arXiv subjects

Nicolás G. Busca

Publications and source records attributed to Nicolás G. Busca.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2020

The Sloan Digital Sky Survey Quasar Catalog: Sixteenth Data Release

We present the final Sloan Digital Sky Survey IV (SDSS-IV) quasar catalog from Data Release 16 of the extended Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (eBOSS). This catalog comprises the largest selection of spectroscopically confirmed quasars to date. The full catalog includes two sub-catalogs: a "superset" of all SDSS-IV/eBOSS objects targeted as quasars containing 1,440,615 observations and a quasar-only catalog containing 750,414 quasars, including 225,082 new quasars appearing in an SDSS data release for the first time, as well as known quasars from SDSS-I/II/III. We present automated identification and redshift information for these quasars alongside data from visual inspections for 320,161 spectra. The quasar-only catalog is estimated to be 99.8% complete with 0.3% to 1.3% contamination. Automated and visual inspection redshifts are supplemented by redshifts derived via principal component analysis and emission lines. We include emission line redshifts for H$α$, H$β$, Mg II, C III], C IV, and Ly$α$. Identification and key characteristics generated by automated algorithms are presented for 99,856 Broad Absorption Line quasars and 35,686 Damped Lyman Alpha quasars. In addition to SDSS photometric data, we also present multi-wavelength data for quasars from GALEX, UKIDSS, WISE, FIRST, ROSAT/2RXS, XMM-Newton, and Gaia. Calibrated digital optical spectra for these quasars can be obtained from the SDSS Science Archive Server.

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arXiv2019

Baryon acoustic oscillations at z = 2.34 from the correlations of Ly$α$ absorption in eBOSS DR14

We measure the imprint of primordial baryon acoustic oscillations (BAO) in the correlation function of Ly$α$ absorption in quasar spectra from the Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (BOSS) and the extended BOSS (eBOSS) in Data Release 14 (DR14) of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS)-IV. In addition to 179,965 spectra with absorption in the Lyman-$α$ (Ly$α$) region, we use, for the first time, Ly$α$ absorption in the Lyman-$β$ region of 56,154 spectra. We measure the Hubble distance, $D_H$, and the comoving angular diameter distance, $D_M$, relative to the sound horizon at the drag epoch $r_d$ at an effective redshift $z=2.34$. Using a physical model of the correlation function outside the BAO peak, we find $D_H(2.34)/r_d=8.86\pm 0.29$ and $D_M(2.34)/r_d=37.41\pm 1.86$, within 1$σ$ from the flat-$Λ$CDM model consistent with CMB anisotropy measurements. With the addition of polynomial "broadband" terms, the results remain within one standard deviation of the CMB-inspired model. Combined with the quasar-Ly$α$ cross-correlation measurement presented in a companion paper Blomqvist19, the BAO measurements at $z=2.35$ are within 1.7$σ$ of the predictions of this model.

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arXiv2019

Baryon acoustic oscillations from the cross-correlation of Ly$α$ absorption and quasars in eBOSS DR14

We present a measurement of the baryon acoustic oscillation (BAO) scale at redshift $z=2.35$ from the three-dimensional correlation of Lyman-$α$ (Ly$α$) forest absorption and quasars. The study uses 266,590 quasars in the redshift range $1.77<z<3.5$ from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) Data Release 14 (DR14). The sample includes the first two years of observations by the SDSS-IV extended Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (eBOSS), providing new quasars and re-observations of BOSS quasars for improved statistical precision. Statistics are further improved by including Ly$α$ absorption occurring in the Ly$β$ wavelength band of the spectra. From the measured BAO peak position along and across the line of sight, we determined the Hubble distance $D_{H}$ and the comoving angular diameter distance $D_{M}$ relative to the sound horizon at the drag epoch $r_{d}$: $D_{H}(z=2.35)/r_{d}=9.20\pm 0.36$ and $D_{M}(z=2.35)/r_{d}=36.3\pm 1.8$. These results are consistent at $1.5σ$ with the prediction of the best-fit spatially-flat cosmological model with the cosmological constant reported for the Planck (2016) analysis of cosmic microwave background anisotropies. Combined with the Ly$α$ auto-correlation measurement presented in a companion paper, the BAO measurements at $z=2.34$ are within $1.7σ$ of the predictions of this model.

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arXiv2019

The extended Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey: measuring the cross-correlation between the MgII flux transmission field and quasars and galaxies at $z=0.59$

We present the first attempt at measuring the baryonic acoustic oscillations (BAO) in the large scale cross-correlation between the magnesium-II doublet (MgII) flux transmission field and the position of quasar and galaxy tracers. The MgII flux transmission continuous field at $0.3 < z < 1.6$ is measured from 500,589 quasar spectra obtained in the Baryonic Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (BOSS) and the extended BOSS (eBOSS). The position of 246,697 quasar tracers and 1,346,776 galaxy tracers are extracted from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) I, II, BOSS and eBOSS catalogs. In addition to measuring the cosmological BAO scale and the biased matter density correlation, this study allows tests and improvements to cosmological Lyman-$α$ analyses. A feature consistent with that of the BAO is detected at a significance of $Δχ^{2} = 7.25$. The measured MgII linear transmission bias parameters are $b_{\mathrm{MgII(2796)}} (z = 0.59) = (-6.82 \pm 0.54) \, \times 10^{-4}$ and $b_{\mathrm{MgII(2804)}} (z = 0.59) = (-5.55 \pm 0.46) \, \times 10^{-4}$, and the MgI bias is $b_{\mathrm{MgI(2853)}} (z = 0.59) = (-1.48 \pm 0.24) \, \times 10^{-4}$. Their redshift evolution is characterized by the power-law index: $γ_{\mathrm{Mg}} = 3.36 \pm 0.46$. These measurements open a new window towards using BAO from flux transmission at $z < 1$ in the final eBOSS sample and in the upcoming sample from the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument.

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arXiv2018

Quasar -- CIV forest cross-correlation with SDSS DR12

We present a new determination of the large-scale clustering of the CIV forest (i.e., the absorption due to all CIV absorbers) using its cross-correlation with quasars in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) Data Release 12 (DR12). We fit a linear bias model to the measured cross-correlation. We find that the transmission bias of the CIV forest, $b_{Fc}$, at a mean redshift of $z=2.3$, obeys the relation $(1+β_c)b_{F c} = -0.024 \pm 0.003$. Here, $β_{c}$ is the linear redshift space distortion parameter of the CIV absorption, which can only be poorly determined at $β_c=1.1\pm 0.6$ from our data. This transmission bias is related to the bias of CIV absorbers and their host halos through the effective mean optical depth of the CIV forest, $\barτ_c$. Estimating a value $\bar τ_c(z) \simeq 0.01$ from previous studies of the CIV equivalent width distribution, our measurement implies a CIV absorber bias near unity, with a large error due to uncertainties in both $β_c$ and $\barτ_c$. This makes it compatible with the higher DLA bias $b_{\rm DLA}\simeq 2$ measured previously from the cross-correlation of DLAs and the Lyman-$α$ forest. We discuss the implications of the CIV absorber bias for the mass distribution of their host halos. More accurate determinations of $\bar τ_c(z)$ and $β_c$ are necessary to obtain a more robust measurement of this CIV absorber bias.

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arXiv2018

The triply-ionized carbon forest from eBOSS: cosmological correlations with quasars in SDSS-IV DR14

We present measurements of the cross-correlation of the triply-ionized carbon (CIV) forest with quasars using Sloan Digital Sky Survey Data Release 14. The study exploits a large sample of new quasars from the first two years of observations by the Extended Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (eBOSS). The CIV forest is a weaker tracer of large-scale structure than the Ly$α$ forest, but benefits from being accessible at redshifts $z<2$ where the quasar number density from eBOSS is high. Our data sample consists of 287,651 CIV forest quasars in the redshift range $1.4<z<3.5$ and 387,315 tracer quasars with $1.2<z<3.5$. We measure large-scale correlations from CIV absorption occuring in three distinct quasar rest-frame wavelength bands of the spectra referred to as the CIV forest, the SiIV forest and the Ly$α$ forest. From the combined fit to the quasar-CIV cross-correlations for the CIV forest and the SiIV forest, the CIV redshift-space distortion parameter is $β_{\rm CIV}=0.27_{\ -0.14}^{\ +0.16}$ and its combination with the CIV linear transmission bias parameter is $b_{\rm CIV}(1+β_{\rm CIV})=-0.0183_{\ -0.0014}^{\ +0.0013}$ ($1σ$ statistical error) at the mean redshift $z=2.00$. Splitting the sample at $z=2.2$ to constrain the bias evolution with redshift yields the power-law exponent $γ=0.60\pm0.63$, indicating a significantly weaker redshift-evolution than for the Ly$α$ forest linear transmission bias. We demonstrate that CIV absorption has the potential to be used as a probe of baryon acoustic oscillations (BAO). While the current data set is insufficient for a detection of the BAO peak feature, the final quasar samples for redshifts $1.4<z<2.2$ from eBOSS and the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) are expected to provide measurements of the isotropic BAO scale to $\sim7\%$ and $\sim3\%$ precision, respectively, at $z\simeq1.6$.

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arXiv2017

Baryon acoustic oscillations from the complete SDSS-III Ly$α$-quasar cross-correlation function at $z=2.4$

We present a measurement of baryon acoustic oscillations (BAO) in the cross-correlation of quasars with the Ly$α$-forest flux-transmission at a mean redshift $z=2.40$. The measurement uses the complete SDSS-III data sample: 168,889 forests and 234,367 quasars from the SDSS Data Release DR12. In addition to the statistical improvement on our previous study using DR11, we have implemented numerous improvements at the analysis level allowing a more accurate measurement of this cross-correlation. We also developed the first simulations of the cross-correlation allowing us to test different aspects of our data analysis and to search for potential systematic errors in the determination of the BAO peak position. We measure the two ratios $D_{H}(z=2.40)/r_{d} = 9.01 \pm 0.36$ and $D_{M}(z=2.40)/r_{d} = 35.7 \pm 1.7$, where the errors include marginalization over the non-linear velocity of quasars and the metal - quasar cross-correlation contribution, among other effects. These results are within $1.8σ$ of the prediction of the flat-$Λ$CDM model describing the observed CMB anisotropies. We combine this study with the Ly$α$-forest auto-correlation function [2017A&A...603A..12B], yielding $D_{H}(z=2.40)/r_{d} = 8.94 \pm 0.22$ and $D_{M}(z=2.40)/r_{d} = 36.6 \pm 1.2$, within $2.3σ$ of the same flat-$Λ$CDM model.

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arXiv2017

Sloan Digital Sky Survey IV: Mapping the Milky Way, Nearby Galaxies, and the Distant Universe

We describe the Sloan Digital Sky Survey IV (SDSS-IV), a project encompassing three major spectroscopic programs. The Apache Point Observatory Galactic Evolution Experiment 2 (APOGEE-2) is observing hundreds of thousands of Milky Way stars at high resolution and high signal-to-noise ratio in the near-infrared. The Mapping Nearby Galaxies at Apache Point Observatory (MaNGA) survey is obtaining spatially-resolved spectroscopy for thousands of nearby galaxies (median redshift of z = 0.03). The extended Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (eBOSS) is mapping the galaxy, quasar, and neutral gas distributions between redshifts z = 0.6 and 3.5 to constrain cosmology using baryon acoustic oscillations, redshift space distortions, and the shape of the power spectrum. Within eBOSS, we are conducting two major subprograms: the SPectroscopic IDentification of eROSITA Sources (SPIDERS), investigating X-ray AGN and galaxies in X-ray clusters, and the Time Domain Spectroscopic Survey (TDSS), obtaining spectra of variable sources. All programs use the 2.5-meter Sloan Foundation Telescope at Apache Point Observatory; observations there began in Summer 2014. APOGEE-2 also operates a second near-infrared spectrograph at the 2.5-meter du Pont Telescope at Las Campanas Observatory, with observations beginning in early 2017. Observations at both facilities are scheduled to continue through 2020. In keeping with previous SDSS policy, SDSS-IV provides regularly scheduled public data releases; the first one, Data Release 13, was made available in July 2016.

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arXiv2017

Measurement of BAO correlations at $z=2.3$ with SDSS DR12 \lya-Forests

We use flux-transmission correlations in \Lya forests to measure the imprint of baryon acoustic oscillations (BAO). The study uses spectra of 157,783 quasars in the redshift range $2.1\le z \le 3.5$ from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) Data Release 12 (DR12). Besides the statistical improvements on our previous studies using SDSS DR9 and DR11, we have implemented numerous improvements in the analysis procedure, allowing us to construct a physical model of the correlation function and to investigate potential systematic errors in the determination of the BAO peak position. The Hubble distance, $\DHub=c/H(z)$, relative to the sound horizon is $\DHub(z=2.33)/r_d=9.07 \pm 0.31$. The best-determined combination of comoving angular-diameter distance, $\DM$, and the Hubble distance is found to be $\DHub^{0.7}\DM^{0.3}/r_d=13.94\pm0.35$. This value is $1.028\pm0.026$ times the prediction of the flat-\lcdm model consistent with the cosmic microwave background (CMB) anisotropy spectrum. The errors include marginalization over the effects of unidentified high-density absorption systems and fluctuations in ultraviolet ionizing radiation. Independently of the CMB measurements, the combination of our results and other BAO observations determine the open-\lcdm density parameters to be $\om=0.296 \pm 0.029$, $\ol=0.699 \pm 0.100$ and $Ω_k = -0.002 \pm 0.119$.

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arXiv2015

Broadband distortion modeling in Lyman-$α$ forest BAO fitting

In recent years, the Lyman-$α$ absorption observed in the spectra of high-redshift quasars has been used as a tracer of large-scale structure by means of the three-dimensional Lyman-$α$ forest auto-correlation function at redshift $z\simeq 2.3$, but the need to fit the quasar continuum in every absorption spectrum introduces a broadband distortion that is difficult to correct and causes a systematic error for measuring any broadband properties. We describe a $k$-space model for this broadband distortion based on a multiplicative correction to the power spectrum of the transmitted flux fraction that suppresses power on scales corresponding to the typical length of a Lyman-$α$ forest spectrum. Implementing the distortion model in fits for the baryon acoustic oscillation (BAO) peak position in the Lyman-$α$ forest auto-correlation, we find that the fitting method recovers the input values of the linear bias parameter $b_{F}$ and the redshift-space distortion parameter $β_{F}$ for mock data sets with a systematic error of less than 0.5\%. Applied to the auto-correlation measured for BOSS Data Release 11, our method improves on the previous treatment of broadband distortions in BAO fitting by providing a better fit to the data using fewer parameters and reducing the statistical errors on $β_{F}$ and the combination $b_{F}(1+β_{F})$ by more than a factor of seven. The measured values at redshift $z=2.3$ are $β_{F}=1.39^{+0.11\ +0.24\ +0.38}_{-0.10\ -0.19\ -0.28}$ and $b_{F}(1+β_{F})=-0.374^{+0.007\ +0.013\ +0.020}_{-0.007\ -0.014\ -0.022}$ (1$σ$, 2$σ$ and 3$σ$ statistical errors). Our fitting software and the input files needed to reproduce our main results are publicly available.

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arXiv2015

Mock Quasar-Lyman-α Forest Data-sets for the SDSS-III Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey

We describe mock data-sets generated to simulate the high-redshift quasar sample in Data Release 11 (DR11) of the SDSS-III Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (BOSS). The mock spectra contain Lyα forest correlations useful for studying the 3D correlation function including Baryon Acoustic Oscillations (BAO). They also include astrophysical effects such as quasar continuum diversity and high-density absorbers, instrumental effects such as noise and spectral resolution, as well as imperfections introduced by the SDSS pipeline treatment of the raw data. The Lyα forest BAO analysis of the BOSS collaboration, described in Delubac et al. 2014, has used these mock data-sets to develop and cross-check analysis procedures prior to performing the BAO analysis on real data, and for continued systematic cross checks. Tests presented here show that the simulations reproduce sufficiently well important characteristics of real spectra. These mock data-sets will be made available together with the data at the time of the Data Release 11.

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arXiv2015

Cosmological implications of baryon acoustic oscillation (BAO) measurements

We derive constraints on cosmological parameters and tests of dark energy models from the combination of baryon acoustic oscillation (BAO) measurements with cosmic microwave background (CMB) and Type Ia supernova (SN) data. We take advantage of high-precision BAO measurements from galaxy clustering and the Ly-alpha forest (LyaF) in the BOSS survey of SDSS-III. BAO data alone yield a high confidence detection of dark energy, and in combination with the CMB angular acoustic scale they further imply a nearly flat universe. Combining BAO and SN data into an "inverse distance ladder" yields a 1.7% measurement of $H_0=67.3 \pm1.1$ km/s/Mpc. This measurement assumes standard pre-recombination physics but is insensitive to assumptions about dark energy or space curvature, so agreement with CMB-based estimates that assume a flat LCDM cosmology is an important corroboration of this minimal cosmological model. For open LCDM, our BAO+SN+CMB combination yields $Ω_m=0.301 \pm 0.008$ and curvature $Ω_k=-0.003 \pm 0.003$. When we allow more general forms of evolving dark energy, the BAO+SN+CMB parameter constraints remain consistent with flat LCDM. While the overall $χ^2$ of model fits is satisfactory, the LyaF BAO measurements are in moderate (2-2.5 sigma) tension with model predictions. Models with early dark energy that tracks the dominant energy component at high redshifts remain consistent with our constraints. Expansion history alone yields an upper limit of 0.56 eV on the summed mass of neutrino species, improving to 0.26 eV if we include Planck CMB lensing. Standard dark energy models constrained by our data predict a level of matter clustering that is high compared to most, but not all, observational estimates. (Abridged)

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arXiv2015

The Eleventh and Twelfth Data Releases of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey: Final Data from SDSS-III

The third generation of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS-III) took data from 2008 to 2014 using the original SDSS wide-field imager, the original and an upgraded multi-object fiber-fed optical spectrograph, a new near-infrared high-resolution spectrograph, and a novel optical interferometer. All the data from SDSS-III are now made public. In particular, this paper describes Data Release 11 (DR11) including all data acquired through 2013 July, and Data Release 12 (DR12) adding data acquired through 2014 July (including all data included in previous data releases), marking the end of SDSS-III observing. Relative to our previous public release (DR10), DR12 adds one million new spectra of galaxies and quasars from the Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (BOSS) over an additional 3000 sq. deg of sky, more than triples the number of H-band spectra of stars as part of the Apache Point Observatory (APO) Galactic Evolution Experiment (APOGEE), and includes repeated accurate radial velocity measurements of 5500 stars from the Multi-Object APO Radial Velocity Exoplanet Large-area Survey (MARVELS). The APOGEE outputs now include measured abundances of 15 different elements for each star. In total, SDSS-III added 2350 sq. deg of ugriz imaging; 155,520 spectra of 138,099 stars as part of the Sloan Exploration of Galactic Understanding and Evolution 2 (SEGUE-2) survey; 2,497,484 BOSS spectra of 1,372,737 galaxies, 294,512 quasars, and 247,216 stars over 9376 sq. deg; 618,080 APOGEE spectra of 156,593 stars; and 197,040 MARVELS spectra of 5,513 stars. Since its first light in 1998, SDSS has imaged over 1/3 of the Celestial sphere in five bands and obtained over five million astronomical spectra.

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arXiv2014

Baryon Acoustic Oscillations in the Lyα forest of BOSS DR11 quasars

We report a detection of the baryon acoustic oscillation (BAO) feature in the flux-correlation function of the Lyα forest of high-redshift quasars with a statistical significance of five standard deviations. The study uses 137,562 quasars in the redshift range $2.1\le z \le 3.5$ from the Data Release 11 (DR11) of the Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (BOSS) of SDSS-III. This sample contains three times the number of quasars used in previous studies. The measured position of the BAO peak determines the angular distance, $D_A(z=2.34)$ and expansion rate, $H(z=2.34)$, both on a scale set by the sound horizon at the drag epoch, $r_d$. We find $D_A/r_d=11.28\pm0.65(1σ)^{+2.8}_{-1.2}(2σ)$ and $D_H/r_d=9.18\pm0.28(1σ)\pm0.6(2σ)$ where $D_H=c/H$. The optimal combination, $\sim D_H^{0.7}D_A^{0.3}/r_d$ is determined with a precision of $\sim2\%$. For the value $r_d=147.4~{\rm Mpc}$, consistent with the CMB power spectrum measured by Planck, we find $D_A(z=2.34)=1662\pm96(1σ)~{\rm Mpc}$ and $H(z=2.34)=222\pm7(1σ)~{\rm km\,s^{-1}Mpc^{-1}}$. Tests with mock catalogs and variations of our analysis procedure have revealed no systematic uncertainties comparable to our statistical errors. Our results agree with the previously reported BAO measurement at the same redshift using the quasar-Lyα forest cross-correlation. The auto-correlation and cross-correlation approaches are complementary because of the quite different impact of redshift-space distortion on the two measurements. The combined constraints from the two correlation functions imply values of $D_A/r_d$ and $D_H/r_d$ that are, respectively, 7% low and 7% high compared to the predictions of a flat $Λ$CDM cosmological model with the best-fit Planck parameters. With our estimated statistical errors, the significance of this discrepancy is $\approx 2.5σ$.

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arXiv2014

On the effect of the ionising background on the Lyα forest autocorrelation function

An analytical framework is presented to understand the effects of a fluctuating intensity of the cosmic ionising background on the correlations of the Lyα forest transmission fraction measured in quasar spectra. In the absence of intensity fluctuations, the Lyα power spectrum should have the expected cold dark matter power spectrum with redshift distortions in the linear regime, with a bias factor b_δ and a redshift distortion parameter β that depend on redshift but are independent of scale. The intensity fluctuations introduce a scale dependence in both b_δ and β, but keeping their product b_δβ fixed. Observations of the Lyα correlations and cross-correlations with radiation sources like those being done at present in the BOSS survey of SDSS-III (Busca et al. 2013; Slosar et al. 2013; Font-Ribera et al. 2014) have the potential to measure this scale dependence, which reflects the biasing properties of the sources and absorbers of the ionising background. We also compute a second term affecting the Lyα spectrum, due to shot noise in the sources of radiation. This term is very large if luminous quasars are assumed to produce the ionising background and to emit isotropically with a constant luminosity, but should be reduced by a contribution from galaxies, and by the finite lifetime and anisotropic emission of quasars.

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arXiv2014

The Tenth Data Release of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey: First Spectroscopic Data from the SDSS-III Apache Point Observatory Galactic Evolution Experiment

The Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) has been in operation since 2000 April. This paper presents the tenth public data release (DR10) from its current incarnation, SDSS-III. This data release includes the first spectroscopic data from the Apache Point Observatory Galaxy Evolution Experiment (APOGEE), along with spectroscopic data from the Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (BOSS) taken through 2012 July. The APOGEE instrument is a near-infrared R~22,500 300-fiber spectrograph covering 1.514--1.696 microns. The APOGEE survey is studying the chemical abundances and radial velocities of roughly 100,000 red giant star candidates in the bulge, bar, disk, and halo of the Milky Way. DR10 includes 178,397 spectra of 57,454 stars, each typically observed three or more times, from APOGEE. Derived quantities from these spectra (radial velocities, effective temperatures, surface gravities, and metallicities) are also included.DR10 also roughly doubles the number of BOSS spectra over those included in the ninth data release. DR10 includes a total of 1,507,954 BOSS spectra, comprising 927,844 galaxy spectra; 182,009 quasar spectra; and 159,327 stellar spectra, selected over 6373.2 square degrees.

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arXiv2013

The one-dimensional Ly-alpha forest power spectrum from BOSS

We have developed two independent methods to measure the one-dimensional power spectrum of the transmitted flux in the Lyman-$α$ forest. The first method is based on a Fourier transform, and the second on a maximum likelihood estimator. The two methods are independent and have different systematic uncertainties. The determination of the noise level in the data spectra was subject to a novel treatment, because of its significant impact on the derived power spectrum. We applied the two methods to 13,821 quasar spectra from SDSS-III/BOSS DR9 selected from a larger sample of over 60,000 spectra on the basis of their high quality, large signal-to-noise ratio, and good spectral resolution. The power spectra measured using either approach are in good agreement over all twelve redshift bins from $ = 2.2$ to $ = 4.4$, and scales from 0.001 $\rm(km/s)^{-1}$ to $0.02 \rm(km/s)^{-1}$. We determine the methodological and instrumental systematic uncertainties of our measurements. We provide a preliminary cosmological interpretation of our measurements using available hydrodynamical simulations. The improvement in precision over previously published results from SDSS is a factor 2--3 for constraints on relevant cosmological parameters. For a $Λ$CDM model and using a constraint on $H_0$ that encompasses measurements based on the local distance ladder and on CMB anisotropies, we infer $σ_8 =0.83\pm0.03$ and $n_s= 0.97\pm0.02$ based on \ion{H}{i} absorption in the range $2.1<z<3.7$.

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arXiv2013

Measurement of Baryon Acoustic Oscillations in the Lyman-alpha Forest Fluctuations in BOSS Data Release 9

We use the Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (BOSS) Data Release 9 (DR9) to detect and measure the position of the Baryonic Acoustic Oscillation (BAO) feature in the three-dimensional correlation function in the Lyman-alpha forest flux fluctuations at a redshift z=2.4. The feature is clearly detected at significance between 3 and 5 sigma (depending on the broadband model and method of error covariance matrix estimation) and is consistent with predictions of the standard LCDM model. We assess the biases in our method, stability of the error covariance matrix and possible systematic effects. We fit the resulting correlation function with several models that decouple the broadband and acoustic scale information. For an isotropic dilation factor, we measure 100x(alpha_iso-1) = -1.6 ^{+2.0+4.3+7.4}_{-2.0-4.1-6.8} (stat.) +/- 1.0 (syst.) (multiple statistical errors denote 1,2 and 3 sigma confidence limits) with respect to the acoustic scale in the fiducial cosmological model (flat LCDM with Omega_m=0.27, h=0.7). When fitting separately for the radial and transversal dilation factors we find marginalised constraints 100x(alpha_par-1) = -1.3 ^{+3.5+7.6 +12.3}_{-3.3-6.7-10.2} (stat.) +/- 2.0 (syst.) and 100x(alpha_perp-1) = -2.2 ^{+7.4+17}_{-7.1-15} +/- 3.0 (syst.). The dilation factor measurements are significantly correlated with cross-correlation coefficient of ~ -0.55. Errors become significantly non-Gaussian for deviations over 3 standard deviations from best fit value. Because of the data cuts and analysis method, these measurements give tighter constraints than a previous BAO analysis of the BOSS DR9 Lyman-alpha forest sample, providing an important consistency test of the standard cosmological model in a new redshift regime.

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