arXiv subjects

Seshadri Nadathur

Publications and source records attributed to Seshadri Nadathur.

At least 73 records · Page 4Linked to original sources

arXiv2022

The Pantheon+ Analysis: Cosmological Constraints

We present constraints on cosmological parameters from the Pantheon+ analysis of 1701 light curves of 1550 distinct Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) ranging in redshift from $z=0.001$ to 2.26. This work features an increased sample size, increased redshift span, and improved treatment of systematic uncertainties in comparison to the original Pantheon analysis and results in a factor of two improvement in cosmological constraining power. For a Flat$Λ$CDM model, we find $Ω_M=0.334\pm0.018$ from SNe Ia alone. For a Flat$w_0$CDM model, we measure $w_0=-0.90\pm0.14$ from SNe Ia alone, H$_0=73.5\pm1.1$ km s$^{-1}$ Mpc$^{-1}$ when including the Cepheid host distances and covariance (SH0ES), and $w_0=-0.978^{+0.024}_{-0.031}$ when combining the SN likelihood with constraints from the cosmic microwave background (CMB) and baryon acoustic oscillations (BAO); both $w_0$ values are consistent with a cosmological constant. We also present the most precise measurements to date on the evolution of dark energy in a Flat$w_0w_a$CDM universe, and measure $w_a=-0.1^{+0.9}_{-2.0}$ from Pantheon+ alone, H$_0=73.3\pm1.1$ km s$^{-1}$ Mpc$^{-1}$ when including SH0ES, and $w_a=-0.65^{+0.28}_{-0.32}$ when combining Pantheon+ with CMB and BAO data. Finally, we find that systematic uncertainties in the use of SNe Ia along the distance ladder comprise less than one third of the total uncertainty in the measurement of H$_0$ and cannot explain the present "Hubble tension" between local measurements and early-Universe predictions from the cosmological model.

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arXiv2022

Measurements of cosmic expansion and growth rate of structure from voids in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey between redshift 0.07 and 1.0

We present measurements of the anisotropic cross-correlation of galaxies and cosmic voids in data from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Main Galaxy Sample (MGS), Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (BOSS) and extended BOSS (eBOSS) luminous red galaxy catalogues from SDSS Data Releases 7, 12 and 16, covering the redshift range $0.07<z<1.0$. As in our previous work analysing voids in subsets of these data, we use a reconstruction method applied to the galaxy data before void-finding in order to remove selection biases when constructing the void samples. We report results of a joint fit to the multipole moments of the measured cross-correlation for the growth rate of structure, $fσ_8(z)$, and the ratio $D_\mathrm{M}(z)/D_\mathrm{H}(z)$ of the comoving angular diameter distance to the Hubble distance, in six redshift bins. For $D_\mathrm{M}/D_\mathrm{H}$, we are able to achieve a significantly higher precision than that obtained from analyses of the baryon acoustic oscillations (BAO) and galaxy clustering in the same datasets. Our growth rate measurements are of lower precision but still comparable with galaxy clustering results. For both quantities, the results agree well with the expectations for a $Λ$CDM model. Assuming a flat Universe, our results correspond to a measurement of the matter density parameter $Ω_\mathrm{m}=0.337^{+0.026}_{-0.029}$. For more general models the degeneracy directions obtained are consistent with and complementary to those from other cosmological probes. These results consolidate void-galaxy cross-correlation measurements as a pillar of modern observational cosmology.

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arXiv2022

Velocity profiles of matter and biased tracers around voids

The velocity profile of galaxies around voids is a key ingredient for redshift space distortion (RSD) measurements made using the void-galaxy correlation function. In this paper we use simulations to test whether the velocity profile of the tracers used to find the voids matches the velocity profile of the dark matter around these voids. A mismatch is expected and found in the inner part of voids, where tracers are very sparse. We discuss how this difference is caused by a selection effect where the void centre positions are correlated to the particular realization of the sparse tracers and their spatial distribution. In turn, this then affects the RSD void-galaxy correlation analysis. We show this by evaluating the Jacobian of the real to redshift space mapping using the tracer or matter velocity profile. Differences of the order of 20\% in the velocity profile translate into differences of the order of few percent in the Jacobian. This small discrepancy propagates to the monopole and quadrupole of the void-tracer correlation function, producing modifications of comparable magnitude to those from changes in $fσ_8$ at the level of the statistical uncertainties from current analyses.

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arXiv2022

The Completed SDSS-IV Extended Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey: Growth rate of structure measurement from cosmic voids

We present a void clustering analysis in configuration-space using the completed Sloan Digital Sky Survey IV (SDSS-IV) extended Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (eBOSS) DR16 samples. These samples consist of Luminous Red Galaxies (LRG) combined with the high redshift tail of the SDSS-III Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (BOSS) DR12 CMASS galaxies (called as LRG+CMASS sample), Emission Line Galaxies (ELG) and quasars (QSO). We build void catalogues from the three eBOSS DR16 samples using a ZOBOV-based algorithm, providing 2,814 voids, 1,801 voids and 4,347 voids in the LRG+CMASS, ELG and QSO samples, respectively, spanning the redshift range $0.6<z<2.2$. We measure the redshift space distortions (RSD) around voids using the anisotropic void-galaxy cross-correlation function and we extract the distortion parameter $β$. We test the methodology on realistic simulations before applying it to the data, and we investigate all our systematic errors on these mocks. We find $β^{\rm LRG}(z=0.74)=0.415\pm0.087$, $β^{\rm ELG}(z=0.85)=0.665\pm0.125$ and $β^{\rm QSO}(z=1.48)=0.313\pm0.134$, for the LRG+CMASS, ELG and QSO sample, respectively. The quoted errors include systematic and statistical contributions. In order to convert our measurements in terms of the growth rate $fσ_8$, we use consensus values of linear bias from the eBOSS DR16 companion papers~\citep{eBOSScosmo}, resulting in the following constraints: $fσ_8(z=0.74)=0.50\pm0.11$, $fσ_8(z=0.85)=0.52\pm0.10$ and $fσ_8(z=1.48)=0.30\pm0.13$. Our measurements are consistent with other measurements from eBOSS DR16 using conventional clustering techniques.

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arXiv2021

Cosmology beyond BAO from the 3D distribution of the Lyman-$α$ forest

We propose a new method for fitting the full-shape of the Lyman-$α$ (Ly$α$) forest three-dimensional (3D) correlation function in order to measure the Alcock-Paczynski (AP) effect. Our method preserves the robustness of baryon acoustic oscillations (BAO) analyses, while also providing extra cosmological information from a broader range of scales. We compute idealized forecasts for the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) using the Ly$α$ auto-correlation and its cross-correlation with quasars, and show how this type of analysis improves cosmological constraints. The DESI Ly$α$ BAO analysis is expected to measure $H(z_\mathrm{eff})r_\mathrm{d}$ and $D_\mathrm{M}(z_\mathrm{eff})/r_\mathrm{d}$ with a precision of $\sim0.9\%$ each, where $H$ is the Hubble parameter, $r_\mathrm{d}$ is the comoving BAO scale, $D_\mathrm{M}$ is the comoving angular diameter distance and the effective redshift of the measurement is $z_\mathrm{eff}\simeq2.3$. By fitting the AP parameter from the full shape of the two correlations, we show that we can obtain a precision of $\sim0.5-0.6\%$ on each of $H(z_\mathrm{eff})r_\mathrm{d}$ and $D_\mathrm{M}(z_\mathrm{eff})/r_\mathrm{d}$. Furthermore, we show that a joint full-shape analysis of the Ly$α$ auto-correlation and its cross-correlation with quasars can measure the linear growth rate times the amplitude of matter fluctuations in spheres of $8\;h^{-1}$Mpc, $fσ_8(z_\mathrm{eff})$. Such an analysis could provide the first ever measurement of $fσ_8(z_\mathrm{eff})$ at redshift $z_\mathrm{eff}>2$. By combining this with the quasar auto-correlation in a joint analysis of the three high-redshift two-point correlation functions, we show that DESI could be able to measure $fσ_8(z_\mathrm{eff}\simeq2.3)$ with a precision of $5-12\%$, depending on the smallest scale fitted.

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arXiv2021

The Completed SDSS-IV extended Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey: measurement of the BAO and growth rate of structure of the emission line galaxy sample from the anisotropic power spectrum between redshift 0.6 and 1.1

We analyse the large-scale clustering in Fourier space of emission line galaxies (ELG) from the Data Release 16 of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey IV extended Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey. The ELG sample contains 173,736 galaxies covering 1,170 square degrees in the redshift range $0.6 < z < 1.1$. We perform a BAO measurement from the post-reconstruction power spectrum monopole, and study redshift space distortions (RSD) in the first three even multipoles. Photometric variations yield fluctuations of both the angular and radial survey selection functions. Those are directly inferred from data, imposing integral constraints which we model consistently. The full data set has only a weak preference for a BAO feature ($1.4σ$). At the effective redshift $z_{\rm eff} = 0.845$ we measure $D_{\rm V}(z_{\rm eff})/r_{\rm drag} = 18.33_{-0.62}^{+0.57}$, with $D_{\rm V}$ the volume-averaged distance and $r_{\rm drag}$ the comoving sound horizon at the drag epoch. In combination with the RSD measurement, at $z_{\rm eff} = 0.85$ we find $fσ_8(z_{\rm eff}) = 0.289_{-0.096}^{+0.085}$, with $f$ the growth rate of structure and $σ_8$ the normalisation of the linear power spectrum, $D_{\rm H}(z_{\rm eff})/r_{\rm drag} = 20.0_{-2.2}^{+2.4}$ and $D_{\rm M}(z_{\rm eff})/r_{\rm drag} = 19.17 \pm 0.99$ with $D_{\rm H}$ and $D_{\rm M}$ the Hubble and comoving angular distances, respectively. These results are in agreement with those obtained in configuration space, thus allowing a consensus measurement of $fσ_8(z_{\rm eff}) = 0.315 \pm 0.095$, $D_{\rm H}(z_{\rm eff})/r_{\rm drag} = 19.6_{-2.1}^{+2.2}$ and $D_{\rm M}(z_{\rm eff})/r_{\rm drag} = 19.5 \pm 1.0$. This measurement is consistent with a flat $Λ$CDM model with Planck parameters.

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arXiv2020

The Completed SDSS-IV extended Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey: measurement of the BAO and growth rate of structure of the luminous red galaxy sample from the anisotropic power spectrum between redshifts 0.6 and 1.0

We analyse the clustering of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey IV extended Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey Data Release 16 luminous red galaxy sample (DR16 eBOSS LRG) in combination with the high redshift tail of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey III Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey Data Release 12 (DR12 BOSS CMASS). We measure the redshift space distortions (RSD) and also extract the longitudinal and transverse baryonic acoustic oscillation (BAO) scale from the anisotropic power spectrum signal inferred from 377,458 galaxies between redshifts 0.6 and 1.0, with effective redshift of $z_{\rm eff}=0.698$ and effective comoving volume of $2.72\,{\rm Gpc}^3$. After applying reconstruction we measure the BAO scale and infer $D_H(z_{\rm eff})/r_{\rm drag} = 19.30\pm 0.56$ and $D_M(z_{\rm eff})/r_{\rm drag} =17.86 \pm 0.37$. When we perform a redshift space distortions analysis on the pre-reconstructed catalogue on the monopole, quadrupole and hexadecapole we find, $D_H(z_{\rm eff})/r_{\rm drag} = 20.18\pm 0.78$, $D_M(z_{\rm eff})/r_{\rm drag} =17.49 \pm 0.52$ and $fσ_8(z_{\rm eff})=0.454\pm0.046$. We combine both sets of results along with the measurements in configuration space of \cite{LRG_corr} and report the following consensus values: $D_H(z_{\rm eff})/r_{\rm drag} = 19.77\pm 0.47$, $D_M(z_{\rm eff})/r_{\rm drag} = 17.65\pm 0.30$ and $fσ_8(z_{\rm eff})=0.473\pm 0.044$, which are in full agreement with the standard $Λ$CDM and GR predictions. These results represent the most precise measurements within the redshift range $0.6\leq z \leq 1.0$ and are the culmination of more than 8 years of SDSS observations.

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arXiv2020

Environmental dependence of X-ray and optical properties of galaxy clusters

Galaxy clusters are widely used to constrain cosmological parameters through their properties, such as masses, luminosity and temperature distributions. One should take into account all kind of biases that could affect these analyses in order to obtain reliable constraints. In this work, we study the difference in the properties of clusters residing in different large scale environments, defined by their position within or outside of voids, and the density of their surrounding space. We use both observational and simulation cluster and void catalogues, i.e. XCS and redMaPPer clusters, BOSS voids, and Magneticum simulations. We devise two different environmental proxies for the clusters and study their redshift, richness, mass, X-ray luminosity and temperature distributions as well as some properties of their galaxy populations. We use the Kolmogorov-Smirnov two-sample test to discover that richer and more massive clusters are more prevalent in overdense regions and outside of voids. We also find that clusters of matched richness and mass in overdense regions and outside voids tend to have higher X-ray luminosities and temperatures. These differences could have important implications for precision cosmology with clusters of galaxies, since cluster mass calibrations can vary with environment.

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arXiv2020

The completed SDSS-IV extended Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey: geometry and growth from the anisotropic void-galaxy correlation function in the luminous red galaxy sample

We present an analysis of the anisotropic redshift-space void-galaxy correlation in configuration space using the Sloan Digital Sky Survey extended Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (eBOSS) Data Release 16 luminous red galaxy (LRG) sample. This sample consists of LRGs between redshifts 0.6 and 1.0, combined with the high redshift $z>0.6$ tail of the Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey Data Release 12 CMASS sample. We use a reconstruction method to undo redshift-space distortion (RSD) effects from the galaxy field before applying a watershed void-finding algorithm to remove bias from the void selection. We then perform a joint fit to the multipole moments of the correlation function for the growth rate $fσ_8$ and the geometrical distance ratio $D_M/D_H$, finding $fσ_8(z_\mathrm{eff})=0.356\pm0.079$ and $D_M/D_H(z_\mathrm{eff})=0.868\pm0.017$ at the effective redshift $z_\mathrm{eff}=0.69$ of the sample. The posterior parameter degeneracies are orthogonal to those from galaxy clustering analyses applied to the same data, and the constraint achieved on $D_M/D_H$ is significantly tighter. In combination with the consensus galaxy BAO and full-shape analyses of the same sample, we obtain $fσ_8=0.447\pm0.039$, $D_M/r_d=17.48\pm0.23$ and $D_H/r_d=20.10\pm0.34$. These values are in good agreement with the $Λ$CDM model predictions and represent reductions in the uncertainties of $13\%$, $23\%$ and $28\%$ respectively compared to the combined results from galaxy clustering, or an overall reduction of 55\% in the allowed volume of parameter space.

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arXiv2020

The Completed SDSS-IV extended Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey: measurement of the BAO and growth rate of structure of the luminous red galaxy sample from the anisotropic correlation function between redshifts 0.6 and 1

We present the cosmological analysis of the configuration-space anisotropic clustering in the completed Sloan Digital Sky Survey IV (SDSS-IV) extended Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (eBOSS) DR16 galaxy sample. This sample consists of luminous red galaxies (LRGs) spanning the redshift range $0.6 < z < 1$, at an effective redshift of $z_{\rm eff}=0.698$. It combines 174 816 eBOSS LRGs and 202 642 BOSS CMASS galaxies. We extract and model the baryon acoustic oscillations (BAO) and redshift-space distortions (RSD) features from the galaxy two-point correlation function to infer geometrical and dynamical cosmological constraints. The adopted methodology is extensively tested on a set of realistic simulations. The correlations between the inferred parameters from the BAO and full-shape correlation function analyses are estimated. This allows us to derive joint constraints on the three cosmological parameter combinations: $D_M(z)/r_d$, $D_H(z)/r_d$ and $fσ_8(z)$, where $D_M$ is the comoving angular diameter distance, $D_H$ is Hubble distance, $r_d$ is the comoving BAO scale, $f$ is the linear growth rate of structure, and $σ_8$ is the amplitude of linear matter perturbations. After combining the results with those from the parallel power spectrum analysis of Gil-Marin et al. 2020, we obtain the constraints: $D_M/r_d = 17.65 \pm 0.30$, $D_H/r_d = 19.77 \pm 0.47$, $fσ_8 = 0.473 \pm 0.044$. These measurements are consistent with a flat $Λ$CDM model with standard gravity.

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arXiv2020

The completed SDSS-IV extended Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey: Large-scale Structure Catalogues and Measurement of the isotropic BAO between redshift 0.6 and 1.1 for the Emission Line Galaxy Sample

We present the Emission Line Galaxy (ELG) sample of the extended Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (eBOSS) from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey IV Data Release 16 (DR16). After describing the observations and redshift measurement for the 269,243 observed ELG spectra over 1170 deg$^2$, we present the large-scale structure catalogues, which are used for the cosmological analysis. These catalogues contain 173,736 reliable spectroscopic redshifts between 0.6 and 1.1, along with the associated random catalogues quantifying the extent of observations, and the appropriate weights to correct for non-cosmological fluctuations. We perform a spherically averaged baryon acoustic oscillations (BAO) measurement in configuration space, with density field reconstruction: the data 2-point correlation function shows a feature consistent with that of the BAO, providing a 3.2-percent measurement of the spherically averaged BAO distance $D_V(z_{\rm eff})/r_{\rm drag} = 18.23\pm 0.58$ at the effective redshift $z_{\rm eff}=0.845$.

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arXiv2020

Testing Low-Redshift Cosmic Acceleration with Large-Scale Structure

We examine the cosmological implications of measurements of the void-galaxy cross-correlation at redshift $z=0.57$ combined with baryon acoustic oscillation (BAO) data at $0.1 10σ$ significance from these data alone, independent of the cosmic microwave background and supernovae. Using a nucleosynthesis prior on $Ω_bh^2$, we measure the Hubble constant to be $H_0=72.3\pm1.9\;{\rm km\,s}^{-1}{\rm Mpc}^{-1}$ from BAO+voids at $z<2$, and $H_0=69.0\pm1.2\;{\rm km\,s}^{-1}{\rm Mpc}^{-1}$ when adding Lyman-$α$ BAO at $z=2.34$, both independent of the CMB. Adding voids to CMB, BAO and supernova data greatly improves measurement of the dark energy equation of state, increasing the figure of merit by >40%, but remaining consistent with flat flat $Λ$ cold dark matter.

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arXiv2020

Reconstructing the radial velocity profile of cosmic voids with kinematic Sunyaev-Zeldovich Effect

We develop an estimator to extract the mean radial velocity profile of cosmic voids via the kinematic Sunyaev-Zeldovich effect of pairs of galaxies surrounding them. The estimator is tested with simulated pure kSZ map and void catalogue data from the same simulation. The results show that the recovered signal could be attenuated by low angular resolution of the map or large aperture photometry filter radius size, but the mean radial velocity profile can be fully recovered with our estimator. By applying the estimator to the Planck 2D-ILC CMB map, with galaxy and void catalogues from BOSS DR12, we find that the estimated void velocity profile is $3.31σ$ apart from null detection for for voids with continuously rising density profiles asymptoting to the mean density; and $1.75σ$ for voids with positive density contrast shell surrounded. By fitting the reconstructed data to the theoretical profile, we find the reduced $χ^{2}$ to be $1.19$ and $0.62$ for the two types of void, respectively, indicating a good fit of the model to the data. We then forecast the detectability of the radial velocity profile of cosmic voids with future CMB surveys, including SPT-3G, AdvACT, and Simons Observatory. We find that the contamination effect from CMB residuals is negligible with survey area over $2,000~{\rm deg}^2$, especially with aperture photometry size less than $1\,{\rm arcmin}$. But the effect from instrumental noise is non-negligible. For future SPT-3G, AdvACT and Simons Observatory, the detection is potentially achievable from $3σ$ to $10σ$ C.L., depending on specific instrumental parameters. This opens a new window of probing dynamics of the cosmic structures from the kinematic Sunyaev-Zeldovich effect.

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arXiv2020

The Gravitational Lensing Signatures of BOSS Voids in the Cosmic Microwave Background

We report a $5.3σ$ detection of the gravitational lensing effect of cosmic voids from the Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic (BOSS) Data Release 12 seen in the $Planck$ 2018 cosmic microwave background (CMB) lensing convergence map. To make this detection, we introduce new optimal techniques for void stacking and filtering of the CMB maps, such as binning voids by a combination of their observed galaxy density and size to separate those with distinctive lensing signatures. We calibrate theoretical expectations for the void-lensing signal using mock catalogs generated in a suite of 108 full-sky lensing simulations from Takahashi et al. (2017). Relative to these templates, we measure the lensing amplitude parameter in the data to be $A_L=1.10 \pm 0.21$ using a matched-filter stacking technique, and confirm it using an alternative Wiener filtering method. We demonstrate that the result is robust against thermal Sunyaev-Zel'dovich contamination and other sources of systematics. We use the lensing measurements to test the relationship between the matter and galaxy distributions within voids, and show that the assumption of linear bias with a value consistent with galaxy clustering results is discrepant with observation at $\sim 3σ$; we explain why such a result is consistent with simulations and previous results, and is expected as a consequence of void selection effects. We forecast the potential for void-CMB lensing measurements in future data from the Advanced ACT, Simons Observatory and CMB-S4 experiments, showing that, for the same number of voids, the achievable precision improves by a factor of more than two compared to $Planck$.

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arXiv2019

Constraints on the growth of structure around cosmic voids in eBOSS DR14

We present catalogues of cosmic voids identified in the distribution of Luminous Red Galaxies (LRGs) and Quasi Stellar Objects (QSOs) in the fourteenth data release (DR14) of the extended Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (eBOSS). We perform a multivariate analysis to assess the level of contamination in these catalogues by spurious Poisson underdensities. We find that the LRG void catalogue is largely free from contamination but that the QSO catalogue may be heavily contaminated. We analyse the multipoles of the void-galaxy cross-correlation function in these catalogues to obtain constraints on the growth rate of structure around voids. We find a value of $β(z=0.703)=0.58^{+0.33}_{-0.28}$ for the LRG voids and $β(z=1.53)=0.15^{+0.13}_{-0.12}$ for the QSO voids.

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arXiv2019

Constraints on decaying dark matter from weak lensing and cluster counts

We revisit a cosmological constraint on dark matter decaying into dark radiation at late times. In Enqvist et al. (2015), we mainly focused on the effects of decaying dark matter (DDM) on the cosmic microwave background (CMB) and nonlinear matter power spectrum. Extending our previous analysis, here we use N-body simulation to investigate how DDM affects the halo mass function. This allows us to incorporate the cluster counts observed by the Sunyaev-Zel'dovich effect to study a bound on the lifetime of DDM. We also update the data of CMB and cosmic shear power spectrum with the Planck 2015 results and KiDS450 observations, respectively. From these cosmological observations, we obtain an lower bound on the lifetime $Γ^{-1}\ge 175\,$Gyr from the Planck2015 results (CMB+SZ cluster count) combined with the KiDS450 and the recent measurements of the baryon acoustic scale.

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arXiv2019

Beyond BAO: improving cosmological constraints from BOSS with measurement of the void-galaxy cross-correlation

We present a measurement of the anisotropic void-galaxy cross-correlation function in the CMASS galaxy sample of the BOSS DR12 data release. We perform a joint fit to the data for redshift space distortions (RSD) due to galaxy peculiar velocities and anisotropies due to the Alcock-Paczynski (AP) effect, for the first time using a velocity field reconstruction technique to remove the complicating effects of RSD in the void centre positions themselves. Fits to the void-galaxy function give a 1% measurement of the AP parameter combination $D_A(z)H(z)/c = 0.4367\pm 0.0045$ at redshift $z=0.57$, where $D_A$ is the angular diameter distance and $H$ the Hubble parameter, exceeding the precision obtainable from baryon acoustic oscillations (BAO) by a factor of ~3.5 and free of systematic errors. From voids alone we also obtain a 10% measure of the growth rate, $fσ_8(z=0.57)=0.501\pm0.051$. The parameter degeneracies are orthogonal to those obtained from galaxy clustering. Combining void information with that from BAO and galaxy RSD in the same CMASS sample, we measure $D_A(0.57)/r_s=9.383\pm 0.077$ (at 0.8% precision), $H(0.57)r_s=(14.05\pm 0.14)\;10^3$ kms$^{-1}$Mpc$^{-1}$ (1%) and $fσ_8=0.453\pm0.022$ (4.9%), consistent with cosmic microwave background (CMB) measurements from Planck. These represent a factor \sim2 improvement in precision over previous results through the inclusion of void information. Fitting a flat cosmological constant $Λ$CDM model to these results in combination with Planck CMB data, we find up to an 11% reduction in uncertainties on $H_0$ and $Ω_m$ compared to use of the corresponding BOSS consensus values. Constraints on extended models with non-flat geometry and a dark energy of state that differs from $w=-1$ show an even greater improvement.

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arXiv2018

An accurate linear model for redshift space distortions in the void-galaxy correlation function

Redshift space distortions within voids provide a unique method to test for environmental dependence of the growth rate of structures in low density regions, where effects of modified gravity theories might be important. We derive a linear theory model for the redshift space void-galaxy correlation that is valid at all pair separations, including deep within the void, and use this to obtain expressions for the monopole $ξ^s_0$ and quadrupole $ξ^s_2$ contributions. Our derivation highlights terms that have previously been neglected but are important within the void interior. As a result our model differs from previous works and predicts new physical effects, including a change in the sign of the quadrupole term within the void radius. We show how the model can be generalised to include a velocity dispersion. We compare our model predictions to measurements of the correlation function using mock void and galaxy catalogues modelled after the BOSS CMASS galaxy sample using the Big MultiDark $N$-body simulation, and show that the linear model with dispersion provides an excellent fit to the data at all scales, $0\leq s\leq120\;h^{-1}$Mpc. While the RSD model matches simulations, the linear bias approximation does not hold within voids, and care is needed in fitting for the growth rate. We show that fits to the redshift space correlation recover the growth rate $f(z=0.52)$ to a precision of $2.7\%$ using the simulation volume of $(2.5\;h^{-1}\mathrm{Gpc})^3$.

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