arXiv subjects

R. Joyce

Publications and source records attributed to R. Joyce.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

arXiv2026

Testing Scale-Dependent Modified Gravity with DESI DR1

The Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) provides an unprecedented opportunity to test deviations from general relativity (GR) that introduce a new physical scale within its redshift range. Using the connection between a Yukawa-like potential and the Hu-Sawicki $f(R)$ model, we place strong constraints on the range of a hypothetical fifth force mediated by a massive scalar field. We analyze the power spectrum measurements from DESI Data Release 1 using a baseline EFT model that employs the fkpt approach for the loop integrals. We find no evidence for deviations from GR and obtain the constraint $\log_{10} |f_{R_0}| < -4.59$ (95\% C.L.). This corresponds to an upper bound at redshift zero on the scale at which corrections to GR become important, $\lambda < 17.81$ Mpc, or equivalently, a lower bound on the mass of the additional gravitational mediator of $m_\phi > 3.60 \times 10^{-31}$ eV. We find that the modified gravity parameter $f_{R_0}$ is largely orthogonal to the cosmological parameters in the model, such that no additional projection effects relative to the GR case are introduced in this Full-Shape analysis. Furthermore, a second modified gravity parameter, the power index $n$, which modulates the time-variation of the associated mass, is found to be consistent with previous analyses that fixed it to unity. Adding DESI BAO data or other cosmological probes does not significantly change these results. The conclusions remain similar if the background evolution is described by evolving dark energy instead of a cosmological constant. Additionally, we test the robustness of the baseline model by varying the maximum wavenumber used in the Full-Shape analysis and analyzing the DESI targets separately. Finally, we analyze the degeneracies between the modified-gravity parameters and the sum of neutrino masses.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2026

Characterizing the GD-1 Stream with DESI DR2 Data: Thin Stream and Hot Cocoon

GD-1 is among the longest, coldest stellar streams in the Milky Way, making it an ideal target for probing dark matter substructure through dynamical heating. We present a catalog of 608 spectroscopically confirmed GD-1 members from the first three years of Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) observations. This constitutes the largest homogeneous spectroscopic sample of GD-1, doubling the number of members previously available only through heterogeneous compilations combining multiple surveys with different systematics. Using these data, we derive updated stream tracks in sky position, proper motion, and radial velocity that extend over $100^\circ$ of the stream. We apply a Gaussian mixture model to decompose the stream into a dynamically cold thin component ($\sigma_V = 2.49\pm 0.28$ km s$^{-1}$, width $= 0.23\pm0.01^\circ$) and a kinematically hot cocoon ($\sigma_V = 6.13\pm0.75$ km s$^{-1}$, width $= 2.18\pm0.17^\circ$). The cocoon contains $\sim30\%$ of members and its velocity dispersion is consistent with $\sim11$ Gyr of heating by cold dark matter subhalos. We also detect a large proper motion dispersion ($41.36\pm4.98$ km s$^{-1}$) along the stream direction in the cocoon component. This feature indicates a significant line-of-sight distance spread in the cocoon, and its origin will be further explored in a forthcoming paper. These measurements demonstrate the power of DESI spectroscopy for characterizing the multi-component phase-space structure of stellar streams and constraining small-scale dark matter substructure.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2026

Precision Kinematic Sunyaev--Zel'dovich Measurements Across Halo Mass and Redshift with DESI DR2 and ACT DR6: Part II. Bright Galaxy Survey and Emission-Line Galaxies

We present the first high-significance spectroscopic stacked kinetic Sunyaev-Zel'dovich (kSZ) measurements of circumgalactic gas profiles for both Bright Galaxy Survey (BGS) and Emission Line Galaxy (ELG) tracers, combining DESI Data Release 2 with ACT Data Release 6. Using reconstructed line-of-sight velocities from the DESI galaxies and high-resolution ACT temperature maps, we detect the kSZ signal at high significance, reaching signal-to-noise ratios of up to $\sim$9 for BGS and $\sim$7.5 for ELGs in optimal stellar-mass selections. Together with the LRG measurements presented in Paper I, these constitute the most significant kSZ detections from any spectroscopic survey to date. We perform the analysis in both real and harmonic space, obtaining consistent results. By splitting both tracers into stellar-mass bins, we study the scaling of the kSZ amplitude with galaxy properties. Combining the kSZ measurements with ACT Data Release 6 (DR6) CMB lensing maps enables a joint calibration of the galaxy-halo connection and the gas fractions of host halos. For the BGS galaxies, we observe low gas fractions around the virial radius relative to standard expectations, likely attributable to active galactic nuclei (AGN) activity. We find some evidence for higher-mass halos retaining a larger fraction of their baryons, consistent with more efficient feedback in lower-mass systems. For the ELG sample, dominated by blue, star-forming galaxies, we provide the first detection of the gas distribution in ELG host halos. The ELGs appear to exhibit relatively high gas fractions, which points to the possibility of weaker feedback (due to e.g. low AGN and supernova feedback activity) at their mass scale. Finally, we present generalized Navarro-Frenk-White (GNFW) fits to the harmonic-space measurements, providing a compact parametrization of gas profiles for forward modeling in large-scale structure analyses.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2026

FolpsD: combining EFT and phenomenological approaches for joint power spectrum and bispectrum analyses

We present a theoretical model for the power spectrum and bispectrum of galaxy clustering that exploits the complementarity between small-scale power spectrum information and large-scale bispectrum measurements. We extend the FOLPS code by combining its one-loop EFT galaxy power spectrum with a tree-level galaxy bispectrum projected onto the tripolar spherical harmonics (Sugiyama) basis. To access additional small-scale information, we also consider a line-of-sight damping factor in both statistics, mirroring approaches commonly used in studies of redshift-space distortions. We test the model using DESI DR2 galaxy mocks. Even without damping, the joint analysis of the EFT power spectrum and bispectrum significantly improves constraints and reduces parameter degeneracies relative to power spectrum analyses alone. For LRG-like samples, including the damping further extends the range beyond $k\sim 0.3 \,h \text{Mpc}^{-1}$ in the power spectrum and $k \sim 0.24 \,h \text{Mpc}^{-1}$ in the bispectrum without introducing statistically significant parameter biases. This leads to up to $\sim 30\%$ tighter constraints on $A_s$ and $\omega_{cdm}$. For low signal-to-noise tracers such as QSOs, however, the damping parameters are weakly constrained and can absorb noise fluctuations, leading to shifts in inferred parameters. Similar limitations may arise in models where cosmological information is encoded in power-spectrum shape features degenerate with the damping, such as scenarios with massive neutrinos. In contrast, for $w_0w_a$CDM we obtain $15\%$ and $21\%$ tighter constraints on $w_0$ and $w_a$, respectively, yielding a deviation from constant dark energy at slightly more than the $1\sigma$ level using full-shape information alone. The code is publicly available at https://github.com/cosmodesi/FolpsD

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2026

Deep Spectroscopy with DESI for Photometric Redshift Training and Calibration

Deep spectroscopic samples can be used to improve photometric redshift (photo-$z$) estimates and reduce uncertainties on redshift distributions. Such improvements can increase the cosmological constraining power of large imaging-based experiments such as the Vera C. Rubin Observatory's Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST) and mitigate what may be a limiting systematic effect. We present results from the ``DESI-Deep pilot'' program, which was designed to assess the capability of the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) on the 4m Mayall telescope to measure redshifts of galaxies as faint as expected lensing samples for early LSST data ($m_i \leq 24.5$). We find that DESI is remarkably efficient at this task, with redshift success rates comparable to the results of observations from 10m-class telescopes with only $\sim2\times$ longer integration time (rather than $\sim 8\times$ longer as would be expected from aperture-area scaling), while simultaneously achieving $\sim30$ times larger multiplexing. We also find that the signal-to-noise ratio of the spectra scales as expected for background-limited observations even for the longest exposure times ($\sim 7$ hours) and faintest targets in the program. These results demonstrate that DESI could provide the definitive redshift sample for the early years of LSST with a modest investment of observing time. Based upon the results of this program, we provide updated predictions for the time required to collect benchmark samples for photo-$z$ training and calibration using a variety of spectroscopic facilities. Finally, we describe a potential "DESI-Deep" survey designed to train and calibrate photo-$z$'s for imaging experiments, and provide forecasts of its impact on cosmological inference.

astro-ph.IM↗

arXiv2026

Measurement of the galaxy-velocity power spectrum of DESI tracers with the kinematic Sunyaev-Zeldovich effect using DESI DR2 and ACT DR6

Joint analyses of high-resolution CMB temperature maps with galaxy surveys provide a unique way to reconstruct the radial velocity field of the underlying matter distribution via the kinematic Sunyaev-Zeldovich (kSZ) effect. Using data from the Atacama Cosmology Telescope (ACT) DR6 and the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) DR2, we present radial velocity reconstructions for luminous red galaxies (LRGs), emission-line galaxies (ELGs), and quasars (QSOs). Leveraging the spectroscopic data, we are able to reliably model the foreground contamination and report a negligible impact on our main observables. We detect the velocity-galaxy cross-correlation at $17.0\sigma$ for LRGs, and for the first time, at $8.3\sigma$ for ELGs and $6.8\sigma$ for QSOs. We further report the first detection of the velocity-velocity correlation using LRGs at $3.1\sigma$, as well as the highest cumulative detection of the kSZ effect to date at $20.8 \sigma$. Similarly to previous results, we find a lower amplitude of the kSZ signal compared to our fiducial halo model prediction and electron profile assuming a Battaglia profile. Combining these new observables, we obtain constraints on local-type primordial non-Gaussianity (PNG): $f_{\rm NL}^{\rm loc} = 15.9_{-34.4}^{+34.6}$ at 68\% confidence, which represents the tightest constraint to date derived from the velocity field. The measurements presented here already exhibit lower noise on a per-mode basis than the galaxy auto-correlation on the largest scales, $k<0.004~\rm{Mpc^{-1}}$, highlighting the key role these observables will play in the context of future CMB experiments such as the Simons Observatory.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2026

Local primordial non-Gaussianity using cross-correlations of DESI tracers

We constrain local primordial non-Gaussianity by a combined analysis of auto and cross-correlations of DESI DR1 tracers, leveraging LRGs and QSOs as well as ELGs between $0.8<z<3.1$. By cross-validating the signal across different clustering tracers within the same redshift range, we evaluate potential systematics in the $f^\mathrm{loc}_\mathrm{NL}$ measurements, capitalizing on the reduced susceptibility of cross-correlations to non-common systematics. We find that the cross-correlation between LRG and quasars can robustly improve the DESI DR1 $f^\mathrm{loc}_\mathrm{NL}$ constraints, by $\sim9\%$ to a measurement of $f^\mathrm{loc}_\mathrm{NL}=2.1_{-8.3}^{+8.8}$ at 68\% confidence. On the other hand, we do not find a clear improvement when including the DESI DR1 ELG sample. Mock tests predict an additional $\sim8\%$ gain with statistical scatter, and the lack of improvement in the data remains consistent with this expectation. This project serves as an exploratory analysis of DESI ELG clustering for $f^\mathrm{loc}_\mathrm{NL}$ through its cross-correlation in preparation for future DESI data analyses.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2026

PAC in DESI. II. Galaxy-halo connection into the $10^{6}{\rm M}_{\odot}$ frontier

Understanding dwarf galaxy formation is crucial for testing dark matter models and reionization physics. However, constructing stellar-mass complete spectroscopic samples at low masses is increasingly difficult, and the potential existence of a local void complicates studies in an average environment. The Photometric object Around Cosmic webs (PAC) method, which combines deep photometric and spectroscopic data to measure the excess surface density $\bar{n}_2w_{{\rm{p}}}(r_{\rm{p}})$ of photometric objects around spectroscopic tracers, offers a promising path forward. We model 349 $\bar{n}_2w_{{\rm{p}}}(r_{\rm{p}})$ measurements from DESI Y1 BGS and DECaLS, reaching $M_*=10^{6.4}\,{\rm M}_{\odot}$, using a stellar mass-halo mass relation (SHMR)-based subhalo abundance matching framework applied to two high-resolution $N$-body simulations from the Jiutian suite. The resulting SHMR is constrained down to $M_{\rm h}\simeq10^{8.0}\,h^{-1}{\rm M}_{\odot}$, revealing a clear upturn at $\sim10^{10.0}\,h^{-1}{\rm M}_{\odot}$ toward lower masses, indicating rising star-formation efficiency (SFE) in small haloes. This feature persists under extensions of the model that allow mass-dependent scatter, reionization-induced suppression of the halo occupation fraction, galaxy assembly bias, and alternative cosmologies. Combining with the results from Paper I, we find that central red galaxies dominate the low-mass regime. Our results motivate a hypothesis in which SFE is significantly higher than previously thought prior to reionization, enabling relatively massive galaxies to form in small haloes. These systems are subsequently quenched by the UV background, producing the central red dwarf galaxies observed. Finally, we obtain $3\sigma$ and $5\sigma$ upper mass bounds of $10^{8.80}\,h^{-1}{\rm M}_{\odot}$ and $10^{10.24}\,h^{-1}{\rm M}_{\odot}$ on the smallest haloes required to exist.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2026

Cosmological constraints from the DESI DR1 joint power spectrum and bispectrum analysis

We derive cosmological parameter constraints from the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) Data Release 1 (DR1) galaxy clustering data, based on a joint full-shape analysis of the power spectrum multipoles and the bispectrum monopole using the ShapeFit framework. This is the follow-up of our previous work, in which we obtained for the first time constraints on the ShapeFit parameters using the bispectrum of DESI DR1. Here we present the first ShapeFit cosmological inference results using the bispectrum of DESI DR1. We recover values for the matter density parameter and Hubble constant of respectively $\Omega_m=0.310\pm0.012$ and $H_0=[68.92\pm0.97]\,\mathrm{km\, s^{-1} Mpc^{-1}}$, consistent with previous results from the full DESI DR1 dataset that did not use the bispectrum signal. The inclusion of the bispectrum significantly tightens the constraints on the amplitude of fluctuations, reducing the error-bars in $\ln(A_s\times10^{10})$ by approximately 20\%, compared to using the power spectrum alone. We also explore extended cosmological models by performing fits for the evolving dark energy equation of state $w_0w_a$, and the sum of neutrino masses $\sum m_\nu$. In these cases, we obtain constraints slightly larger than the ones from previous works from the DESI collaboration, due to not combining the full-shape results with other probes in all tracers. We find no strong evidence of deviations from standard $\Lambda$CDM, with the dark energy equation-of-state remaining within 2$\sigma$ from a cosmological constant $\Lambda$, and the neutrino mass being consistent with the normal hierarchy, $\sum m_\nu<0.1\,[eV]$ at 95\% confidence limit. These constraints are broadly consistent with other DESI DR1 analyses, thus validating the robustness of the ShapeFit compression approach and the inclusion of the bispectrum for cosmological inference.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2026

The Kinematically Hot, Extremely Metal-Poor C-19 Stellar Stream in DESI DR2

Stellar streams are the result of a host galaxy's gravitational potential tidally disrupting satellite dwarf galaxies and globular clusters (GCs), causing them to grow leading and trailing tidal tails. The C-19 stellar stream is an extremely metal-poor stellar population, showing chemical abundance patterns characteristic of a globular cluster. However, its large velocity dispersion is difficult to reconcile with a conventional, purely baryonic, disrupting-GC progenitor. Current techniques for stream characterization are primarily applied to Gaia DR3, relying heavily on proper motion measurements. Using the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI), which provides radial velocities and metallicites for over 10 million stars reaching significantly fainter magnitudes than comparable surveys, we employ a mixture model approach to jointly characterize stream populations in proper motions, radial velocities, and metallicities against a Milky Way halo background. By applying this framework to the C-19 stellar stream, we identify a total of 47 spectroscopically confirmed member stars, of which 41 are newly identified and only 6 were previously reported in the literature. In this work, we measure a velocity dispersion of $7.8^{+1.5}_{-1.3}$ km s$^{-1}$ and a mean metallicity of [Fe/H] = $-3.36^{+0.12}_{-0.10}$. We further identify a novel 'spur' feature within the stream. We conclude that our measurements are in line with previous works identifying C-19 as a 'hot', metal-poor stream. In forthcoming work, we will apply this approach to many more streams in the DESI footprint, enabling population-level comparisons with predictions from simulations.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2026

ODIN: Spectroscopic Validation of Ly$\alpha$-Emitting Galaxy Samples with DESI

The One-hundred-deg^2 DECam Imaging in Narrowbands (ODIN) survey is conducting the widest-field deep narrow-band imaging of the equatorial and southern skies. ODIN uses three custom-built narrow-band (NB) filters that sample Lya-emitting galaxies (LAEs) within thin cosmic slices centered at z=2.4, 3.1, and 4.5. In this work, we utilize extensive DESI spectroscopy of ODIN-selected galaxies in the COSMOS and XMM-LSS fields to validate our LAE selection. 2-4 hr exposures with DESI yielded redshift confirmation of 3,075 ODIN LAE candidates with NB magnitudes brighter than 26~mag. Restricting to objects that yield high-confidence redshifts, the confirmation rates are (93, 96, 92)% at z=(2.4, 3.1, 4.5). The primary contaminants consist of active galactic nuclei at the expected Lya redshift range and lower redshifts (C IV, C III]), with the remainder being star-forming galaxies ([O II] and [O III]). We find minimal contamination from [O II] emitters in our sample (<~1%), implying that our REW>20 A narrow-band excess photometry requirement is sufficient to remove them.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2026

Clustering analysis of medium-band selected high-redshift galaxies

Next-generation large-scale structure spectroscopic surveys will probe cosmology at high redshifts $(2.3 < z < 3.5)$, relying on abundant galaxy tracers such as Ly$α$ emitters (LAEs) and Lyman break galaxies (LBGs). Medium-band photometry has emerged as a potential technique for efficiently selecting these high-redshift galaxies. In this work, we present clustering analysis of medium-band selected galaxies at high redshift, utilizing photometric data from the Intermediate Band Imaging Survey (IBIS) and spectroscopic data from the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI). We interpret the clustering of such samples using both Halo Occupation Distribution (HOD) modeling and a perturbation theory description of large-scale structure. Our modeling indicates that the current target sample is composed from an overlapping mixture of LAEs and LBGs with emission lines. Despite differences in target selection, we find that the clustering properties are consistent with previous studies, with correlation lengths $r_0\simeq 3-4\,h^{-1}$Mpc and a linear bias of $b\sim1.8-2.5$. Finally, we discuss the simulation requirements implied by these measurements and demonstrate that the properties of the samples would make them excellent targets to enhance our understanding of the high-$z$ universe.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2026

DESI DR2 reference mocks: clustering results from Uchuu-BGS and LRG

The aim of this work is to construct mock galaxy catalogues that accurately reproduce the redshift evolution of galaxy number density, clustering statistics, and baryonic properties, such as stellar mass for luminous red galaxies (LRGs) and absolute magnitude in the $r$-band for the bright galaxy sample (BGS), based on the first three years of observations from the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI). To achieve this, we applied the subhalo abundance matching (SHAM) technique to the Uchuu $N$-body simulation, which follows the evolution of 2.1 trillion particles within a volume of $8\,h^{-3}\,\mathrm{Gpc}^{3}$, assuming a Planck base-$Λ$CDM cosmology. Using SHAM, we populated Uchuu subhalos with LRGs and BGS-BRIGHT ($r<19.5$) galaxies up to redshift $z=1.1$, assigning stellar masses to LRGs and luminosities to BGS galaxies (up to $M_{\rm r}\leq 20$). Furthermore, we analyzed the clustering dependence on stellar mass and luminosity for each tracer. Our results show that the Uchuu BGS-BRIGHT and LRG mocks accurately reproduce the observed redshift evolution of clustering, with better than 5\% agreement for separations of $1<r<20\,h^{-1}\,\mathrm{Mpc}$ and below 10\% for $0.1<r<1\,h^{-1}\,\mathrm{Mpc}$. For the Uchuu-LRG mock, we successfully captured the stellar mass dependence of clustering, while for the Uchuu-BGS mock, we replicated the clustering for various volume-limited subsamples. We also find good agreement between the data and mocks in the dependence of large-scale bias on luminosity for BGS-BRIGHT galaxies and on stellar mass for LRGs. Altogether, these results equip DESI with robust tools for generating high-fidelity lightcones for the remainder of the survey, thereby enhancing our understanding of the galaxy--halo connection.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2026

DESI DR2 Baryon Acoustic Oscillations from the Lyman Alpha Forest Multipoles

We present an alternative measurement of the Baryon Acoustic Oscillation (BAO) using the Legendre multipole representation of the Ly$\alpha$ forest correlation functions from the second data release (DR2) of the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument survey. Compressing the auto- and cross-correlation functions into Legendre multipoles yields a positive-definite covariance matrix without any smoothing -- unlike the baseline DR2 analysis -- thanks to a significantly reduced data vector size. We introduce the statistical corrections required to debias the finite-sample covariance matrix estimate and demonstrate that monopole and quadrupole terms for both auto- and cross-correlations can be used even when the correlation functions are distorted by continuum errors and contaminated by metals. This formalism has slightly diminished the constraining power of the BAO scale, while considerably weakening constraints on nuisance parameters. We measure the isotropic BAO scale with $0.93\%$ precision at $z_\mathrm{eff}=2.35$, the Hubble parameter $H(z_\mathrm{eff})=(239.5\pm3.4)~(147.09~\mathrm{Mpc}/r_d) ~\mathrm{km~s}^{-1}~\text{Mpc}^{-1}$, and the transverse comoving distance $D_M(z_\mathrm{eff})=(5.80 \pm 0.10)~(r_d/147.09~\mathrm{Mpc})$~Gpc for a given value of the sound horizon ($r_d$). Our BAO results are entirely consistent with the baseline DR2 analysis.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2026

The DESI Single Fiber Lens Search. I. Four Thousand Spectroscopically Selected Galaxy-Galaxy Gravitational Lens Candidates

We present 4,110 strong gravitational lens candidates, 3,887 of which are new discoveries, selected from a sample of 5,837,154 luminous red galaxies (LRGs) observed with the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI). Candidates are identified via the presence of background ionized oxygen [O II] nebular emission lines in the foreground LRG spectra which may originate from the lensing of higher redshift star-forming galaxies. Using the measured foreground redshift, background redshift, and integrated flux of the background [O II] doublet, we integrate over impact parameters to compute the probability that each candidate is a lens. We expect 53% of candidates to be true lenses with Einstein radii ranging from 0.1'' to 4'', which can be confirmed with high-resolution imaging. Confirmed strong lenses from this sample will form a valuable cosmological dataset, as strong gravitational lensing is the only method to directly measure dark matter halo substructure at cosmological distances. We independently recover the host of the multiply imaged gravitationally lensed type Ia supernova iPTF16geu. Monitoring these lenses for future multiply lensed transients will enable (a) H0 measurements via time-delay cosmography and (b) substructure measurements via flux ratios.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2026

Highly Efficient Selection of High-Redshift Emission-Line Galaxies for future DESI-like surveys with Deep Multi-band Imaging

Emission-line galaxies (ELGs) are an important tracer of baryon acoustic oscillations (BAO) and large-scale structure (LSS) at $z > 1$. In this work, we investigate the feasibility of using deep wide-area multi-band imaging (e.g., from the Rubin Observatory) to efficiently select high redshift ELGs. Using Hyper Supreme-Cam $grizy$ photometry and COSMOS2020 many-band photometric redshifts, we designed simple color cuts guided by a probabilistic random forest classifier to select galaxies at $z = 1.1$--$1.6$. We then empirically tested and refined these color cuts using two samples of galaxies with deep spectroscopy and broad color coverage obtained with the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI). Compared to DESI ELGs at $z = 1.1$--$1.6$, we achieve a higher redshift measurement success rate (89% versus 69%), a much higher correct redshift range success rate (84% versus 34%), and a far higher net surface density yield (1372 $\mathrm{deg^{-2}}$ versus 660 $\mathrm{deg^{-2}}$). Combining our sample with current DESI ELGs would increase the net ELG number density by a factor of $\sim3$, moving it out of the shot-noise limited regime and reducing the uncertainties on the BAO scale parameter at $z = 1.1$--$1.6$ by a factor of $\sim 2$.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2026

Cosmological constraints from a joint DESI DR1 Full-Shape and DR2 BAO

We present a cosmological analysis combining full-shape (FS) clustering measurements from the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) DR1 with baryon acoustic oscillation (BAO) measurements from DESI DR2. To achieve a robust combination that accounts for the correlation between the two data releases, we employ the ShapeFit compression method and estimate the joint covariance using EZmocks. This compressed approach inherently mitigates the prior volume effects that have previously dominated Bayesian constraints from DESI data with minimal external priors. Consequently, we obtain--for the first time within a Bayesian framework--reliable DESI-only constraints on extensions to $Λ$CDM using only a Big Bang Nucleosynthesis prior on the baryon density and a wide prior on the spectral index. In flat $Λ$CDM, we find $Ω_m = 0.3035 \pm 0.0085$, $h = 0.6876 \pm 0.0059$, and $σ_8 = 0.822 \pm 0.034$. For the $w_0 w_a$CDM dynamical dark energy model, we measure $w_0 = 0.49 \pm 0.25$ and $w_a = -1.52 \pm 0.77$, improving constraints by $\sim 30\%$ relative to the analogous DR1 measurement and reducing the discrepancy with $Λ$CDM to $1.4σ$ when compared to BAO only analyses. We also report competitive limits on the sum of neutrino masses and spatial curvature. This work demonstrates that the ShapeFit compression provides a prior-robust and computationally efficient pathway to constrain beyond-$Λ$CDM physics with large-scale structure.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2026

First Detection of the Baryon Acoustic Oscillation (BAO) Feature in the 3-Point Correlation Function of DESI DR1 Luminous Red Galaxies

We present the first detection of the 3-Point Correlation Function (3PCF) Baryon Acoustic Oscillation (BAO) signal from the DESI Data Release 1 (DR1) sample of Luminous Red Galaxies (LRGs), which contains over 2.1 million galaxies. Our analysis is based on a tree-level redshift-space bispectrum template, which is then transformed to position space using the Fast Fourier Transform on Logarithmic scales (FFTLog) algorithm. We detect the BAO feature with a significance of approximately $8.1σ$ using the EZmock covariance matrix and $8.5σ$ using the analytical covariance matrix, for the full LRG redshift range ($0.4<z<1.1$), denoted as the $z_{\rm full}$ sample. We use the Abacus altMTL mocks, the most precise DESI DR1 mock catalogs currently available, to validate our model. We find that our model fits the mocks well, with a small offset of $0.6\%$ in the recovered BAO scale, which we treat as a systematic error due to modeling. We measure the angle-averaged distance, $D_{\rm V}(z = 0.68)/r_{\rm d} = 15.88 \pm 0.27$ ($1.72\%$ precision) when using the covariance matrix estimated from EZmocks and $D_{\rm V}(z = 0.68)/r_{\rm d} = 15.72 \pm 0.18$ ($1.12\%$ precision) when using the analytical Gaussian covariance matrix. Our results show excellent agreement with the DESI DR1 2PCF BAO measurements as well. We also explore several other ways to estimate the error and find between $1.7$--$2.2\%$ precision on the BAO scale from the EZmock covariance matrix and between $1.1$--$1.5\%$ precision from the analytical covariance matrix. This work represents the first detection of the BAO feature in the DESI 3PCF, establishing its ability to probe the expansion history of the Universe with future DESI 3PCF measurements.

astro-ph.CO↗