arXiv subjects

S. Carneiro

Publications and source records attributed to S. Carneiro.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

arXiv2023

The miniJPAS survey: Optical detection of galaxy clusters with PZWav

Galaxy clusters are an essential tool to understand and constrain the cosmological parameters of our Universe. Thanks to its multi-band design, J-PAS offers a unique group and cluster detection window using precise photometric redshifts and sufficient depths. We produce galaxy cluster catalogues from the miniJPAS, which is a pathfinder survey for the wider J-PAS survey, using the PZWav algorithm. Relying only on photometric information, we provide optical mass tracers for the identified clusters, including richness, optical luminosity, and stellar mass. By reanalysing the Chandra mosaic of the AEGIS field, alongside the overlapping XMM-Newton observations, we produce an X-ray catalogue. The analysis reveals the possible presence of structures with masses of 4$\times 10^{13}$ M$_\odot$ at redshift 0.75, highlighting the depth of the survey. Comparing results with those from two other cluster catalogues, provided by AMICO and VT, we find $43$ common clusters with cluster centre offsets of 100$\pm$60 kpc and redshift differences below 0.001. We provide a comparison of the cluster catalogues with a catalogue of massive galaxies and report on the significance of cluster selection. In general, we are able to recover approximately 75$\%$ of the galaxies with $M^{\star} >$2$\times 10^{11}$ M$_\odot$. This study emphasises the potential of the J-PAS survey and the employed techniques down to the group scales.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2023

The miniJPAS survey. Evolution of the luminosity and stellar mass functions of galaxies up to $z \sim 0.7$

We aim at developing a robust methodology for constraining the luminosity and stellar mass functions (LMFs) of galaxies by solely using data from multi-filter surveys and testing the potential of these techniques for determining the evolution of the miniJPAS LMFs up to $z\sim0.7$. Stellar mass and $B$-band luminosity for each of the miniJPAS galaxies are constrained using an updated version of the SED-fitting code MUFFIT, whose values are based on composite stellar population models and the probability distribution functions of the miniJPAS photometric redshifts. Galaxies are classified through the stellar mass versus rest-frame colour diagram corrected for extinction. Different stellar mass and luminosity completeness limits are set and parametrised as a function of redshift, for setting limits in our flux-limited sample ($r_\mathrm{SDSS}<22$). The miniJPAS LMFs are parametrised according to Schechter-like functions via a novel maximum likelihood method accounting for uncertainties, degeneracies, probabilities, completeness, and priors. Overall, our results point to a smooth evolution with redshift ($0.05 10.7$).

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2023

The miniJPAS survey: clusters and galaxy groups detection with AMICO

Samples of galaxy clusters allow us to better understand the physics at play in galaxy formation and to constrain cosmological models once their mass, position (for clustering studies) and redshift are known. In this context, large optical data sets play a crucial role. We investigate the capabilities of the Javalambre-Physics of the Accelerating Universe Astrophysical Survey (J-PAS) in detecting and characterizing galaxy groups and clusters. We analyze the data of the miniJPAS survey, obtained with the JPAS-Pathfinder camera and covering $1$ deg$^2$ centered on the AEGIS field to the same depths and with the same 54 narrow band plus 2 broader band near-UV and near-IR filters anticipated for the full J-PAS survey. We use the Adaptive Matched Identifier of Clustered Objects (AMICO) to detect and characterize groups and clusters of galaxies down to $S/N=2.5$ in the redshift range $0.05<z<0.8$. We detect 80, 30 and 11 systems with signal-to-noise ratio larger than 2.5, 3.0 and 3.5, respectively, down to $\sim 10^{13}\,M_{\odot}/h$. We derive mass-proxy scaling relations based on Chandra and XMM-Newton X-ray data for the signal amplitude returned by AMICO, the intrinsic richness and a new proxy that incorporates the galaxies' stellar masses. The latter proxy is made possible thanks to the J-PAS filters and shows a smaller scatter with respect to the richness. We fully characterize the sample and use AMICO to derive a probabilistic membership association of galaxies to the detected groups that we test against spectroscopy. We further show how the narrow band filters of J-PAS provide a gain of up to 100% in signal-to-noise ratio in detection and an uncertainty on the redshift of clusters of only $σ_z=0.0037(1+z)$ placing J-PAS in between broadband photometric and spectroscopic surveys. The performances of AMICO and J-PAS with respect to mass sensitivity, mass-proxies quality

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2023

On the horizon area of effective loop quantum black holes

Effective models of quantum black holes inspired by Loop Quantum Gravity (LQG) have had success in resolving the classical singularity with polymerisation procedures and by imposing the LQG area gap as a minimum area. The singularity is replaced by a hypersurface of transition from black to white holes, and a recent example is the Ashtekar, Olmedo and Singh (AOS) model for a Schwarzschild black hole. More recently, a one-parameter model, with equal masses for the black and white solutions, was suggested by Alonso-Bardaji, Brizuela and Vera (ABBV). An interesting feature of their quantisation is that the angular part of the metric retains its classical form and the horizon area is therefore the same as in the classical theory. In the present contribution we solve the dynamical equations derived from the ABBV effective Hamiltonian and, by applying the AOS minimal area condition, we obtain the scaling of the polymerisation parameter with the black hole mass. We then show that this effective model can also describe Planck scale black holes, and that the curvature and quantum corrections at the horizon are small even at this scale. By generating the exterior metric through a phase rotation in the dynamical variables, we also show that, for an asymptotic observer, the Kretschmann scalar is the same as in the classical Schwarzschild solution, but with a central mass screened by the quantum fluctuations.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2023

The miniJPAS survey: AGN & host galaxy co-evolution of X-ray selected sources

Studies indicate strong evidence of a scaling relation in the local Universe between the supermassive black hole mass ($M_\rm{BH}$) and the stellar mass of their host galaxies ($M_\star$). They even show similar histories across cosmic times of their differential terms: star formation rate (SFR) and black hole accretion rate (BHAR). However, a clear picture of this coevolution is far from being understood. We select an X-ray sample of active galactic nuclei (AGN) up to $z=2.5$ in the miniJPAS footprint. Their X-ray to infrared spectral energy distributions (SEDs) have been modeled with CIGALE, constraining the emission to 68 bands. For a final sample of 308 galaxies, we derive their physical properties (e.g., $M_\star$, $\rm{SFR}$, $\rm{SFH}$, and $L_\rm{AGN}$). We also fit their optical spectra for a subsample of 113 sources to estimate the $M_\rm{BH}$. We calculate the BHAR depending on two radiative efficiency regimes. We find that the Eddington ratios ($λ$) and its popular proxy ($L_\rm{X}$/$M_\star$) have 0.6 dex of difference, and a KS-test indicates that they come from different distributions. Our sources exhibit a considerable scatter on the $M_\rm{BH}$-$M_\star$ relation, which can explain the difference between $λ$ and its proxy. We also model three evolution scenarios to recover the integral properties at $z=0$. Using the SFR and BHAR, we show a notable diminution in the scattering between $M_\rm{BH}$-$M_\star$. For the last scenario, we consider the SFH and a simple energy budget for the AGN accretion, obtaining a relation similar to the local Universe. Our study covers $\sim 1$ deg$^2$ in the sky and is sensitive to biases in luminosity. Nevertheless, we show that, for bright sources, the link between SFR and BHAR, and their decoupling based on an energy limit is the key that leads to the local $M_\rm{BH}$-$M_\star$ scaling relation.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2023

J-NEP: 60-band photometry and photometric redshifts for the James Webb Space Telescope North Ecliptic Pole Time-Domain Field

The J-PAS survey will observe ~1/3 of the northern sky with a set of 56 narrow-band filters using the dedicated 2.55 m JST telescope at the Javalambre Astrophysical Observatory. Prior to the installation of the main camera, in order to demonstrate the scientific potential of J-PAS, two small surveys were performed with the single-CCD Pathfinder camera: miniJPAS (~1 deg2 along the Extended Groth Strip), and J-NEP (~0.3 deg2 around the JWST North Ecliptic Pole Time Domain Field), including all 56 J-PAS filters as well as u, g, r, and i. J-NEP is ~0.5-1.0 magnitudes deeper than miniJPAS, providing photometry for 24,618 r-band detected sources and photometric redshifts (photo-z) for the 6,662 sources with r<23. In this paper we describe the photometry and photo-z of J-NEP and demonstrate a new method for the removal of systematic offsets in the photometry based on the median colours of galaxies, dubbed "galaxy locus recalibration". This method does not require spectroscopic observations except in a few reference pointings and, unlike previous methods, is applicable to the whole J-PAS survey. We use a spectroscopic sample of 787 galaxies to test the photo-z performance for J-NEP and in comparison to miniJPAS. We find that the deeper J-NEP observations result in a factor ~1.5-2 decrease in sigma_NMAD (a robust estimate of the standard deviation of the photo-z error) and the outlier rate relative to miniJPAS for r>21.5 sources, but no improvement in brighter ones. We find the same relation between sigma_NMAD and odds in J-NEP and miniJPAS, suggesting sigma_NMAD can be predicted for any set of J-PAS sources from their odds distribution alone, with no need for additional spectroscopy to calibrate the relation. We explore the causes for photo-z outliers and find that colour-space degeneracy at low S/N, photometry artifacts, source blending, and exotic spectra are the most important factors.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2022

TOPz: Photometric redshifts for J-PAS

The importance of photometric galaxy redshift estimation is rapidly increasing with the development of specialised powerful observational facilities. We develop a new photometric redshift estimation workflow TOPz to provide reliable and efficient redshift estimations for the upcoming large-scale survey J-PAS which will observe 8500 deg2 of the northern sky through 54 narrow-band filters. TOPz relies on template-based photo-z estimation with some added J-PAS specific features and possibilities. We present TOPz performance on data from the miniJPAS survey, a precursor to the J-PAS survey with an identical filter system. First, we generated spectral templates based on the miniJPAS sources using the synthetic galaxy spectrum generation software CIGALE. Then we applied corrections to the input photometry by minimising systematic offsets from the template flux in each filter. To assess the accuracy of the redshift estimation, we used spectroscopic redshifts from the DEEP2, DEEP3, and SDSS surveys, available for 1989 miniJPAS galaxies with r < 22 magAB. We also tested how the choice and number of input templates, photo-z priors, and photometric corrections affect the TOPz redshift accuracy. The general performance of the combination of miniJPAS data and the TOPz workflow fulfills the expectations for J-PAS redshift accuracy. Similarly to previous estimates, we find that 38.6% of galaxies with r < 22 mag reach the J-PAS redshift accuracy goal of dz/(1 + z) < 0.003. Limiting the number of spectra in the template set improves the redshift accuracy up to 5%, especially for fainter, noise-dominated sources. Further improvements will be possible once the actual J-PAS data become available.

astro-ph.IM↗

arXiv2022

The miniJPAS survey: White dwarf science with 56 optical filters

We analyze the white dwarf population in miniJPAS, the first square degree observed with 56 medium-band, 145 A in width optical filters by the Javalambre Physics of the accelerating Universe Astrophysical Survey (J-PAS), to provide a data-based forecast for the white dwarf science with low-resolution (R ~ 50) photo-spectra. We define the sample of the bluest point-like sources in miniJPAS with r < 21.5 mag, point-like probability larger than 0.5, (u-r) < 0.80 mag, and (g-i) < 0.25 mag. This sample comprises 33 sources with spectroscopic information, 11 white dwarfs and 22 QSOs. We estimate the effective temperature (Teff), the surface gravity, and the composition of the white dwarf population by a Bayesian fitting to the observed photo-spectra. The miniJPAS data permit the classification of the observed white dwarfs into H-dominated and He-dominated with 99% confidence, and the detection of calcium absorption and polluting metals down to r ~ 21.5 mag at least for sources with 7000 < Teff < 22000 K, the temperature range covered by the white dwarfs in miniJPAS. The effective temperature is estimated with a 2% uncertainty, close to the 1% from spectroscopy. A precise estimation of the surface gravity depends on the available parallax information. In addition, the white dwarf population at Teff > 7000 K can be segregated from the bluest extragalactic QSOs, providing a clean sample based on optical photometry alone. The J-PAS low-resolution photo-spectra provide precise and accurate effective temperatures and atmospheric compositions for white dwarfs, complementing the data from Gaia. J-PAS will also detect and characterize new white dwarfs beyond the Gaia magnitude limit, providing faint candidates for spectroscopic follow up.

astro-ph.SR↗

arXiv2021

The miniJPAS Survey: A Study on Wavelength Dependence of the Photon Response Non-uniformity of the JPAS-{\it Pathfinder} Camera

Understanding the origins of small-scale flats of CCDs and their wavelength-dependent variations plays an important role in high-precision photometric, astrometric, and shape measurements of astronomical objects. Based on the unique flat data of 47 narrow-band filters provided by JPAS-{\it Pathfinder}, we analyze the variations of small-scale flats as a function of wavelength. We find moderate variations (from about $1.0\%$ at 390 nm to $0.3\%$ at 890 nm) of small-scale flats among different filters, increasing towards shorter wavelengths. Small-scale flats of two filters close in central wavelengths are strongly correlated. We then use a simple physical model to reproduce the observed variations to a precision of about $\pm 0.14\%$, by considering the variations of charge collection efficiencies, effective areas and thicknesses between CCD pixels. We find that the wavelength-dependent variations of small-scale flats of the JPAS-{\it Pathfinder} camera originate from inhomogeneities of the quantum efficiency (particularly charge collection efficiency) as well as the effective area and thickness of CCD pixels. The former dominates the variations in short wavelengths while the latter two dominate at longer wavelengths. The effects on proper flat-fielding as well as on photometric/flux calibrations for photometric/slit-less spectroscopic surveys are discussed, particularly in blue filters/wavelengths. We also find that different model parameters are sensitive to flats of different wavelengths, depending on the relations between the electron absorption depth, the photon absorption length and the CCD thickness. In order to model the wavelength-dependent variations of small-scale flats, a small number (around ten) of small-scale flats with well-selected wavelengths are sufficient to reconstruct small-scale flats in other wavelengths.

astro-ph.IM↗

arXiv2021

The miniJPAS survey: the photometric redshift catalogue

MiniJPAS is a ~1 deg^2 imaging survey of the AEGIS field in 60 bands, performed to demonstrate the scientific potential of the upcoming JPAS survey. Full coverage of the 3800-9100 Årange with 54 narrow and 6 broad optical filters allow for extremely accurate photo-z, which applied over 1000s of deg^2 will enable new applications of the photo-z technique such as measurement of baryonic acoustic oscillations. In this paper we describe the method used to obtain the photo-z included in the publicly available miniJPAS catalogue, and characterise the photo-z performance. We build 100 Åresolution photo-spectra from the PSF-corrected forced-aperture photometry. Systematic offsets in the photometry are corrected by applying magnitude shifts obtained through iterative fitting with stellar population synthesis models. We compute photo-z with a customised version of LePhare, using a set of templates optimised for the J-PAS filter-set. We analyse the accuracy of miniJPAS photo-z and their dependence on multiple quantities using a subsample of 5,266 galaxies with spectroscopic redshifts from SDSS and DEEP, that we find to be representative of the whole r<23 miniJPAS sample. Formal uncertainties for the photo-z that are calculated with the δχ^2 method underestimate the actual redshift errors. The odds parameter has the stronger correlation with |Dz|, and accurately reproduces the probability of a redshift outlier (|Dz|>0.03) irrespective of the magnitude, redshift, or spectral type of the sources. We show that the two main summary statistics characterising the photo-z accuracy for a population of galaxies (snmad and η) can be predicted by the distribution of odds in such population, and use this to estimate them for the whole miniJPAS sample. At r<23 there are 17,500 galaxies/deg^2 with valid photo-z estimates, of which 4,200 are expected to have |Dz|<0.003 (abridged).

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2021

J-PAS: forecasts on interacting vacuum energy models

The next generation of galaxy surveys will allow us to test some fundamental aspects of the standard cosmological model, including the assumption of a minimal coupling between the components of the dark sector. In this paper, we present the Javalambre Physics of the Accelerated Universe Astrophysical Survey (J-PAS) forecasts on a class of unified models where cold dark matter interacts with a vacuum energy, considering future observations of baryon acoustic oscillations, redshift-space distortions, and the matter power spectrum. After providing a general framework to study the background and linear perturbations, we focus on a concrete interacting model without momentum exchange by taking into account the contribution of baryons. We compare the J-PAS results with those expected for DESI and Euclid surveys and show that J-PAS is competitive to them, especially at low redshifts. Indeed, the predicted errors for the interaction parameter, which measures the departure from a $Λ$CDM model, can be comparable to the actual errors derived from the current data of cosmic microwave background temperature anisotropies.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2020

J-PAS: Measuring emission lines with artificial neural networks

Throughout this paper we present a new method to detect and measure emission lines in J-PAS up to $z = 0.35$. J-PAS will observe $8000$~deg$^2$ of the northern sky in the upcoming years with 56 photometric bands. The release of such amount of data brings us the opportunity to employ machine learning methods in order to overcome the difficulties associated with photometric data. We used Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs) trained and tested with synthetic J-PAS photometry from CALIFA, MaNGA, and SDSS spectra. We carry out two tasks: firstly, we cluster galaxies in two groups according to the values of the equivalent width (EW) of $Hα$, $Hβ$, $[NII]{λ6584}$, and $ [OIII]{λ5007}$ lines measured in the spectra. Then, we train an ANN to assign to each galaxy a group. We are able to classify them with the uncertainties typical of the photometric redshift measurable in J-PAS. Secondly, we utilize another ANN to determine the values of those EWs. Subsequently, we obtain the $[NII]/Hα$, $[OIII]/Hβ$, and \ion{O}{3}\ion{N}{2} ratios recovering the BPT diagram . We study the performance of the ANN in two training samples: one is only composed of synthetic J-PAS photo-spectra (J-spectra) from MaNGA and CALIFA (CALMa set) and the other one is composed of SDSS galaxies. We can reproduce properly the main sequence of star forming galaxies from the determination of the EWs. With the CALMa training set we reach a precision of 0.093 and 0.081 dex for the $[NII]/Hα$ and $[OIII]/Hβ$ ratios in the SDSS testing sample. Nevertheless, we find an underestimation of those ratios at high values in galaxies hosting an AGN. We also show the importance of the dataset used for both training and testing the model. ANNs are extremely useful to overcome the limitations previously expected concerning the detection and measurements of the emission lines in surveys like J-PAS.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2020

Unphysical properties in a class of interacting dark energy models

Models with non-gravitational interactions between the dark matter and dark energy components are an alternative to the standard cosmological scenario. These models are characterized by an interaction term, and a frequently used parameterization is $Q = 3ξH ρ_{x}$, where $H$ is the Hubble parameter and $ρ_{x}$ is the dark energy density. Although current observations support such a model for negative values of the interaction parameter $ξ$, we show here that this interval of values of $ξ$ leads the model to predict a violation of the Weak Energy Condition (WEC) for the dark matter density, regardless of the value of the equation-of-state parameter of the dark energy component. This violation is accompanied by unphysical instabilities of matter perturbations.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2020

The miniJPAS survey: star-galaxy classification using machine learning

Future astrophysical surveys such as J-PAS will produce very large datasets, which will require the deployment of accurate and efficient Machine Learning (ML) methods. In this work, we analyze the miniJPAS survey, which observed about 1 deg2 of the AEGIS field with 56 narrow-band filters and 4 ugri broad-band filters. We discuss the classification of miniJPAS sources into extended (galaxies) and point-like (e.g. stars) objects, a necessary step for the subsequent scientific analyses. We aim at developing an ML classifier that is complementary to traditional tools based on explicit modeling. In order to train and test our classifiers, we crossmatched the miniJPAS dataset with SDSS and HSC-SSP data. We trained and tested 6 different ML algorithms on the two crossmatched catalogs. As input for the ML algorithms we use the magnitudes from the 60 filters together with their errors, with and without the morphological parameters. We also use the mean PSF in the r detection band for each pointing. We find that the RF and ERT algorithms perform best in all scenarios. When analyzing the full magnitude range of 15 21). We use our best classifiers, with and without morphology, in order to produce a value added catalog available at https://j-pas.org/datareleases .

astro-ph.IM↗

arXiv2020

The miniJPAS survey: a preview of the Universe in 56 colours

The Javalambre-Physics of the Accelerating Universe Astrophysical Survey (J-PAS) will soon start to scan thousands of square degrees of the northern extragalactic sky with a unique set of $56$ optical filters from a dedicated $2.55$m telescope, JST, at the Javalambre Astrophysical Observatory. Before the arrival of the final instrument (a 1.2 Gpixels, 4.2deg$^2$ field-of-view camera), the JST was equipped with an interim camera (JPAS-Pathfinder), composed of one CCD with a 0.3deg$^2$ field-of-view and resolution of 0.23 arcsec pixel$^{-1}$. To demonstrate the scientific potential of J-PAS, with the JPAS-Pathfinder camera we carried out a survey on the AEGIS field (along the Extended Groth Strip), dubbed miniJPAS. We observed a total of $\sim 1$ deg$^2$, with the $56$ J-PAS filters, which include $54$ narrow band (NB, $\rm{FWHM} \sim 145$Angstrom) and two broader filters extending to the UV and the near-infrared, complemented by the $u,g,r,i$ SDSS broad band (BB) filters. In this paper we present the miniJPAS data set, the details of the catalogues and data access, and illustrate the scientific potential of our multi-band data. The data surpass the target depths originally planned for J-PAS, reaching $\rm{mag}_{\rm {AB}}$ between $\sim 22$ and $23.5$ for the NB filters and up to $24$ for the BB filters ($5σ$ in a $3$~arcsec aperture). The miniJPAS primary catalogue contains more than $64,000$ sources extracted in the $r$ detection band with forced photometry in all other bands. We estimate the catalogue to be complete up to $r=23.6$ for point-like sources and up to $r=22.7$ for extended sources. Photometric redshifts reach subpercent precision for all sources up to $r=22.5$, and a precision of $\sim 0.3$% for about half of the sample. (Abridged)

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2020

Joint analysis of EDGES $21$-cm line observations with standard candles and rulers in $Λ$CDM and non-adiabatic gCg models

A decomposed generalised Chaplygin gas (gCg) with energy flux from dark energy to dark matter, represented by a negative value for the gas parameter $α$, is shown to alleviate the tension between EDGES data and the cosmological standard model. Using EDGES data and employing a Bayesian statistical analysis, the agreement with the standard model is only marginal. However, if $α$ is negative enough the gCg fits remarkably well the data, even in combination with SNe Ia datasets. On the other hand, when the CMB and BAO acoustic scales are included the preferred value for $α$ is near zero, implying that a small deviation from $Λ$CDM is predicted.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2019

J-PAS: forecasts on dark energy and modified gravity theories

The next generation of galaxy surveys will allow us to test one of the most fundamental assumptions of the standard cosmology, i.e., that gravity is governed by the general theory of relativity (GR). In this paper we investigate the ability of the Javalambre Physics of the Accelerating Universe Astrophysical Survey (J-PAS) to constrain GR and its extensions. Based on the J-PAS information on clustering and gravitational lensing, we perform a Fisher matrix forecast on the effective Newton constant, $μ$, and the gravitational slip parameter, $η$, whose deviations from unity would indicate a breakdown of GR. Similar analysis is also performed for the DESI and Euclid surveys and compared to J-PAS with two configurations providing different areas, namely an initial expectation with 4000 $\mathrm{deg}^2$ and the future best case scenario with 8500 $\mathrm{deg}^2$. We show that J-PAS will be able to measure the parameters $μ$ and $η$ at a sensitivity of $2\% - 7\%$, and will provide the best constraints in the interval $z = 0.3 - 0.6$, thanks to the large number of ELGs detectable in that redshift range. We also discuss the constraining power of J-PAS for dark energy models with a time-dependent equation-of-state parameter of the type $w(a)=w_0+w_a(1-a)$, obtaining $Δw_0=0.058$ and $Δw_a=0.24$ for the absolute errors of the dark energy parameters.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2019

Is the $H_0$ tension suggesting a 4th neutrino's generation?

Flavour oscillations experiments are suggesting the existence of a sterile, $4$th neutrino's generation with a mass of an eV order. This would mean an additional relativistic degree of freedom in the cosmic inventory, in contradiction with recent results from the Planck satellite, that have confirmed the standard value $N_{eff} \approx 3$ for the effective number of relativistic species. On the other hand, the Planck best-fit for the Hubble-Lemaître parameter is in tension with the local value determined with the Hubble Space Telescope, and adjusting $N_{eff}$ is a possible way to overcome such a tension. In this paper we perform a joint analysis of three complementary cosmological distance rulers, namely the CMB acoustic scale measured by Planck, the BAO scale model-independently determined by Verde {\it et al.}, and luminosity distances measured with JLA and Pantheon SNe Ia surveys. Two Gaussian priors were imposed to the analysis, the local expansion rate measured by Riess {\it et al.}, and the baryon density parameter fixed from primordial nucleosynthesis by Cooke {\it et al.}. For the sake of generality, two different models are used in the tests, the standard $Λ$CDM model and a generalised Chaplygin gas. The best-fit gives $N_{eff} \approx 4$ in both models, with a Chaplygin gas parameter slightly negative, $α\approx -0.04$. The standard value $N_{eff} \approx 3$ is ruled out with $\approx 3σ$.

astro-ph.CO↗