arXiv subjects

Lam Hui

Publications and source records attributed to Lam Hui.

At least 127 records · Page 7Linked to original sources

arXiv2002

Inferring the Linear Power Spectrum from the Lyman-alpha Forest

We discuss the determination of the linear power spectrum of dark matter fluctuations from measurements of the transmitted flux Ly-alpha Forest power spectrum. We show that at most scales probed by current measurements, the flux power spectrum is significantly affected by non-linear corrections to the linear dark matter power spectrum due to gravitational clustering. Inferring the linear dark matter power spectrum shape is therefore difficult due to non-linear corrections driving the non-linear power spectrum to a k^{-1.4} shape nearly independent of initial conditions. We argue that some methods used in previous estimates underestimate the uncertainties in the shape of the linear dark matter power spectrum.

astro-ph↗

arXiv2002

How Neutral is the Intergalactic Medium at z ~ 6?

Recent observations of high redshift quasar spectra reveal long gaps with little flux. A small or no detectable flux does not by itself imply the intergalactic medium (IGM) is neutral. Inferring the average neutral fraction from the observed absorption requires assumptions about clustering of the IGM, which the gravitational instability model supplies. Our most stringent constraint on the neutral fraction at z ~ 6 is derived from the mean Lyman-beta transmission measured from the z=6.28 SDSS quasar of Becker et al. -- the neutral hydrogen fraction at mean density has to be larger than 4.7 times 10^{-4}. This is substantially higher than the neutral fraction of ~ 3-5 times 10^{-5} at z = 4.5 - 5.7, suggesting that dramatic changes take place around or just before z ~ 6, even though current constraints are still consistent with a fairly ionized IGM at z ~ 6. An interesting alternative method to constrain the neutral fraction is to consider the probability of having many consecutive pixels with little flux, which is small unless the neutral fraction is high. This constraint is slightly weaker than the one obtained from the mean transmission. We show that while the derived neutral fraction at a given redshift is sensitive to the power spectrum normalization, the size of the jump around z ~ 6 is not. We caution that systematic uncertainties include spatial fluctuations in the ionizing background, and the continuum placement. Tests are proposed. In particular, the sightline to sightline dispersion in mean transmission might provide a useful diagnostic. We express the dispersion in terms of the transmission power spectrum, and develop a method to calculate the dispersion for spectra that are longer than the typical simulation box.

astro-ph↗

arXiv2002

Analysis of Systematic Effects and Statistical Uncertainties in Angular Clustering of Galaxies from Early SDSS Data

The angular distribution of galaxies encodes a wealth of information about large scale structure. Ultimately, the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) will record the angular positions of order 10^8 galaxies in five bands, adding significantly to the cosmological constraints. This is the first in a series of papers analyzing a rectangular stripe 2.5x90 degrees from early SDSS data. We present the angular correlation function for galaxies in four separate magnitude bins on angular scales ranging from 0.003 degrees to 15 degrees. Much of the focus of this paper is on potential systematic effects. We show that the final galaxy catalog -- with the mask accounting for regions of poor seeing, reddening, bright stars, etc. -- is free from external and internal systematic effects for galaxies brighter than r* = 22. Our estimator of the angular correlation function includes the effects of the integral constraint and the mask. The full covariance matrix of errors in these estimates is derived using mock catalogs with further estimates using a number of other methods.

astro-ph↗

arXiv2002

Intrinsic/Extrinsic Density-Ellipticity Correlations and Galaxy-Galaxy Lensing

We compute both extrinsic (lensing) and intrinsic contributions to the (galaxy-)density-ellipticity correlation function, the latter done using current analytic theories of tidal alignment. The gravitational lensing contribution has two components: one is analogous to galaxy-galaxy lensing and the other arises from magnification bias -- that gravitational lensing induces a modulation of the galaxy density as well as ellipticity. On the other hand, the intrinsic alignment contribution vanishes, even after taking into account source clustering corrections, which suggests the density-ellipticity correlation might be an interesting diagnostic in differentiating between intrinsic and extrinsic alignments. {\it However}, an important assumption, commonly adopted by current analytic alignment theories, is the Gaussianity of the tidal field. Inevitable non-Gaussian fluctuations from gravitational instability induces a non-zero intrinsic density-ellipticity correlation, which we estimate. We also argue that non-Gaussian contributions to the intrinsic {\it ellipticity-ellipticity} correlation are often non-negligible. This leads to a linear rather than, as is commonly assumed, quadratic scaling with the power spectrum on sufficiently large scales. Finally, we estimate the contribution of intrinsic alignment to low redshift galaxy-galaxy lensing measurements (e.g. SDSS), due to the partial overlap between foreground and background galaxies: the intrinsic contamination is about 10 - 30 % at 10'. Uncertainties in this estimate are discussed.

astro-ph↗

arXiv2002

Short Distance Physics and the Consistency Relation for Scalar and Tensor Fluctuations in the Inflationary Universe

Recent discussions suggest the possibility that short distance physics can significantly modify the behavior of quantum fluctuations in the inflationary universe, and alter the standard large scale structure predictions. Such modifications can be viewed as due to a different choice of the vacuum state. We show that such changes generally lead to violations of the well-known consistency relation between the scalar to tensor ratio and the tensor spectral index. Vacuum effects can introduce an observable modulation to the usual predictions for the scalar and tensor power spectra.

astro-ph↗

arXiv2002

Unitarity Bounds and the Cuspy Halo Problem

Conventional Cold Dark Matter cosmological models predict small scale structures, such as cuspy halos, which are in apparent conflict with observations. Several alternative scenarios based on modifying fundamental properties of the dark matter have been proposed. We show that general principles of quantum mechanics, in particular unitarity, imply interesting constraints on two proposals: collisional dark matter proposed by Spergel & Steinhardt, and strongly annihilating dark matter proposed by Kaplinghat, Knox & Turner. Efficient scattering required in both implies m < 12 GeV and m < 25 GeV respectively. The same arguments show that the strong annihilation in the second scenario implies the presence of significant elastic scattering, particularly for large enough masses. Recently, a variant of the collisional scenario has been advocated to satisfy simultaneously constraints from dwarf galaxies to clusters, with a cross section that scales inversely with velocity. We show that this scenario likely involves super-elastic processes, and the associated kinetic energy change must be taken into account when making predictions. Exceptions and implications for experimental searches are discussed.

astro-ph↗

arXiv2002

Constraining the Rotation Rate of Transiting Extrasolar Planets by Oblateness Measurements

(Abridged) The solar system gas giant planets are oblate due to their rapid rotation. A measurement of the planet's projected oblateness would constrain the planet's rotational period. Planets that are synchronously rotating with their orbital revolution will be rotating too slowly to be significantly oblate; these include planets with orbital semi-major axes <~ 0.2AU (for M_P ~ M_J and M_* ~ M_sun). Jupiter-like planets in the range of orbital semi-major axes 0.1 AU to 0.2 AU will tidally evolve to synchronous rotation on a timescale similar to main sequence stars' lifetimes. In this case an oblateness detection will help constrain the planet's tidal Q value. The projected oblateness of a transiting extrasolar giant planet is measurable from a very high-photometric-precision transit light curve. For a sun-sized star and a Jupiter-sized planet the normalized flux difference in the transit ingress/egress light curve between a spherical and an oblate planet is a few to 15 x 10^{-5} for oblateness similar to Jupiter and Saturn respectively. The transit ingress and egress are asymmetric for an oblate planet with an orbital inclination different from 90 degrees and a non-zero projected obliquity. A photometric precision of 10^{-4} has been reached by HST observations of the known transiting extrasolar planet HD209458b. In addition several planned space missions (including MOST, MONS, Corot, and Kepler) will study or find transiting giant planets with photometric precision <~ 10^{-5}. In particular Kepler is expected to find ~40 transiting giant planets < 1 AU with ~20 of those > 0.2 AU.

astro-ph↗

arXiv2002

The Angular Power Spectrum of Galaxies from Early SDSS Data

We compute the angular power spectrum C_l from 1.5 million galaxies in early SDSS data on large angular scales, l<600. The data set covers about 160 square degrees, with a characteristic depth of order 1 Gpc/h in the faintest (21<r<22) of our four magnitude bins. Cosmological interpretations of these results are presented in a companion paper by Dodelson et al (2001). The data in all four magnitude bins are consistent with a simple flat ``concordance'' model with nonlinear evolution and linear bias factors of order unity. Nonlinear evolution is particularly evident for the brightest galaxies. A series of tests suggest that systematic errors related to seeing, reddening, etc., are negligible, which bodes well for the sixtyfold larger sample that the SDSS is currently collecting. Uncorrelated error bars and well-behaved window functions make our measurements a convenient starting point for cosmological model fitting.

astro-ph↗

arXiv2001

KL Estimation of the Power Spectrum Parameters from the Angular Distribution of Galaxies in Early SDSS Data

We present measurements of parameters of the 3-dimensional power spectrum of galaxy clustering from 222 square degrees of early imaging data in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. The projected galaxy distribution on the sky is expanded over a set of Karhunen-Loeve eigenfunctions, which optimize the signal-to-noise ratio in our analysis. A maximum likelihood analysis is used to estimate parameters that set the shape and amplitude of the 3-dimensional power spectrum. Our best estimates are Gamma=0.188 +/- 0.04 and sigma_8L = 0.915 +/- 0.06 (statistical errors only), for a flat Universe with a cosmological constant. We demonstrate that our measurements contain signal from scales at or beyond the peak of the 3D power spectrum. We discuss how the results scale with systematic uncertainties, like the radial selection function. We find that the central values satisfy the analytically estimated scaling relation. We have also explored the effects of evolutionary corrections, various truncations of the KL basis, seeing, sample size and limiting magnitude. We find that the impact of most of these uncertainties stay within the 2-sigma uncertainties of our fiducial result.

astro-ph↗

arXiv2001

The Angular Correlation Function of Galaxies from Early SDSS Data

The Sloan Digital Sky Survey is one of the first multicolor photometric and spectroscopic surveys designed to measure the statistical properties of galaxies within the local Universe. In this Letter we present some of the initial results on the angular 2-point correlation function measured from the early SDSS galaxy data. The form of the correlation function, over the magnitude interval 18<r*<22, is shown to be consistent with results from existing wide-field, photographic-based surveys and narrower CCD galaxy surveys. On scales between 1 arcminute and 1 degree the correlation function is well described by a power-law with an exponent of ~ -0.7. The amplitude of the correlation function, within this angular interval, decreases with fainter magnitudes in good agreement with analyses from existing galaxy surveys. There is a characteristic break in the correlation function on scales of approximately 1-2 degrees. On small scales, < 1', the SDSS correlation function does not appear to be consistent with the power-law form fitted to the 1'< theta <0.5 deg data. With a data set that is less than 2% of the full SDSS survey area, we have obtained high precision measurements of the power-law angular correlation function on angular scales 1' < theta < 1 deg, which are robust to systematic uncertainties. Because of the limited area and the highly correlated nature of the error covariance matrix, these initial results do not yet provide a definitive characterization of departures from the power-law form at smaller and larger angles. In the near future, however, the area of the SDSS imaging survey will be sufficient to allow detailed analysis of the small and large scale regimes, measurements of higher-order correlations, and studies of angular clustering as a function of redshift and galaxy type.

astro-ph↗

arXiv2001

The 3D Power Spectrum from Angular Clustering of Galaxies in Early SDSS Data

Early photometric data from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) contain angular positions for 1.5 million galaxies. In companion papers, the angular correlation function $w(θ)$ and 2D power spectrum $C_l$ of these galaxies are presented. Here we invert Limber's equation to extract the 3D power spectrum from the angular results. We accomplish this using an estimate of $dn/dz$, the redshift distribution of galaxies in four different magnitude slices in the SDSS photometric catalog. The resulting 3D power spectrum estimates from $w(θ)$ and $C_l$ agree with each other and with previous estimates over a range in wavenumbers $0.03 < k/{\rm h Mpc}^{-1} < 1$. The galaxies in the faintest magnitude bin ($21 < \rstar < 22$, which have median redshift $z_m=0.43$) are less clustered than the galaxies in the brightest magnitude bin ($18 < \rstar < 19$ with $z_m=0.17$), especially on scales where nonlinearities are important. The derived power spectrum agrees with that of Szalay et al. (2001) who go directly from the raw data to a parametric estimate of the power spectrum. The strongest constraints on the shape parameter $Γ$ come from the faintest galaxies (in the magnitude bin $21 < \rstar < 22$), from which we infer $Γ= 0.14^{+0.11}_{-0.06}$ (95% C.L.).

astro-ph↗

arXiv2001

The Cosmic Baryon Fraction and the Extragalactic Ionizing Background

We reassess constraints on the cosmological baryon density from observations of the mean decrement and power spectrum of the Lyman-alpha forest, taking into account uncertainties in all free parameters in the simplest gravitational instability model. The uncertainty is dominated by that of the photoionizing background, but incomplete knowledge of the thermal state of the intergalactic medium also contributes significantly to the error-budget. While current estimates of the baryon fraction from the forest do prefer values that are somewhat higher than the big bang nucleosynthesis value of Ω_b h^2 = 0.02 \pm 0.001, the discrepancy is at best about 3 σ. For instance, assuming the highest estimate of the ionizing background, as indicated by recent measurements of a large escape fraction from Lyman-break galaxies by Steidel, Pettini & Adelberger, we find Ω_b h^2 = 0.045 \pm 0.008. A recent measurement of the ionizing background from the proximity effect by Scott et al., on the other hand, implies Ω_b h^2 = 0.03 \pm 0.01. We provide an expression from which future likelihoods for Ω_b h^2 can be derived as measurements of the ionizing background improve -- consistency among constraints from the forest, nucleosynthesis and the microwave background will provide a powerful test of the gravitational instability model. We also develop a formalism which treats lower bounds on the baryon density in a statistical manner, which is appropriate if only a lower bound on the ionizing background is known. Finally, we discuss the implications of the escape fraction measurement for the age, structure and stellar content of Lyman-break galaxies.

astro-ph↗

arXiv2001

Atmospheric Lensing and Oblateness Effects During an Extrasolar Planetary Transit

Future high precision photometric measurements of transiting extrasolar planets promise to tell us much about the nature of these systems. We examine how atmospheric lensing and (projected) planet oblateness/ellipticity modify transit light curves. The large density gradients expected in planet atmospheres can offset the unfavorably large observer-lens to source-lens distance ratio, and allow the existence of caustics. Under such conditions, starlight from all points in the planet's shadow is refracted into view producing a characteristic slowing down of the dimming at ingress (vice versa for egress). A search over several parameters, the planet radius etc., cannot produce a nonlensed transit light curve that can mimic a lensed light curve. The fractional change in the diminution of starlight is approximately the ratio of atmospheric scale height to planet radius, expected to be 1 % or less. Planet oblateness induces an asymmetry to the transit light curve about the point of minimum flux, depending on the planet orientation. The fractional asymmetry is around 0.5 % for a projected ellipticity of 10 %, independent of lensing. For favorable ratios of planet to star radius, the above effects are potentially observable with future space-based missions. This will allow us to constrain the planet shape, and its atmospheric scale height, density and refractive coefficient, providing information on its rotation, temperature and composition. For HD 209458b, the only currently known transiting extrasolar planet, caustics are absent because of the very small lens-source separation. Finally, we provide estimates of other variations to transit light curves that could be of comparable importance, including rings, satellites, stellar oscillations, star spots, and weather.

astro-ph↗

arXiv2000

Constraining the Lifetime of Quasars from their Spatial Clustering

The lifetime t_Q of the luminous phase of quasars is constrained by current observations to be between 10^6 and 10^8 years, but is otherwise unkown. We model the quasar luminosity function in detail in the optical and X-ray bands using the Press-Schechter formalism, and show that the expected clustering of quasars depends strongly on their assumed lifetime. We quantify this dependence, and find that existing measurements of the correlation length of quasars are consistent with the range 10^6 < t_Q < 10^8 years. We then show that future measurements of the power spectrum of quasars out to z=3, from the 2dF or Sloan Digital Sky Survey, can significantly improve this constraint, and in principle allow a precise determination of t_Q. We estimate the systematic errors introduced by uncertainties in the modeling of the quasar-halo relationship, as well as by the possible existence of obscured quasars.

astro-ph↗

arXiv2000

Correlations in the Lyman alpha forest: testing the gravitational instability paradigm

We investigate correlations between the long wavelength fluctuations and the small scale power in the Lyman alpha forest. We show that such correlations can be used to discriminate between fluctuations induced by large scale structure and those produced by non-gravitational processes such as fluctuations in the continuum of the quasar or in the temperature of the gas. The correlations observed in Q1422+231 are in agreement with the predictions of numerical simulations, indicating that non-gravitational fluctuations on large scales have to be small compared those induced by the large scale structure of the universe, contributing less than 10 % (95 % confidence) of the observed power. We also show the sensitivity of such statistics to the equation of state of the gas and its mean temperature.

astro-ph↗

arXiv2000

Constraints from the Lyman alpha forest power spectrum

We use published measurements of the transmission power spectrum of the Lyman alpha forest to constrain several parameters that describe cosmology and thermal properties of the intergalactic medium (IGM). A 6 parameter grid is constructed using Particle-Mesh dark matter simulations together with scaling relations to make predictions for the gas properties. We fit for all parameters simultaneously and identify several degeneracies. We find that the temperature of the IGM can be well determined from the fall-off of the power spectrum at small scales. We find a temperature around 20.000 K, dependent on the slope of the gas equation of state. We see no evidence for evolution in the IGM temperature. We place constraints on the amplitude of the dark matter fluctuations. However, contrary to previous results, the slope of the dark matter power spectrum is poorly constrained. This is due to uncertainty in the effective Jeans smoothing scale, which depends on the temperature as well as the thermal history of the gas.

astro-ph↗

arXiv2000

On the streaming motions of haloes and galaxies

A simple model of how objects of different masses stream towards each other as they cluster gravitationally is described. The model shows how the mean streaming velocity of dark matter particles is related to the motions of the parent dark matter haloes. It also provides a reasonably accurate description of how the pairwise velocity dispersion of dark matter particles differs from that of the parent haloes. The analysis is then extended to describe the streaming motions of galaxies. This shows explicitly that the streaming motions measured in a given galaxy sample depend on how the sample was selected, and shows how to account for this dependence on sample selection. In addition,we show that the pairwise dispersion should also depend on sample type. Our model predicts that, on small scales, redshift space distortions should affect red galaxies more strongly than blue.

astro-ph↗

arXiv2000

Linear and nonlinear contributions to pairwise peculiar velocities

We write the correlation function of dark matter particles, xi(r), as the sum of two terms - one which accounts for nonlinear evolution, and dominates on small scales, and another which is essentially the term from linear theory, and dominates on large scales. We use models of the number and spatial distribution of haloes and halo density profiles to describe the nonlinear term and its evolution. The result provides a good description of the evolution of xi(r) in simulations. We then use this decomposition to provide simple and accurate models of how the single particle velocity dispersion evolves with time, and how the first and second moments of the pairwise velocity distribution depend on scale. The key idea is to use the simple physics of linear theory on large scales, the simple physics of the virial theorem on small scales, and our model for the correlation function to tell us how to weight the two types of contributions (linear and nonlinear) to the pairwise velocity statistics. When incorporated into the streaming model, our results will allow a simple accurate description of redshift-space distortions over the entire range of linear to highly nonlinear regimes.

astro-ph↗