arXiv subjects

M. James Jee

Publications and source records attributed to M. James Jee.

94 records · Page 6Linked to original sources

arXiv2013

Cosmic shear results from the deep lens survey - I: Joint constraints on omega_m and sigma_8 with a two-dimensional analysis

We present a cosmic shear study from the Deep Lens Survey (DLS), a deep BVRz multi-band imaging survey of five 4 sq. degree fields with two National Optical Astronomy Observatory (NOAO) 4-meter telescopes at Kitt Peak and Cerro Tololo. For both telescopes, the change of the point-spread-function (PSF) shape across the focal plane is complicated, and the exposure-to-exposure variation of this position-dependent PSF change is significant. We overcome this challenge by modeling the PSF separately for individual exposures and CCDs with principal component analysis (PCA). We find that stacking these PSFs reproduces the final PSF pattern on the mosaic image with high fidelity, and the method successfully separates PSF-induced systematics from gravitational lensing effects. We calibrate our shears and estimate the errors, utilizing an image simulator, which generates sheared ground-based galaxy images from deep Hubble Space Telescope archival data with a realistic atmospheric turbulence model. For cosmological parameter constraints, we marginalize over shear calibration error, photometric redshift uncertainty, and the Hubble constant. We use cosmology-dependent covariances for the Markov Chain Monte Carlo analysis and find that the role of this varying covariance is critical in our parameter estimation. Our current non-tomographic analysis alone constrains the Omega_M-sigma_8 likelihood contour tightly, providing a joint constraint of Omega_M=0.262+-0.051 and sigma_8=0.868+-0.071. We expect that a future DLS weak-lensing tomographic study will further tighten these constraints because explicit treatment of the redshift dependence of cosmic shear more efficiently breaks the Omega_M-sigma_8 degeneracy. Combining the current results with the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe 7-year (WMAP7) likelihood data, we obtain Omega_M=0.278+-0.018 and sigma_8=0.815+-0.020.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2012

Galaxy-Mass Correlations on 10 Mpc Scales in the Deep Lens Survey

We examine the projected correlation of galaxies with mass from small scales (<few hundred kpc) where individual dark matter halos dominate, out to 15 Mpc where correlated large-scale structure dominates. We investigate these profiles as a function of galaxy luminosity and redshift. Selecting 0.8 million galaxies in the Deep Lens Survey, we use photometric redshifts and stacked weak gravitational lensing shear tomography out to radial scales of 1 degree from the centers of foreground galaxies. We detect correlated mass density from multiple halos and large-scale structure at radii larger than the virial radius, and find the first observational evidence for growth in the galaxy-mass correlation on 10 Mpc scales with decreasing redshift and fixed range of luminosity. For a fixed range of redshift, we find a scaling of projected halo mass with rest-frame luminosity similar to previous studies at lower redshift. We control systematic errors in shape measurement and photometric redshift, enforce volume completeness through absolute magnitude cuts, and explore residual sample selection effects via simulations.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2011

Towards Precision LSST Weak-Lensing Measurement - I: Impacts of Atmospheric Turbulence and Optical Aberration

The weak-lensing science of the LSST project drives the need to carefully model and separate the instrumental artifacts from the intrinsic lensing signal. The dominant source of the systematics for all ground based telescopes is the spatial correlation of the PSF modulated by both atmospheric turbulence and optical aberrations. In this paper, we present a full FOV simulation of the LSST images by modeling both the atmosphere and the telescope optics with the most current data for the telescope specifications and the environment. To simulate the effects of atmospheric turbulence, we generated six-layer phase screens with the parameters estimated from the on-site measurements. For the optics, we combined the ray-tracing tool ZEMAX and our simulated focal plane data to introduce realistic aberrations and focal plane height fluctuations. Although this expected flatness deviation for LSST is small compared with that of other existing cameras, the fast f-ratio of the LSST optics makes this focal plane flatness variation and the resulting PSF discontinuities across the CCD boundaries significant challenges in our removal of the systematics. We resolve this complication by performing PCA CCD-by-CCD, and interpolating the basis functions using conventional polynomials. We demonstrate that this PSF correction scheme reduces the residual PSF ellipticity correlation below 10^-7 over the cosmologically interesting scale. From a null test using HST/UDF galaxy images without input shear, we verify that the amplitude of the galaxy ellipticity correlation function, after the PSF correction, is consistent with the shot noise set by the finite number of objects. Therefore, we conclude that the current optical design and specification for the accuracy in the focal plane assembly are sufficient to enable the control of the PSF systematics required for weak-lensing science with the LSST.

astro-ph.IM↗

arXiv2009

z~7-10 Galaxies behind Lensing Clusters: Contrast with Field Search Results

We conduct a search for z>~7 dropout galaxies behind 11 massive lensing clusters using 21 arcmin**2 of deep HST NICMOS, ACS, and WFPC2 image data. In total, over this entire area, we find only one robust z~7 z-dropout candidate (previously reported around Abell 1689). Four less robust z-dropout and J-dropout candidates are also found. The nature of the four weaker candidates could not be precisely determined due to the limited depth of the available optical data, but detailed simulations suggest that all four could be low-redshift interlopers. We compare these numbers with what we might expect using the z~7 UV luminosity function (LF) determined from field searches. We predict 2.7 z~7 z-dropouts and 0.3 z~9 J-dropouts over our cluster search area, in reasonable agreement with our observational results, given the small numbers. The number of z>~7 candidates we find in the present search are much lower than has been reported in several previous studies of the prevalence of z>~7 galaxies behind lensing clusters. To understand these differences, we examined z>~7 candidates in other studies and conclude that only a small fraction are likely to be z>~7 galaxies. Our findings support models that show that gravitational lensing from clusters is of the most value for detecting galaxies at magnitudes brighter than L* (H<~ 27) where the LF is expected to be very steep. Use of these clusters to constrain the faint-end slope or determine the full LF is likely of less value due to the shallower effective slope measured for the LF at fainter magnitudes, as well as significant uncertainties introduced from modelling both the gravitational lensing and incompleteness.

astro-ph↗