 1-halo term (below $6~h^{-1}\rm{Mpc}$) of both the weak-lensing and galaxy density profiles are the same for the subsamples, contrary to previous studies based on X-ray selected clusters. In the 2-halo regime (above $6~h^{-1}\rm{Mpc}$), we find a significant excess of the elliptical-BCG cluster profiles compared to the round-BCG cluster profiles, which is the opposite of the expectation from numerical simulations. We hypothesize that the intrinsic shape of the BCG reflects not just the orientation angle, but also intrinsic properties of the cluster which can affect both the SZ signal and the amplitude of the 2-halo term.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2025

Analytical and EZmock covariance validation for the DESI 2024 results

The estimation of uncertainties in cosmological parameters is an important challenge in Large-Scale-Structure (LSS) analyses. For standard analyses such as Baryon Acoustic Oscillations (BAO) and Full Shape, two approaches are usually considered. First: analytical estimates of the covariance matrix use Gaussian approximations and (nonlinear) clustering measurements to estimate the matrix, which allows a relatively fast and computationally cheap way to generate matrices that adapt to an arbitrary clustering measurement. On the other hand, sample covariances are an empirical estimate of the matrix based on en ensemble of clustering measurements from fast and approximate simulations. While more computationally expensive due to the large amount of simulations and volume required, these allow us to take into account systematics that are impossible to model analytically. In this work we compare these two approaches in order to enable DESI's key analyses. We find that the configuration space analytical estimate performs satisfactorily in BAO analyses and its flexibility in terms of input clustering makes it the fiducial choice for DESI's 2024 BAO analysis. On the contrary, the analytical computation of the covariance matrix in Fourier space does not reproduce the expected measurements in terms of Full Shape analyses, which motivates the use of a corrected mock covariance for DESI's Full Shape analysis.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2024

The Gravitational Lensing Imprints of DES Y3 Superstructures on the CMB: A Matched Filtering Approach

$ $Low density cosmic voids gravitationally lens the cosmic microwave background (CMB), leaving a negative imprint on the CMB convergence $κ$. This effect provides insight into the distribution of matter within voids, and can also be used to study the growth of structure. We measure this lensing imprint by cross-correlating the Planck CMB lensing convergence map with voids identified in the Dark Energy Survey Year 3 data set, covering approximately 4,200 deg$^2$ of the sky. We use two distinct void-finding algorithms: a 2D void-finder which operates on the projected galaxy density field in thin redshift shells, and a new code, Voxel, which operates on the full 3D map of galaxy positions. We employ an optimal matched filtering method for cross-correlation, using the MICE N-body simulation both to establish the template for the matched filter and to calibrate detection significances. Using the DES Y3 photometric luminous red galaxy sample, we measure $A_κ$, the amplitude of the observed lensing signal relative to the simulation template, obtaining $A_κ= 1.03 \pm 0.22$ ($4.6σ$ significance) for Voxel and $A_κ= 1.02 \pm 0.17$ ($5.9σ$ significance) for 2D voids, both consistent with $Λ$CDM expectations. We additionally invert the 2D void-finding process to identify superclusters in the projected density field, for which we measure $A_κ= 0.87 \pm 0.15$ ($5.9σ$ significance). The leading source of noise in our measurements is Planck noise, implying that future data from the Atacama Cosmology Telescope (ACT), South Pole Telescope (SPT) and CMB-S4 will increase sensitivity and allow for more precise measurements.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2024

Dark Energy Survey: 2.1% measurement of the Baryon Acoustic Oscillation scale from the final dataset

Here, we present the angular diameter distance measurement obtained from the measurement of the Baryonic Acoustic Oscillation (BAO) feature using the completed Dark Energy Survey (DES) data, summarizing the main results of [Phys. Rev. D 110, 063514] and [Phys. Rev. D 110, 063515]. We use a galaxy sample optimized for BAO science in the redshift range 0.6 < z < 1.2, with an effective redshift of $z_{\rm eff}$ = 0.85. Our consensus measurement constrains the ratio of the angular distance to the sound horizon scale to $D_M(z_{\rm eff})/r_d$ = 19.51 $\pm$ 0.41. This measurement is found to be 2.13$σ$ below the angular BAO scale predicted by Planck. To date, it represents the most precise measurement from purely photometric data, and the most precise from any Stage-III experiment at such high redshift. The analysis was performed blinded to the BAO position and is shown to be robust against analysis choices, data removal, redshift calibrations and observational systematics.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2023

Mitigating the noise of DESI mocks using analytic control variates

In order to address fundamental questions related to the expansion history of the Universe and its primordial nature with the next generation of galaxy experiments, we need to model reliably large-scale structure observables such as the correlation function and the power spectrum. Cosmological $N$-body simulations provide a reference through which we can test our models, but their output suffers from sample variance on large scales. Fortunately, this is the regime where accurate analytic approximations exist. To reduce the variance, which is key to making optimal use of these simulations, we can leverage the accuracy and precision of such analytic descriptions using Control Variates (CV). The power of control variates stems from utilizing inexpensive but highly correlated surrogates of the statistics one wishes to measure. The stronger the correlation between the surrogate and the statistic of interest, the larger the variance reduction delivered by the method. We apply two control variate formulations to mock catalogs generated in anticipation of upcoming data from the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) to test the robustness of its analysis pipeline. Our CV-reduced measurements offer a factor of 5-10 improvement in the measurement error compared with the raw measurements. We explore the relevant properties of the galaxy samples that dictate this reduction and comment on the improvements we find on some of the derived quantities relevant to Baryon Acoustic Oscillation (BAO) analysis. We also provide an optimized package for computing the power spectra and other two-point statistics of an arbitrary galaxy catalog as well as a pipeline for obtaining CV-reduced measurements on any of the AbacusSummit cubic box outputs. We make our scripts publicly available and report a speed improvement of $\sim$10 for a grid size of $N_{\rm mesh} = 256^3$ compared with \texttt{nbodykit}.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2019

Reconstruction of the neutron star equation of state from $w$-quasinormal modes spectra with a piecewise polytropic meshing and refinement method

In this paper we present a new approach to the inverse problem for relativistic stars using quasinormal modes and the piecewise polytropic parametrization of the equation of state. The algorithm is a piecewise polytropic meshing and refinement method that reconstructs the neutron star equation of state from experimental data of the mass and the $wI$-quasinormal modes. We present an algorithm able to numerically calculate axial quasinormal modes of neutron stars in an efficient way. We use an initial mesh of $27440$ equations of state in a $4$-volume of piecewise polytropic parameters that contains most of the candidate equations of state used today. The refinement process drives us to the reconstruction of the equation of state with a certain precision. Using the reconstructed equation of state, we calculate predictions for tidal deformability and slow rotation parameters (moment of inertia and quadrupole moment, for example). In order to check the method with an explicit example, we use as input data a few (five) configurations of a given equation of state. We reconstruct the equation of state in a quite good approximation, and then we compare the curves of physical parameters from the original equation of state and the reconstructed one. We obtain a relative difference for all of the parameters smaller than $2.5\%$ except for the tidal deformability, for which we obtain a relative difference smaller than $6.5\%$. We also study constraints from GW170817 event for the reconstructed equation of state.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2019

Piecewise polytropic meshing and refinement method for the reconstruction of the neutron star equation of state using tidal deformabilities and constraints in the piecewise polytropic parameters given by the GW170817 event

In this paper we present a new approach to the inverse problem for relativistic stars using the piecewise polytropic parametrization of the equation of state. The algorithm is a piecewise polytropic meshing and refinement method that reconstructs the neutron star equation of state from experimental data of the mass and the tidal Love parameter. We use an initial mesh of 65536 equations of state in a 4-volume of piecewise polytropic parameters that contains most of the candidate equations of state used today. The refinement process drives us to the reconstruction of the equation of state with a certain precision. Using the reconstructed equation of state, we calculate predictions for quasinormal modes and slow rotation parameters. In order to check the meshing and refinement method, we use as input data a few (6) configurations of a given equation of state. We reconstruct the equation of state in a quite good approximation, and then we compare the curves of physical parameters from the original equation of state and the reconstructed one. We obtain a relative difference for all the parameters smaller than 7.5%. We also study the constraints that impose the GW170817 event on the piecewise polytropic parameters $\{{\log_{10}p_1},{Γ_1},{Γ_2},{Γ_3}\}$. We use the waveform model TaylorF2 for the low-spin scenario, and see that the EOSs that lie outside the 90% credible region when ${\barλ^{tid}_1}={\barλ^{tid}_2}$ define a zone of polytropic parameters that does not depend on ${Γ_3}$.

gr-qc↗