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S. Ahlen

Publications and source records attributed to S. Ahlen.

At least 73 records · Page 4Linked to original sources

Inference of matter power spectrum at z=0 using DESI DR1 Full-Shape data

Measurements of galaxy distributions at large cosmic distances capture clustering from the past. In this study, we use a cosmological model to translate these observations into the present-day galaxy distribution. Specifically, we reconstruct the 3D matter power spectrum at redshift $ z = 0 $ using Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) Year 1 (DR1) galaxy clustering data and Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) observations, assuming the $ Λ\text{CDM} $ model, and compare it to the result assuming the $ w_0w_a \text{CDM} $ model. Building on previous state-of-the-art methods, we apply Effective Field Theory (EFT) modelling of the galaxy power spectrum to account for small-scale effects in the 2-point statistics of galaxy data. The EFT approach offers a more robust methodology than traditional methods for modelling the galaxy power spectrum from galaxy clustering data, which can be used to test the consistency of the assumed cosmological model. By incorporating both CMB and galaxy clustering data across a range of redshifts, we can identify discrepancies between the datasets, which would indicate potential inaccuracies in the assumed expansion history. While previous studies have shown consistency with $ Λ\text{CDM} $, this work extends the analysis with higher-quality data to further test the expansion histories of both $ Λ\text{CDM} $ and $ w_0w_a \text{CDM} $. Our findings show that both $ Λ\text{CDM} $ and $ w_0w_a \text{CDM} $ provide consistent fits to the matter power spectrum recovered from DESI DR1 data.

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Measurements of quasar proximity zones with the Ly$α$ forest of DESI Y1 quasars

The intergalactic medium (IGM) around quasars is shaped by their dense environments and by their excess ionizing radiation, forming a "quasar proximity zone" whose size and anisotropy depend on the quasar's halo mass, luminosity, age, and radiation geometry. Using over 10,000 quasar pairs from the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) Year 1 data, with projected comoving separations $r_{\perp} < 2\,h^{-1}{\rm Mpc}$, we investigate how the proximity zone of foreground quasars at $z\sim2{\rm-}3.5$ affects Lyman-alpha absorption in their background quasars. The large DESI sample enables unprecedented precision in measuring this "transverse proximity" effect, allowing a detailed investigation of the signal's dependence on the projected separation of quasar pairs and the luminosity of the foreground quasar. We find that enhanced gas clustering near quasars dominates over their ionizing effect, leading to stronger absorption on neighboring sightlines. Under the assumption that quasar ionizing luminosity is isotropic and steady, we infer the IGM overdensity profile in the vicinity of quasars, finding overdensities as high as $Δ\sim 10$ at comoving distance $\sim 1\,h^{-1}{\rm Mpc}$ from the most luminous systems. Surprisingly, however, we find no significant dependence of the proximity profile on the luminosity of the foreground quasar. This lack of luminosity dependence could reflect a cancellation between higher ionizing flux and higher gas overdensity, or it could indicate that quasar emission is highly time variable or anisotropic, so that the observed luminosity does not trace the ionizing flux on nearby sightlines.

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Joint cosmological fits to DESI-DR1 full-shape clustering and weak gravitational lensing in configuration space

We present a joint $3\times2$-pt cosmological analysis of auto- and cross-correlations between the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument Data Release 1 (DESI-DR1) Bright Galaxy Survey (BGS) and Luminous Red Galaxy (LRG) samples and overlapping shear measurements from the KiDS-1000, DES-Y3 and HSC-Y3 weak lensing surveys. We perform our analysis in configuration space and, in addition to the cosmic shear correlation functions for each weak lensing dataset, we fit the tangential shear of the weak lensing source galaxies around DESI lens galaxies. Finally, we make use of the anisotropic BGS and LRG clustering information by fitting the full shape of the two-point correlation function multipoles measured over the full DESI-DR1 footprint, presenting the first full-shape analysis of DESI measurements in configuration space. We find that the addition of weak lensing information serves to improve, with respect to the clustering-only case, the measurements of the power spectrum amplitude parameters $\ln(10^{10}A_{\rm{s}})$ and $σ_{12}$ by $15\%$ and $36\%$, respectively. It also improves measurements of the linear bias of the lens galaxies by $15-20\%$, depending on the tracer. Our results show excellent consistency, regardless of the weak lensing survey considered, and are furthermore consistent with a companion analysis that fits $3\times2$-pt correlations including DESI projected clustering measurements, as well as the results published by the weak lensing collaborations themselves. Our measured values for weak lensing amplitude are $S_{8}^{\mathrm{DESI\times HSC}}=0.787\pm0.020$, $S_{8}^{\mathrm{DESI\times DES}}=0.791\pm0.016$, $S_{8}^{\mathrm{DESI\times KiDS}}=0.771\pm0.017$, which are $1.9σ-2.9σ$ below the $S_8$ value preferred by Planck. Finally, our clustering-only results are in good agreement with the Fourier space full-shape analysis of all DESI tracers.

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Unveiling Hidden Lyman Alpha Emitters in the DESI DR1 Data

We present an automatic method based on machine-learning convolutional neural network (CNN) architecture to detect Lyman alpha emitters (LAE) hidden in the Data Release 1 spectroscopic dataset of the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI). Those LAEs mostly have incorrect redshift estimations because the current DESI pipeline is not designed to detect and measure the redshifts of galaxies at $z>2$. To uncover those sources, we first visually inspect thousands of DESI spectra and construct a sample, consisting of both LAEs and non-LAEs, for training and testing the CNN-based model to (1) detect LAEs in DESI spectra and (2) determine their Ly$α$ redshifts. The final model yields $95.2\%$ purity and $95.9\%$ completeness for detecting LAEs. We apply this model to approximately $2\times10^{6}$ spectra of sources targeted as emission-line galaxies and detect 19,685 LAEs from $z\sim2$ to $3.5$ within 12 minutes with a single GPU, illustrating the high efficiency of this model for identifying LAEs. The detected LAEs are mostly at the bright end of the luminosity function with Ly$α$ luminosity $L_{\rm Lyα} \gtrsim 10^{43}$ erg/s. The high signal-to-noise composite spectrum of the detected LAEs further shows various spectral features, including P-Cygni profiles of metal lines and MgII emission lines, possible indicators of Lyman continuum escape fraction, revealing the rich astrophysical information in this LAE sample. Finally, this sample can be used to train and validate the pipelines for redshift determination of LAEs for the preparation of the DESI-II survey.

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DESI DR2 Galaxy Luminosity Functions

We present galaxy luminosity functions (LFs) for the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) DR2 Bright Galaxy Survey (BGS) in the g,r,z, and w1 bands over 0.002 -15, which is stronger for red galaxies than for blue. We show that our LFs are largely complete for galaxies with surface brightness mu_50<25, and that an apparent steepening fainter than -13 is driven primarily by local overdensity and fragmentation of large galaxies. A systematic North-South offset at the brightest magnitudes is traced to red galaxies and may reflect shallower North photometry underestimating extended early-type profiles, although this remains inconclusive. We therefore also provide LFs based on model-Petrosian magnitudes. Redshift-splitting reveals small but significant residuals, indicating limitations of a simple global evolutionary model. Using the redshift limits of Loveday (2011) we find excellent agreement with GAMA, with substantially reduced statistical errors. These measurements provide a precise reference for studies of environmental and population-dependent LFs and for testing galaxy formation models.

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Detection of supernova magnitude fluctuations induced by large-scale structure

The peculiar velocities of supernovae and their host galaxies are correlated with the large-scale structure of the Universe, and can be used to constrain the growth rate of structure and test the cosmological model. In this work, we measure the correlation statistics of the large-scale structure traced by the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument Bright Galaxy Survey Data Release 1 sample, and magnitude fluctuations of type Ia supernova from the Pantheon+ compilation across redshifts $z < 0.1$. We find a detection of the cross-correlation signal between galaxies and type Ia supernova magnitudes. Fitting the normalised growth rate of structure $f σ_8$ to the auto- and cross-correlation function measurements we find $f σ_8 = 0.384^{+0.094}_{-0.157}$ at $z = 0.03$, which is consistent with the Planck $Λ$CDM model prediction, and indicates that the supernova magnitude fluctuations are induced by peculiar velocities. Using a large ensemble of N-body simulations, we validate our methodology, calibrate the covariance of the measurements, and demonstrate that our results are insensitive to supernova selection effects. We highlight the potential of this methodology for measuring the growth rate of structure, and forecast that the next generation of type Ia supernova surveys will improve $f σ_8$ constraints by a further order of magnitude.

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Probing the limits of cosmological information from the Lyman-$α$ forest 2-point correlation functions

The standard cosmological analysis with the Ly$α$ forest relies on a continuum fitting procedure that suppresses information on large scales and distorts the three-dimensional correlation function on all scales. In this work, we present the first cosmological forecasts without continuum fitting distortion in the Ly$α$ forest, focusing on the recovery of large-scale information. Using idealized synthetic data, we compare the constraining power of the full shape of the Ly$α$ forest auto-correlation and its cross-correlation with quasars using the baseline continuum fitting analysis versus the true continuum. We find that knowledge of the true continuum enables a $\sim10\%$ reduction in uncertainties on the Alcock-Paczyński (AP) parameter and the matter density, $Ω_\mathrm{m}$. We also explore the impact of large-scale information by extending the analysis up to separations of $240\,h^{-1}\mathrm{Mpc}$ along and across the line of sight. The combination of these analysis choices can recover significant large-scale information, yielding up to a $\sim15\%$ improvement in AP constraints. This improvement is analogous to extending the Ly$α$ forest survey area by $\sim40\%$.

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Cosmological analysis of the DESI DR1 Lyman alpha 1D power spectrum

We present the cosmological analysis of the one-dimensional Lyman-$α$ flux power spectrum from the first data release of the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI). We capture the dependence of the signal on cosmology and intergalactic medium physics using an emulator trained on a cosmological suite of hydrodynamical simulations, and we correct its predictions for the impact of astrophysical contaminants and systematics, many of these not considered in previous analyses. We employ this framework to constrain the amplitude and logarithmic slope of the linear matter power spectrum at $k_\star=0.009\,\mathrm{km^{-1}s}$ and redshift $z=3$, obtaining $Δ^2_\star=0.379\pm0.032$ and $n_\star=-2.309\pm0.019$. The robustness of these constraints is validated through the analysis of mocks and a large number of alternative data analysis variations, with cosmological parameters kept blinded throughout the validation process. We then combine our results with constraints from DESI BAO and temperature, polarization, and lensing measurements from Planck, ACT, and SPT-3G to set constraints on $Λ$CDM extensions. While our measurements do not significantly tighten the limits on the sum of neutrino masses from the combination of these probes, they sharpen the constraints on the effective number of relativistic species, $N_\mathrm{eff}=3.02\pm0.10$, the running of the spectral index, $α_\mathrm{s}=0.0014\pm0.0041$, and the running of the running, $β_\mathrm{s}=-0.0006\pm0.0048$, by a factor of 1.18, 1.27, and 1.90, respectively. We conclude by outlining the improvements needed to fully reach the level of confidence implied by these uncertainties.

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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, $λ< 17.81$ Mpc, or equivalently, a lower bound on the mass of the additional gravitational mediator of $m_ϕ> 3.60 \times 10^{-31}$ 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.

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$H_0$ Without the Sound Horizon (or Supernovae): A 2% Measurement in DESI DR1

The sound horizon scale $r_s$ is a key source of information for early-time $H_0$ measurements, and is therefore a common target of new physics proposed to solve the Hubble tension. We present a sub-2% measurement of the Hubble constant that is independent of this scale, using data from the first data release of the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI DR1). Building on previous work, we remove dependency on the sound horizon size using a heuristic rescaling procedure at the power spectrum level. A key innovation is the inclusion of \emph{uncalibrated} (agnostic to $r_s$) post-reconstruction BAO measurements from DESI DR1, as well as using the CMB acoustic scale $θ_*$ as a high-redshift anchor. Uncalibrated type-Ia supernovae are often included as an independent source of $Ω_m$ information; here we demonstrate the robustness of our results by additionally considering two supernova-independent alternative datasets. We find somewhat higher values of $H_0$ relative to our previous work: $69.2^{+1.3}_{-1.4}$, $70.3^{+1.4}_{-1.2}$, and $69.6^{+1.3}_{-1.8}\,{\rm km\,s^{-1}\,Mpc^{-1}}$ respectively when including measurements from i) Planck/ACT CMB lensing $\times$ unWISE galaxies, ii) the DES Year 3 6$\times$2pt analysis, and iii) Planck/ACT CMB lensing + the DES Year 5 supernova analysis. These remarkably consistent constraints achieve better than 2% precision; they are among the most stringent sound horizon-independent measurements from LSS to date, and provide a powerful avenue for probing the origin of the Hubble tension.

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DESI-DR1 $3 \times 2$-pt analysis: consistent cosmology across weak lensing surveys

We present a joint cosmological analysis of projected galaxy clustering observations from the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument Data Release 1 (DESI-DR1), and overlapping weak gravitational lensing observations from three datasets: the Kilo-Degree Survey (KiDS-1000), the Dark Energy Survey (DES-Y3), and the Hyper-Suprime-Cam Survey (HSC-Y3). This combination of large-scale structure probes allows us to measure a set of $3 \times 2$-pt correlation functions, breaking the degeneracies between parameters in cosmological fits to individual observables. We obtain mutually-consistent constraints on the parameter $S_8 = σ_8 \sqrt{Ω_{\rm m}/0.3} = 0.786^{+0.022}_{-0.019}$ from the combination of DESI-DR1 and DES-Y3, $S_8 = 0.760^{+0.020}_{-0.018}$ from KiDS-1000, and $S_8 = 0.771^{+0.026}_{-0.027}$ from HSC-Y3. These parameter determinations are consistent with fits to the Planck Cosmic Microwave Background dataset, albeit with $1.5-2σ$ lower values in the $S_8-Ω_{\rm m}$ plane. We perform our analysis with a unified pipeline tailored to the requirements of each cosmic shear survey, which self-consistently determines cosmological and astrophysical parameters. We generate an analytical covariance matrix for the correlation data including all cross-covariances between probes, and we design a new blinding procedure to safeguard our analysis against confirmation bias, whilst leaving goodness-of-fit statistics unchanged. Our study is part of a suite of papers that present joint cosmological analyses of DESI-DR1 and weak gravitational lensing datasets.

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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 ($σ_V = 2.49\pm 0.28$ km s$^{-1}$, width $= 0.23\pm0.01^\circ$) and a kinematically hot cocoon ($σ_V = 6.13\pm0.75$ 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.

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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.

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DESI Strong Lens Foundry III: Keck Spectroscopy for Strong Lenses Discovered Using Residual Neural Networks

We present spectroscopic data of strong lenses and their source galaxies using the Keck Near-Infrared Echellette Spectrometer (NIRES) and the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI), providing redshifts necessary for nearly all strong-lensing applications with these systems, especially the extraction of physical parameters from lensing modeling. These strong lenses were found in the DESI Legacy Imaging Surveys using Residual Neural Networks (ResNet) and followed up by our Hubble Space Telescope program, with all systems displaying unambiguous lensed arcs. With NIRES, we target eight lensed sources at redshifts difficult to measure in the optical range and determine the source redshifts for six, between $z_s$ = 1.675 and 3.332. DESI observed one of the remaining source redshifts, as well as an additional source redshift within the six systems. The two systems with non-detections by NIRES were observed for a considerably shorter 600s at high airmass. Combining NIRES infrared spectroscopy with optical spectroscopy from our DESI Strong Lensing Secondary Target Program, these results provide the complete lens and source redshifts for six systems, a resource for refining automated strong lens searches in future deep- and wide-field imaging surveys and addressing a range of questions in astrophysics and cosmology.

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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 $ω_{cdm}$. 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 $1σ$ level using full-shape information alone. The code is publicly available at https://github.com/cosmodesi/FolpsD

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PAC in DESI. I. Galaxy Stellar Mass Function into the $10^{6}{\rm M}_{\odot}$ Frontier

The Photometric Objects Around Cosmic Webs (PAC) method integrates cosmological photometric and spectroscopic surveys, offering valuable insights into galaxy formation. PAC measures the excess surface density of photometric objects, $\bar{n}_2w_{\rm{p}}$, with specific physical properties around spectroscopic tracers. In this study, we improve the PAC method to make it more rigorous and eliminate the need for redshift bins. We apply the enhanced PAC method to the DESI Y1 BGS Bright spectroscopic sample and the deep DECaLS photometric sample, obtaining $\bar{n}_2w_{\rm{p}}$ measurements across the complete stellar mass range, from $10^{5.3}{\rm M}_{\odot}$ to $10^{11.5}{\rm M}_{\odot}$ for blue galaxies, and from $10^{6.3}{\rm M}_{\odot}$ to $10^{11.9}{\rm M}_{\odot}$ for red galaxies. We combine $\bar{n}_2w_{\rm{p}}$ with $w_{\rm{p}}$ measurements from the BGS sample, which is not necessarily complete in stellar mass. Assuming that galaxy bias is primarily determined by stellar mass and colour, we derive the galaxy stellar mass functions (GSMFs) down to $10^{5.3}{\rm M}_{\odot}$ for blue galaxies and $10^{6.3}{\rm M}_{\odot}$ for red galaxies, while also setting lower limits for smaller masses. The blue and red GSMFs are well described by single and double Schechter functions, respectively, with low-mass end slopes of $α_{\rm{blue}}=-1.54^{+0.02}_{-0.02}$ and $α_{\rm{red}}=-2.50^{+0.08}_{-0.08}$, resulting in the dominance of red galaxies below $10^{7.6}{\rm M}_{\odot}$. Stage-IV cosmological photometric surveys, capable of reaching 2-3 magnitudes deeper than DECaLS, present an opportunity to explore the entire galaxy population in the local universe with PAC. This advancement allows us to address critical questions regarding the nature of dark matter, the physics of reionization, and the formation of dwarf galaxies.

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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.

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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 $17.0σ$ for LRGs, and for the first time, at $8.3σ$ for ELGs and $6.8σ$ for QSOs. We further report the first detection of the velocity-velocity correlation using LRGs at $3.1σ$, as well as the highest cumulative detection of the kSZ effect to date at $20.8 σ$. 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.

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