arXiv subjects

Nico Hamaus

Publications and source records attributed to Nico Hamaus.

40 records · Page 3Linked to original sources

arXiv2012

Optimal Weighting in Galaxy Surveys: Application to Redshift-Space Distortions

Using multiple tracers of large-scale structure allows to evade the limitations imposed by sampling variance for some parameters of interest in cosmology. We demonstrate the optimal way of carrying out a multitracer analysis in a galaxy redshift survey by considering the principal components of the shot noise matrix from two-point clustering statistics. We show how to construct two tracers that maximize the benefits of sampling variance and shot noise cancellation using optimal weights. On the basis of high-resolution N-body simulations of dark matter halos we apply this technique to the analysis of redshift-space distortions and demonstrate how constraints on the growth rate of structure formation can be substantially improved. The primary limitation are nonlinear effects, which cause significant biases in the method already at scales of k<0.1h/Mpc, suggesting the need to develop nonlinear models of redshift-space distortions in order to extract the maximum information from future redshift surveys. Nonetheless we find gains of a factor of a few in constraints on the growth rate achievable when merely the linear regime of a galaxy survey like EUCLID is considered.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2012

Testing General Relativity on Horizon Scales and the Primordial non-Gaussianity

The proper general relativistic description of the observed galaxy power spectrum is substantially different from the standard Newtonian description on large scales, providing a unique opportunity to test general relativity on horizon scales. Using the Einstein equations, the general relativistic effects can be classified as two new terms that represent the velocity and the gravitational potential, coupling to the time evolution of galaxy number density and Hubble parameter. Compared to the dominant density and velocity redshift-space distortion terms, the former scales as H/k and correlates the real and imaginary parts of the Fourier modes, while the latter scales as (H/k)^2, where k is the comoving wave number and H is the conformal Hubble parameter. We use the recently developed methods to reduce the sampling variance and shot noise to show that in an all sky galaxy redshift survey at low redshift the velocity term can be measured at 10-sigma confidence level, if one can utilize halos of mass M>10^{10} Msun, while the gravitational potential term itself can only be marginally detected. We also demonstrate that the general relativistic effect is not degenerate with the primordial non-Gaussian signature in galaxy bias, and the ability to detect the primordial non-Gaussianity is little compromised.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2012

Optimal Constraints on Local Primordial Non-Gaussianity from the Two-Point Statistics of Large-Scale Structure

One of the main signatures of primordial non-Gaussianity of the local type is a scale-dependent correction to the bias of large-scale structure tracers such as galaxies or clusters, whose amplitude depends on the bias of the tracers itself. The dominant source of noise in the power spectrum of the tracers is caused by sampling variance on large scales (where the non-Gaussian signal is strongest) and shot noise arising from their discrete nature. Recent work has argued that one can avoid sampling variance by comparing multiple tracers of different bias, and suppress shot noise by optimally weighting halos of different mass. Here we combine these ideas and investigate how well the signatures of non-Gaussian fluctuations in the primordial potential can be extracted from the two-point correlations of halos and dark matter. On the basis of large $N$-body simulations with local non-Gaussian initial conditions and their halo catalogs we perform a Fisher matrix analysis of the two-point statistics. Compared to the standard analysis, optimal weighting- and multiple-tracer techniques applied to halos can yield up to one order of magnitude improvements in $\fnl$-constraints, even if the underlying dark matter density field is not known. We compare our numerical results to the halo model and find satisfactory agreement. Forecasting the optimal $\fnl$-constraints that can be achieved with our methods when applied to existing and future survey data, we find that a survey of $50h^{-1}\mathrm{Gpc}^3$ volume resolving all halos down to $10^{11}\hMsun$ at $z=1$ will be able to obtain $σ_{\fnl}\sim1$ (68% cl), a factor of $\sim20$ improvement over the current limits. Decreasing the minimum mass of resolved halos, increasing the survey volume or obtaining the dark matter maps can further improve these limits, potentially reaching the level of $σ_{\fnl}\sim0.1$. (abridged)

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2010

Minimizing the stochasticity of halos in large-scale structure surveys

In recent work (Seljak, Hamaus and Desjacques 2009) it was found that weighting central halo galaxies by halo mass can significantly suppress their stochasticity relative to the dark matter, well below the Poisson model expectation. In this paper we extend this study with the goal of finding the optimal mass-dependent halo weighting and use $N$-body simulations to perform a general analysis of halo stochasticity and its dependence on halo mass. We investigate the stochasticity matrix, defined as $C_{ij}\equiv<(δ_i -b_iδ_m)(δ_j-b_jδ_m)>$, where $δ_m$ is the dark matter overdensity in Fourier space, $δ_i$ the halo overdensity of the $i$-th halo mass bin and $b_i$ the halo bias. In contrast to the Poisson model predictions we detect nonvanishing correlations between different mass bins. We also find the diagonal terms to be sub-Poissonian for the highest-mass halos. The diagonalization of this matrix results in one large and one low eigenvalue, with the remaining eigenvalues close to the Poisson prediction $1/\bar{n}$, where $\bar{n}$ is the mean halo number density. The eigenmode with the lowest eigenvalue contains most of the information and the corresponding eigenvector provides an optimal weighting function to minimize the stochasticity between halos and dark matter. We find this optimal weighting function to match linear mass weighting at high masses, while at the low-mass end the weights approach a constant whose value depends on the low-mass cut in the halo mass function. Finally, we employ the halo model to derive the stochasticity matrix and the scale-dependent bias from an analytical perspective. It is remarkably successful in reproducing our numerical results and predicts that the stochasticity between halos and the dark matter can be reduced further when going to halo masses lower than we can resolve in current simulations.

astro-ph.CO↗