arXiv subjects

Kyle S. Dawson

Publications and source records attributed to Kyle S. Dawson.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

The Power of DESI for Photometric Redshift Calibration: A Case Study with KiDS-1000

Accurate redshift estimates are a critical requirement for weak lensing surveys and one of the main uncertainties in constraints on dark energy and large-scale cosmic structure. In this paper, we study the potential to calibrate photometric redshift (photo-z) distributions for gravitational lensing using the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI). Since beginning its science operations in 2021, DESI has collected more than 50 million redshifts, adding about one million monthly. In addition to its large-scale structure samples, DESI has also acquired over 256k high-quality spectroscopic redshifts (spec-zs) in the COSMOS and XMM and VVDS fields. This is already a factor of 3 larger than previous spec-z calibration compilations in these two regions. Here, we explore calibrating photo-zs for the subset of KiDS-1000 galaxies that fall into joint self-organizing map (SOM) cells overlapping the DESI COSMOS footprint using the DESI COSMOS observations. Estimating the redshift distribution in KiDS-1000 with the new DESI data, we find broad consistency with previously published results while also detecting differences in the mean redshift in some tomographic bins with an average shifts of Delta Mean(z) = -0.028 in the mean and Delta Median(z) = +0.011 in the median across tomographic bins. However, we also find that incompleteness per SOM cell, i.e., groups of galaxies with similar colors and magnitudes, can modify n(z) distributions. Finally, we comment on the fact that larger photometric catalogs, aligned with the DESI COSMOS and DESI XMM and VVDS footprints, would be needed to fully exploit the DESI dataset and would extend the coverage to nearly eight times the area of existing 9-band photometry.

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arXiv2026

The 3D clustering of Lyman Alpha Emitters measured with DESI

We present a clustering analysis of Lyman-$α$ emitters (LAEs) using spectroscopic observations from the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) of candidates selected from the Blanco/DECam Intermediate-Band Imaging Survey (IBIS). We measure the two-point correlation function and the power spectrum, including cross-correlations with DESI quasars. Using both analytical and halo occupation distribution (HOD) simulation-based modeling, we find a linear bias of $b \sim 2.31$--$2.62$ for LAEs over the redshift range $2.26 < z < 3.41$. The analytical modeling also provides constraints on the strength of radiative transfer effects, while the HOD analysis characterizes the LAE-halo connection across multiple models. Finally, we quantify the magnitude of non-perturbative clustering effects such as Fingers of God in the LAE population, providing essential input for the accurate modeling of LAE-based cosmological analyses in forthcoming high-redshift surveys such as DESI-II.

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arXiv2024

The Completed SDSS-IV extended Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey: Cosmological Implications from two Decades of Spectroscopic Surveys at the Apache Point observatory

We present the cosmological implications from final measurements of clustering using galaxies, quasars, and Ly$α$ forests from the completed Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) lineage of experiments in large-scale structure. These experiments, composed of data from SDSS, SDSS-II, BOSS, and eBOSS, offer independent measurements of baryon acoustic oscillation (BAO) measurements of angular-diameter distances and Hubble distances relative to the sound horizon, $r_d$, from eight different samples and six measurements of the growth rate parameter, $fσ_8$, from redshift-space distortions (RSD). This composite sample is the most constraining of its kind and allows us to perform a comprehensive assessment of the cosmological model after two decades of dedicated spectroscopic observation. We show that the BAO data alone are able to rule out dark-energy-free models at more than eight standard deviations in an extension to the flat, $Λ$CDM model that allows for curvature. When combined with Planck Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) measurements of temperature and polarization the BAO data provide nearly an order of magnitude improvement on curvature constraints. The RSD measurements indicate a growth rate that is consistent with predictions from Planck primary data and with General Relativity. When combining the results of SDSS BAO and RSD with external data, all multiple-parameter extensions remain consistent with a $Λ$CDM model. Regardless of cosmological model, the precision on $Ω_Λ$, $H_0$, and $σ_8$, remains at roughly 1\%, showing changes of less than 0.6\% in the central values between models. The inverse distance ladder measurement under a o$w_0w_a$CDM yields $H_0= 68.20 \pm 0.81 \, \rm km\, s^{-1} Mpc^{-1}$, remaining in tension with several direct determination methods. (abridged)

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arXiv2023

The galaxy-halo connection of DESI luminous red galaxies with subhalo abundance matching

We use subhalo abundance and age distribution matching to create magnitude-limited mock galaxy catalogs at $z\sim0.43$, $0.52$, and $0.63$ with $z$-band and $3.4$ micron $W1$-band absolute magnitudes and ${r-z}$ and ${r-W1}$ colors. From these magnitude-limited mocks we select mock luminous red galaxy (LRG) samples according to the $(r-z)$-based (optical) and $(r-W1)$-based (infrared) selection criteria for the LRG sample of the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) Survey. Our models reproduce the number densities, luminosity functions, color distributions, and projected clustering of the DESI Legacy Surveys that are the basis for DESI LRG target selection. We predict the halo occupation statistics of both optical and IR DESI LRGs at fixed cosmology, and assess the differences between the two LRG samples. We find that IR-based SHAM modeling represents the differences between the optical and IR LRG populations better than using the $z$-band, and that age distribution matching overpredicts the clustering of LRGs, implying that galaxy color is uncorrelated with halo age in the LRG regime. Both the optical and IR DESI LRG target selections exclude some of the most luminous galaxies that would appear to be LRGs based on their position on the red sequence in optical color-magnitude space. Both selections also yield populations with a non-trivial LRG-halo connection that does not reach unity for the most massive halos. We find the IR selection achieves greater completeness ($\gtrsim 90\%$) than the optical selection across all redshift bins studied.

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arXiv2023

The completed SDSS-IV extended Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey: measurement of the growth rate of structure from the small-scale clustering of the luminous red galaxy sample

We measure the small-scale clustering of the Data Release 16 extended Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey Luminous Red Galaxy sample, corrected for fibre-collisions using Pairwise Inverse Probability weights, which give unbiased clustering measurements on all scales. We fit to the monopole and quadrupole moments and to the projected correlation function over the separation range $7-60\,h^{-1}$Mpc with a model based on the Aemulus cosmological emulator to measure the growth rate of cosmic structure, parameterized by $fσ_8$. We obtain a measurement of $fσ_8(z=0.737)=0.408\pm0.038$, which is $1.4σ$ lower than the value expected from 2018 Planck data for a flat $Λ$CDM model, and is more consistent with recent weak-lensing measurements. The level of precision achieved is 1.7 times better than more standard measurements made using only the large-scale modes of the same sample. We also fit to the data using the full range of scales $0.1-60\,h^{-1}$Mpc modelled by the Aemulus cosmological emulator and find a $4.5σ$ tension in the amplitude of the halo velocity field with the Planck+$Λ$CDM model, driven by a mismatch on the non-linear scales. This may not be cosmological in origin, and could be due to a breakdown in the Halo Occupation Distribution model used in the emulator. Finally, we perform a robust analysis of possible sources of systematics, including the effects of redshift uncertainty and incompleteness due to target selection that were not included in previous analyses fitting to clustering measurements on small scales.

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arXiv2022

Report of the Topical Group on Dark Energy and Cosmic Acceleration: Complementarity of Probes and New Facilities for Snowmass 2021

The mechanism(s) driving the early- and late-time accelerated expansion of the Universe represent one of the most compelling mysteries in fundamental physics today. The path to understanding the causes of early- and late-time acceleration depends on fully leveraging ongoing surveys, developing and demonstrating new technologies, and constructing and operating new instruments. This report presents a multi-faceted vision for the cosmic survey program in the 2030s and beyond that derives from these considerations. Cosmic surveys address a wide range of fundamental physics questions, and are thus a unique and powerful component of the HEP experimental portfolio.

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arXiv2022

The completed SDSS-IV extended Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey: Cosmological implications from multi-tracer BAO analysis with galaxies and voids

We construct cosmic void catalogues with the DIVE void finder upon SDSS BOSS DR12 and eBOSS DR16 galaxy samples with BAO reconstruction applied, and perform a joint BAO analysis using different types of galaxies and the corresponding voids. The BAO peak is evident for the galaxy-galaxy, galaxy-void, and void-void correlation functions of all datasets, including the ones cross correlating luminous red galaxy and emission line galaxy samples. Two multi-tracer BAO fitting schemes are then tested, one combining the galaxy and void correlation functions with a weight applied to voids, and the other using a single BAO dilation parameter for all clustering measurements of different tracers. Both methods produce consistent results with mock catalogues, and on average ~10 per cent improvements of the BAO statistical uncertainties are observed for all samples, compared to the results from galaxies alone. By combining the clustering of galaxies and voids, the uncertainties of BAO measurements from the SDSS data are reduced by 5 to 15 per cent, yielding 0.9, 0.8, 1.1, 2.3, and 2.9 per cent constraints on the distance $D_{_{\rm V}}(z)$, at effective redshifts of 0.38, 0.51, 0.70, 0.77, and 0.85, respectively. When combined with BAO measurements from SDSS MGS, QSO, and Ly$α$ samples, as well as the BBN results, we obtain $H_0 = 67.58 \pm 0.91\,{\rm km}\,{\rm s}^{-1}\,{\rm Mpc}^{-1}$, $Ω_{\rm m} = 0.290 \pm 0.015$, and $Ω_Λh^2 = 0.3241 \pm 0.0079$ in the flat-$Λ$CDM framework, where the 1$\,σ$ uncertainties are around 6, 6, and 17 per cent smaller respectively, compared to constraints from the corresponding anisotropic BAO measurements without voids and LRG-ELG cross correlations.

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arXiv2022

Combined full shape analysis of BOSS galaxies and eBOSS quasars using an iterative emulator

Standard full-shape clustering analyses in Fourier space rely on a fixed power spectrum template, defined at the fiducial cosmology used to convert redshifts into distances, and compress the cosmological information into the Alcock-Paczynski parameters and the linear growth rate of structure. In this paper, we propose an analysis method that operates directly in the cosmology parameter space and varies the power spectrum template accordingly at each tested point. Predictions for the power spectrum multipoles from the TNS model are computed at different cosmologies in the framework of $Λ\rm{CDM}$. Applied to the final eBOSS QSO and LRG samples together with the low-z DR12 BOSS galaxy sample, our analysis results in a set of constraints on the cosmological parameters $Ω_{\rm cdm}$, $H_0$, $σ_8$, $Ω_{\rm b}$ and $n_s$. To reduce the number of computed models, we construct an iterative process to sample the likelihood surface, where each iteration consists of a Gaussian process regression. This method is validated with mocks from N-body simulations. From the combined analysis of the (e)BOSS data, we obtain the following constraints: $σ_8=0.877\pm 0.049$ and $Ω_{\rm m}=0.304^{+0.016}_{-0.010}$ without any external prior. The eBOSS quasar sample alone shows a $3.1σ$ discrepancy compared to the Planck prediction.

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arXiv2021

The Completed SDSS-IV extended Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey: N-body Mock Challenge for the eBOSS Emission Line Galaxy Sample

Cosmological growth can be measured in the redshift space clustering of galaxies targeted by spectroscopic surveys. Accurate prediction of clustering of galaxies will require understanding galaxy physics which is a very hard and highly non-linear problem. Approximate models of redshift space distortion (RSD) take a perturbative approach to solve the evolution of dark matter and galaxies in the universe. In this paper we focus on eBOSS emission line galaxies (ELGs) which live in intermediate mass haloes. We create a series of mock catalogues using haloes from the Multidark and {\sc Outer Rim} dark matter only N-body simulations. Our mock catalogues include various effects inspired by baryonic physics such as assembly bias and the characteristics of satellite galaxies kinematics, dynamics and statistics deviating from dark matter particles. We analyse these mocks using the TNS RSD model in Fourier space and the CLPT in configuration space. We conclude that these two RSD models provide an unbiased measurement of redshift space distortion within the statistical error of our mocks. We obtain the conservative theoretical systematic uncertainty of $3.3\%$, $1.8\%$ and $1.5\%$ in $fσ_8$, $α_{\parallel}$ and $α_{\bot}$ respectively for the TNS and CLPT models. We note that the estimated theoretical systematic error is an order of magnitude smaller than the statistical error of the eBOSS ELG sample and hence are negligible for the purpose of the current eBOSS ELG analysis.

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arXiv2021

The Completed SDSS-IV extended Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey: BAO and RSD measurements from the anisotropic power spectrum of the Quasar sample between redshift 0.8 and 2.2

We measure the clustering of quasars of the final data release (DR16) of eBOSS. The sample contains $343\,708$ quasars between redshifts $0.8\leq z\leq2.2$ over $4699\,\mathrm{deg}^2$. We calculate the Legendre multipoles (0,2,4) of the anisotropic power spectrum and perform a BAO and a Full-Shape (FS) analysis at the effective redshift $z{\rm eff}=1.480$. The errors include systematic errors that amount to 1/3 of the statistical error. The systematic errors comprise a modelling part studied using a blind N-Body mock challenge and observational effects studied with approximate mocks to account for various types of redshift smearing and fibre collisions. For the BAO analysis, we measure the transverse comoving distance $D_{\rm M}(z_{\rm eff})/r_{\rm drag}=30.60\pm{0.90}$ and the Hubble distance $D_{\rm H}(z_{\rm eff})/r_{\rm drag}=13.34\pm{0.60}$. This agrees with the configuration space analysis, and the consensus yields: $D_{\rm M}(z_{\rm eff})/r_{\rm drag}=30.69\pm{0.80}$ and $D_{\rm H}(z_{\rm eff})/r_{\rm drag}=13.26\pm{0.55}$. In the FS analysis, we fit the power spectrum using a model based on Regularised Perturbation Theory, which includes Redshift Space Distortions and the Alcock-Paczynski effect. The results are $D_{\rm M}(z_{\rm eff})/r_{\rm drag}=30.68\pm{0.90}$ and $D_{\rm H}(z_{\rm eff})/r_{\rm drag}=13.52\pm{0.51}$ and we constrain the linear growth rate of structure $f(z_{\rm eff})σ_8(z_{\rm eff})=0.476\pm{0.047}$. Our results agree with the configuration space analysis. The consensus analysis of the eBOSS quasar sample yields: $D_{\rm M}(z_{\rm eff})/r_{\rm drag}=30.21\pm{0.79}$, $D_{\rm H}(z_{\rm eff})/r_{\rm drag}=3.23\pm{0.47}$ and $f(z_{\rm eff})σ_8(z_{\rm eff})=0.462\pm{0.045}$ and is consistent with a flat $Λ{\rm CDM}$ cosmological model using Planck results.

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arXiv2021

The Completed SDSS-IV Extended Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey: N-body Mock Challenge for Galaxy Clustering Measurements

We develop a series of N-body data challenges, functional to the final analysis of the extended Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (eBOSS) Data Release 16 (DR16) galaxy sample. The challenges are primarily based on high-fidelity catalogs constructed from the Outer Rim simulation - a large box size realization (3 Gpc/h) characterized by an unprecedented combination of volume and mass resolution, down to 1.85x10^9 M_sun/h. We generate synthetic galaxy mocks by populating Outer Rim halos with a variety of halo occupation distribution (HOD) schemes of increasing complexity, spanning different redshift intervals. We then assess the performance of three complementary redshift space distortion (RSD) models in configuration and Fourier space, adopted for the analysis of the complete DR16 eBOSS sample of Luminous Red Galaxies (LRGs). We find all the methods mutually consistent, with comparable systematic errors on the Alcock-Paczynski parameters and the growth of structure, and robust to different HOD prescriptions - thus validating the robustness of the models and the pipelines used for the baryon acoustic oscillation (BAO) and full shape clustering analysis. In particular, all the techniques are able to recover a_par and a_perp to within 0.9%, and fsig8 to within 1.5%. As a by-product of our work, we are also able to gain interesting insights on the galaxy-halo connection. Our study is relevant for the final eBOSS DR16 `consensus cosmology', as the systematic error budget is informed by testing the results of analyses against these high-resolution mocks. In addition, it is also useful for future large-volume surveys, since similar mock-making techniques and systematic corrections can be readily extended to model for instance the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) galaxy sample.

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arXiv2021

The Completed SDSS-IV extended Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey: a multi-tracer analysis in Fourier space for measuring the cosmic structure growth and expansion rate

We perform a joint BAO and RSD analysis using the eBOSS DR16 LRG and ELG samples in the redshift range of $z\in[0.6,1.1]$, and detect a RSD signal from the cross power spectrum at a $\sim4σ$ confidence level, i.e., $fσ_8=0.317\pm0.080$ at $z_{\rm eff}=0.77$. Based on the chained power spectrum, which is a new development in this work to mitigate the angular systematics, we measurement the BAO distances and growth rate simultaneously at two effective redshifts, namely, $D_{\rm M}/r_{\rm d} \ (z=0.70)=17.96\pm0.51, \ D_{\rm H}/r_{\rm d} \ (z=0.70)=21.22\pm1.20, \ fσ_8 \ (z=0.70) =0.43\pm0.05$, and $D_{\rm M}/r_{\rm d} \ (z=0.845)=18.90\pm0.78, \ D_{\rm H}/r_{\rm d} \ (z=0.845)=20.91\pm2.86, \ fσ_8 \ (z=0.845) =0.30\pm0.08$. Combined with BAO measurements including those from the eBOSS DR16 QSO and Lyman-$α$ sample, our measurement has raised the significance level of a nonzero $Ω_{\rm Λ}$ to $\sim11σ$.

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arXiv2021

The completed SDSS-IV extended Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey: 1000 multi-tracer mock catalogues with redshift evolution and systematics for galaxies and quasars of the final data release

We produce 1000 realizations of synthetic clustering catalogues for each type of the tracers used for the baryon acoustic oscillation and redshift space distortion analysis of the Sloan Digital Sky Surveys-IV extended Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey final data release (eBOSS DR16), covering the redshift range from 0.6 to 2.2, to provide reliable estimates of covariance matrices and test the robustness of the analysis pipeline with respect to observational systematics. By extending the Zel'dovich approximation density field with an effective tracer bias model calibrated with the clustering measurements from the observational data, we accurately reproduce the two- and three-point clustering statistics of the eBOSS DR16 tracers, including their cross-correlations in redshift space with very low computational costs. In addition, we include the gravitational evolution of structures and sample selection biases at different redshifts, as well as various photometric and spectroscopic systematic effects. The agreements on the auto-clustering statistics between the data and mocks are generally within 1 $σ$ variances inferred from the mocks, for scales down to a few $h^{-1}\,{\rm Mpc}$ in configuration space, and up to $0.3\,h\,{\rm Mpc}^{-1}$ in Fourier space. For the cross correlations between different tracers, the same level of consistency presents in configuration space, while there are only discrepancies in Fourier space for scales above $0.15\,h\,{\rm Mpc}^{-1}$. The accurate reproduction of the data clustering statistics permits reliable covariances for multi-tracer analysis.

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arXiv2021

The Completed SDSS-IV extended Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey: measurement of the BAO and growth rate of structure of the emission line galaxy sample from the anisotropic power spectrum between redshift 0.6 and 1.1

We analyse the large-scale clustering in Fourier space of emission line galaxies (ELG) from the Data Release 16 of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey IV extended Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey. The ELG sample contains 173,736 galaxies covering 1,170 square degrees in the redshift range $0.6 < z < 1.1$. We perform a BAO measurement from the post-reconstruction power spectrum monopole, and study redshift space distortions (RSD) in the first three even multipoles. Photometric variations yield fluctuations of both the angular and radial survey selection functions. Those are directly inferred from data, imposing integral constraints which we model consistently. The full data set has only a weak preference for a BAO feature ($1.4σ$). At the effective redshift $z_{\rm eff} = 0.845$ we measure $D_{\rm V}(z_{\rm eff})/r_{\rm drag} = 18.33_{-0.62}^{+0.57}$, with $D_{\rm V}$ the volume-averaged distance and $r_{\rm drag}$ the comoving sound horizon at the drag epoch. In combination with the RSD measurement, at $z_{\rm eff} = 0.85$ we find $fσ_8(z_{\rm eff}) = 0.289_{-0.096}^{+0.085}$, with $f$ the growth rate of structure and $σ_8$ the normalisation of the linear power spectrum, $D_{\rm H}(z_{\rm eff})/r_{\rm drag} = 20.0_{-2.2}^{+2.4}$ and $D_{\rm M}(z_{\rm eff})/r_{\rm drag} = 19.17 \pm 0.99$ with $D_{\rm H}$ and $D_{\rm M}$ the Hubble and comoving angular distances, respectively. These results are in agreement with those obtained in configuration space, thus allowing a consensus measurement of $fσ_8(z_{\rm eff}) = 0.315 \pm 0.095$, $D_{\rm H}(z_{\rm eff})/r_{\rm drag} = 19.6_{-2.1}^{+2.2}$ and $D_{\rm M}(z_{\rm eff})/r_{\rm drag} = 19.5 \pm 1.0$. This measurement is consistent with a flat $Λ$CDM model with Planck parameters.

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arXiv2021

The Completed SDSS-IV extended Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey: A Catalogue of Strong Galaxy-Galaxy Lens Candidates

We spectroscopically detected 838 likely, 448 probable, and 265 possible strong lens candidates within $\approx2$ million galaxy spectra contained within the extended Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (eBOSS) from the sixteenth data release (DR16) of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS). We apply the spectroscopic detection method of the Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (BOSS) Emission-Line Lens Survey (BELLS) and add Gaussian fit information, grading, additional inspection observables, and additional inspection methods to improve our selection method. We observed 477 candidates with lensing evidence within low-resolution images from both the Legacy survey of SDSS-I/II and the DESI Legacy survey, which is $12\%$ higher than the percentage of BELLS candidates observed with similar lensing evidence. Our search within the latest and improved reductions of the BOSS survey yielded a $20\%$ increase in the number of lens candidates expected from searching all BOSS and eBOSS galaxies. The distribution of target and background redshifts of our candidates is similar to the candidates and confirmed lenses within the BELLS observations. We present our Spectroscopic Identification of Lensing Objects (SILO) candidates in a value-added catalogue (VAC) in SDSS DR16. The examination of these lens candidates in follow-up high-resolution imaging may yield more than twice the lenses found in previous spectroscopic detection surveys within SDSS, which would extend the results of previous lens surveys within SDSS to higher redshifts, constrain models of mass structures in spiral galaxies, and test if including the identification of possible lensing features within low-resolution images has merit to spectroscopic detection programs.

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arXiv2020

The Completed SDSS-IV extended Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey: BAO and RSD measurements from anisotropic clustering analysis of the Quasar Sample in configuration space between redshift 0.8 and 2.2

We measure the anisotropic clustering of the quasar sample from Data Release 16 (DR16) of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey IV extended Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (eBOSS). A sample of $343,708$ spectroscopically confirmed quasars between redshift $0.8<z<2.2$ are used as tracers of the underlying dark matter field. In comparison with DR14 sample, the final sample doubles the number of objects as well as the survey area. In this paper, we present the analysis in configuration space by measuring the two-point correlation function and decompose using the Legendre polynomials. For the full-shape analysis of the Legendre multipole moments, we measure the BAO distance and the growth rate of the cosmic structure. At an effective redshift of $z_{\rm eff}=1.48$, we measure the comoving angular diameter distance $D_{\rm M}(z_{\rm eff})/r_{\rm drag} = 30.66\pm0.88$, the Hubble distance $D_{\rm H}(z_{\rm eff})/r_{\rm drag} = 13.11\pm0.52$, and the growth rate $fσ_8(z_{\rm eff}) = 0.439\pm0.048$. The accuracy of these measurements is confirmed using an extensive set of mock simulations developed for the quasar sample. The uncertainties on the distance and growth rate measurements have been reduced substantially ($\sim 45\%$ and $\sim30\%$) with respect to the DR14 results. We also perform a BAO-only analysis to cross check the robustness of the methodology of the full-shape analysis. Combining our analysis with the Fourier space analysis, we arrive at $D^{\bf{c}}_{\rm M}(z_{\rm eff})/r_{\rm drag} = 30.22 \pm 0.79$, $D^{\bf{c}}_{\rm H}(z_{\rm eff})/r_{\rm drag} = 13.26 \pm 0.47$, and $fσ_8^{\bf{c}}(z_{\rm eff}) = 0.464 \pm 0.045$.

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arXiv2020

The Completed SDSS-IV extended Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey: measurement of the BAO and growth rate of structure of the luminous red galaxy sample from the anisotropic power spectrum between redshifts 0.6 and 1.0

We analyse the clustering of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey IV extended Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey Data Release 16 luminous red galaxy sample (DR16 eBOSS LRG) in combination with the high redshift tail of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey III Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey Data Release 12 (DR12 BOSS CMASS). We measure the redshift space distortions (RSD) and also extract the longitudinal and transverse baryonic acoustic oscillation (BAO) scale from the anisotropic power spectrum signal inferred from 377,458 galaxies between redshifts 0.6 and 1.0, with effective redshift of $z_{\rm eff}=0.698$ and effective comoving volume of $2.72\,{\rm Gpc}^3$. After applying reconstruction we measure the BAO scale and infer $D_H(z_{\rm eff})/r_{\rm drag} = 19.30\pm 0.56$ and $D_M(z_{\rm eff})/r_{\rm drag} =17.86 \pm 0.37$. When we perform a redshift space distortions analysis on the pre-reconstructed catalogue on the monopole, quadrupole and hexadecapole we find, $D_H(z_{\rm eff})/r_{\rm drag} = 20.18\pm 0.78$, $D_M(z_{\rm eff})/r_{\rm drag} =17.49 \pm 0.52$ and $fσ_8(z_{\rm eff})=0.454\pm0.046$. We combine both sets of results along with the measurements in configuration space of \cite{LRG_corr} and report the following consensus values: $D_H(z_{\rm eff})/r_{\rm drag} = 19.77\pm 0.47$, $D_M(z_{\rm eff})/r_{\rm drag} = 17.65\pm 0.30$ and $fσ_8(z_{\rm eff})=0.473\pm 0.044$, which are in full agreement with the standard $Λ$CDM and GR predictions. These results represent the most precise measurements within the redshift range $0.6\leq z \leq 1.0$ and are the culmination of more than 8 years of SDSS observations.

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arXiv2020

The Completed SDSS-IV Extended Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey: N-body Mock Challenge for the Quasar Sample

The growth rate and expansion history of the Universe can be measured from large galaxy redshift surveys using the Alcock-Paczynski effect. We validate the Redshift Space Distortion models used in the final analysis of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) extended Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (eBOSS) Data Release 16 quasar clustering sample, in configuration and Fourier space, using a series of HOD mock catalogues generated using the OuterRim N-body simulation. We test three models on a series of non-blind mocks, in the OuterRim cosmology, and blind mocks, which have been rescaled to new cosmologies, and investigate the effects of redshift smearing and catastrophic redshifts. We find that for the non-blind mocks, the models are able to recover $fσ_8$ to within 3% and $α_\parallel$ and $α_\bot$ to within 1%. The scatter in the measurements is larger for the blind mocks, due to the assumption of an incorrect fiducial cosmology. From this mock challenge, we find that all three models perform well, with similar systematic errors on $fσ_8$, $α_\parallel$ and $α_\bot$ at the level of $σ_{fσ_8}=0.013$, $σ_{α_\parallel}=0.012$ and $σ_{α_\bot}=0.008$. The systematic error on the combined consensus is $σ_{fσ_8}=0.011$, $σ_{α_\parallel}=0.008$ and $σ_{α_\bot}=0.005$, which is used in the final DR16 analysis. For BAO fits in configuration and Fourier space, we take conservative systematic errors of $σ_{α_\parallel}=0.010$ and $σ_{α_\bot}=0.007$.

astro-ph.CO↗