arXiv subjects

Simon Birrer

Publications and source records attributed to Simon Birrer.

At least 91 records · Page 5Linked to original sources

arXiv2022

Snowmass2021 Cosmic Frontier White Paper: Observational Facilities to Study Dark Matter

We present an overview of future observational facilities that will significantly enhance our understanding of the fundamental nature of dark matter. These facilities span a range of observational techniques including optical/near-infrared imaging and spectroscopy, measurements of the cosmic microwave background, pulsar timing, 21-cm observations of neutral hydrogen at high redshift, and the measurement of gravitational waves. Such facilities are a critical component of a multi-pronged experimental program to uncover the nature of dark matter, while often providing complementary measurements of dark energy, neutrino physics, and inflation.

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arXiv2022

The primordial matter power spectrum on sub-galactic scales

The primordial matter power spectrum quantifies fluctuations in the distribution of dark matter immediately following inflation. Over cosmic time, over-dense regions of the primordial density field grow and collapse into dark matter halos, whose abundance and density profiles retain memory of the initial conditions. By analyzing the image magnifications in eleven strongly-lensed and quadruply-imaged quasars, we infer the abundance and concentrations of low-mass halos, and cast the measurement in terms of the amplitude of the primordial matter power spectrum. We anchor the power spectrum on large scales, isolating the effect of small-scale deviations from the $Λ$CDM prediction. Assuming an analytic model for the power spectrum and accounting for several sources of potential systematic uncertainty, including three different models for the halo mass function, we obtain correlated inferences of $\log_{10}\left(P / P_{Λ\rm{CDM}}\right)$, the power spectrum amplitude relative to the predictions of the concordance cosmological model, of $0.0_{-0.4}^{+0.5}$, $0.1_{-0.6}^{+0.7}$, and $0.2_{-0.9}^{+1.0}$ at k = 10, 25 and 50 $\rm{Mpc^{-1}}$ at $68 \%$ confidence, consistent with cold dark matter and single-field slow-roll inflation.

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arXiv2022

TDCOSMO. VII. Boxyness/discyness in lensing galaxies : Detectability and impact on $H_0$

In the context of gravitational lensing, the density profile of lensing galaxies is often considered to be perfectly elliptical. Potential angular structures are generally ignored, except to explain flux ratios anomalies. Surprisingly, the impact of azimuthal structures on extended images of the source has not been characterized, nor its impact on the H0 inference. We address this task by creating mock images of a point source embedded in an extended source, lensed by an elliptical galaxy on which multipolar components are added to emulate boxy/discy isodensity contours. Modeling such images with a density profile free of angular structure allow us to explore the detectability of image deformation induced by the multipoles in the residual frame. Multipole deformations are almost always detectable for our highest signal-to-noise mock data. However the detectability depends on the lens ellipticity and Einstein radius, on the S/N of the data, and on the specific lens modeling strategy. Multipoles also introduce small changes to the time delays. We therefore quantify how undetected multipoles would impact H0 inference. When no multipoles are detected in the residuals, the impact on H0 for a given lens is in general less than a few km/s/Mpc, but in the worst case scenario, combining low S/N in the ring and large intrinsic boxyness/discyness, the bias on H0 can reach 10-12 km/s/Mpc. If we now look at the inference on H0 from a population of lensing galaxies, having a distribution of multipoles representative of what is found in the light-profile of elliptical galaxies, we then find a systematic bias on H0 < 1%. The comparison of our mock systems to the state-of-the-art time delay lens sample studied by the H0LiCOW and TDCOSMO collaborations, indicates that multipoles are currently unlikely to be a source of substantial systematic bias on the inferred value of H0 from time-delay lenses.

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arXiv2022

The size-luminosity relation of lensed galaxies at $z=6-9$ in the Hubble Frontier Fields

We measure the size-luminosity relation of photometrically-selected galaxies within the redshift range $z\sim6-9$, using galaxies lensed by six foreground Hubble Frontier Fields (HFF) clusters. The power afforded by strong gravitational lensing allows us to observe fainter and smaller galaxies than in blank fields. We select our sample of galaxies and obtain their properties, e.g., redshift, magnitude, from the photometrically-derived ASTRODEEP catalogues. The intrinsic size is measured with the Lenstruction software, and completeness maps are created as a function of size and luminosity via the GLACiAR2 software. We perform a Bayesian analysis to estimate the intrinsic and incompleteness-corrected size-luminosity distribution, with parameterization $r_e \propto L^β$. We find slopes of $β\sim0.48\pm0.08$ at $z\sim6-7$ and $β\sim0.68\pm0.14$ at $z\sim8.5$, adopting the Bradac lens model. The slope derived by lensed galaxies is steeper than that obtained in blank fields and is consistent with other independent determinations of the size-luminosity relation from the HFF dataset. We also investigate the systematic uncertainties correlated with the choice of lens models, finding that the slopes of size-luminosity relations derived from different models are consistent with each other, i.e. the modeling errors are not a significant source of uncertainty in the size-luminosity relation.

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arXiv2021

Quenching and Galaxy Demographics

The open-data revolution in astronomy is forcing the community to develop sophisticated analysis methods that heavily rely on realistic simulations. The phenomenology of the evolution of galaxy demographics can be described by a set of continuity equations invoking two quenching mechanisms: mass quenching and satellite quenching. The combination of these two mechanisms produces a double Schechter function for the quiescent population, as is observed in the low-redshift universe. In this paper we consider these quenching mechanisms, explicitly including satellite galaxies, and add the exact time evolution of the star-forming population. These new features complete the current versions of these continuity equations, and are essential for the realistic simulations required in modern extra-galactic astrophysics. We derive the analytical relation between the quiescent and the active populations, reducing considerably the parameter space for the simulation. In addition, we derive the analytical time dependence of the amplitude of the Schechter function. Finally, we validate our results against the SDSS DR7 galaxy sample. The model will be implemented in the SkyPy library and the main plots sonified using STRAUSS.

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arXiv2021

Strong Lensing Science Collaboration input to the on-sky commissioning of the Vera Rubin Observatory

We present the Strong Lensing Science Collaboration's (SLSC) recommended observing targets for the science verification and science validation phases of commissioning. Our recommendations have been developed in collaboration with the Dark Energy Science Collaboration (DESC) Strong Lensing Topical Team. In summary, our key recommendations are as follows: (1) Prioritize fields that span the full range of declination observable from Cerro Pachon during the engineering focused Science Verification phase of commissioning, before concentrating on equatorial fields for the Science Validation surveys. (2) Observe quadruply lensed quasars as the ultimate test of the Active Optics system towards the end of the Science Verification phase of commissioning. These systems are the strongest tests known for delivered image quality. (3) Prioritize science validation survey fields (both single deep pointings and wide fields) that have been searched thoroughly by precursor surveys for strong lenses. (4) The optimal wide (~100 degree^2) science validation field would include the CFHT-LS W4 field, and overlap with the SDSS Stripe 82, DES-SN, KIDS and HSC-SSP fields. (5) The optimal single pointing science validation fields are the XMM-LSS and COSMOS Deep Drilling Fields, the equatorial Hubble Frontier Fields galaxy clusters, and strongly lensed quasars with measured time delays that are well-matched to commissioning timescales.

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arXiv2021

Galaxy shapes of Light (GaLight): a 2D modeling of galaxy images

Galight is a Python-based open-source package that can be used to perform two-dimensional model fitting of optical and near-infrared images to characterize the light distribution of galaxies with components including a disk, bulge, bar, and quasar. The decomposition of stellar components has been demonstrated in published studies of inactive galaxies and quasar host galaxies observed by the Hubble Space Telescope and Subaru's Hyper Suprime-Cam. Galight utilizes the image modeling capabilities of lenstronomy while redesigning the user interface for the analysis of large samples of extragalactic sources. The package is user-friendly with some automatic features such as determining the cutout size of the modeling frame, searching for PSF-stars in field-of-view, estimating the noise map of the data, identifying all the objects to set the initial model, and associated parameters to fit them simultaneously. These features minimize the manpower and allow the automatic fitting tasks. The software is distributed under the MIT license. The source code, installation guidelines, and example notebooks code can be found at https://galight.readthedocs.io/en/latest/

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arXiv2021

Hyper Suprime-Cam Subaru Strategic Program: A Mass-Dependent Slope of the Galaxy Size-Mass Relation at $z<1$

We present the galaxy size-mass ($R_{e}-M_{\ast}$) distributions using a stellar-mass complete sample of $\sim1.5$ million galaxies, covering $\sim100$ deg$^2$, with $\log(M_{\ast}/M_{\odot})>10.2~(9.2)$ over the redshift range $0.2<z<1.0$ $(z<0.6)$ from the second public data release of the Hyper Suprime-Cam Subaru Strategic Program. We confirm that, at fixed redshift and stellar mass over the range of $\log(M_{\ast}/M_{\odot})<11$, star-forming galaxies are on average larger than quiescent galaxies. The large sample of galaxies with accurate size measurements, thanks to the excellent imaging quality, also enables us to demonstrate that the $R_{e}-M_{\ast}$ relations of both populations have a form of broken power-law, with a clear change of slopes at a pivot stellar mass $M_{p}$. For quiescent galaxies, below an (evolving) pivot mass of $\log(M_{p}/M_{\odot})=10.2-10.6$ the relation follows $R_{e}\propto M_{\ast}^{0.1}$; above $M_{p}$ the relation is steeper and follows $R_{e}\propto M_{\ast}^{0.6-0.7}$. For star-forming galaxies, below $\log(M_{p}/M_{\odot})\sim10.7$ the relation follows $R_{e}\propto M_{\ast}^{0.2}$; above $M_{p}$ the relation evolves with redshift and follows $R_{e}\propto M_{\ast}^{0.3-0.6}$. The shallow power-law slope for quiescent galaxies below $M_{p}$ indicates that large low-mass quiescent galaxies have sizes similar to those of their counterpart star-forming galaxies. We take this as evidence that large low-mass quiescent galaxies have been recently quenched (presumably through environment-specific process) without significant structural transformation. Interestingly, the pivot stellar mass of the $R_{e}-M_{\ast}$ relations coincides with mass at which half of the galaxy population is quiescent, implied that the pivot mass represents the transition of galaxy growth from being dominated by in-situ star formation to being dominated by (dry) mergers.

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arXiv2021

SkyPy: A package for modelling the Universe

SkyPy is an open-source Python package for simulating the astrophysical sky. It comprises a library of physical and empirical models across a range of observables and a command-line script to run end-to-end simulations. The library provides functions that sample realisations of sources and their associated properties from probability distributions. Simulation pipelines are constructed from these models using a YAML-based configuration syntax, while task scheduling and data dependencies are handled internally and the modular design allows users to interface with external software. SkyPy is developed and maintained by a diverse community of domain experts with a focus on software sustainability and interoperability. By fostering development, it provides a framework for correlated simulations of a range of cosmological probes including galaxy populations, large scale structure, the cosmic microwave background, supernovae and gravitational waves. Version 0.4 implements functions that model various properties of galaxies including luminosity functions, redshift distributions and optical photometry from spectral energy distribution templates. Future releases will provide additional modules, for example, to simulate populations of dark matter halos and model the galaxy-halo connection, making use of existing software packages from the astrophysics community where appropriate.

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arXiv2021

Synchronized Co-evolution between Supermassive Black Holes and Galaxies Over the Last Seven Billion Years as Revealed by the Hyper Suprime-Cam

We measure the evolution of the $M_{\rm BH}-M_*$ relation using 584 uniformly-selected SDSS quasars at $0.2<z<0.8$. The black-hole masses ($M_{\rm BH}$) are derived from the single-epoch virial mass estimator using the H$β$ emission line, and span the range $7.0<{\rm log}\,M_{\rm BH}/M_\odot<9.5$. The host-galaxy stellar masses ($M_*$), which cover the interval $10.0<{\rm log}\,M_* / M_\odot <11.5$, are determined by performing two-dimensional quasar-host decomposition of the Hyper Suprime-Cam images and spectral energy distribution fitting. To quantify sample-selection biases and measurement uncertainties on the mass terms, a mock quasar sample is constructed to jointly constrain the redshift evolution of the $M_{\rm BH}-M_*$ relation and its intrinsic scatter ($σ_μ$) through forward modeling. We find that the level of evolution is degenerate with $σ_μ$, such that both positive mild evolution (i.e, $M_{\rm BH}/M_*$ increases with redshift) with a small $σ_μ$, and negative mild evolution with a larger $σ_μ$ are consistent with our data. The posterior distribution of $σ_μ$ enables us to put a strong constraint on the intrinsic scatter of the $M_{\rm BH}-M_*$ relation, which has a best inference of $0.25_{-0.04}^{+0.03}$ dex, consistent with the local value. The redshift evolution of the $M_{\rm BH}-M_*$ relation relative to the local relation is constrained to be $(1+z)^{0.12_{-0.27}^{+0.28}}$, in agreement with no significant evolution since $z\sim0.8$. The tight and non-evolving $M_{\rm BH}-M_*$ relation is suggestive of a coupling through AGN feedback or/and a common gas supply at work, thus restricting the mass ratio of galaxies and their black holes to a limited range. Given the considerable stellar disk component, the $M_{\rm BH}-M_{\rm bulge}$ relation may evolve as previously seen at higher redshifts.

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arXiv2021

Strong lensing signatures of self-interacting dark matter in low-mass halos

Core formation and runaway core collapse in models with self-interacting dark matter (SIDM) significantly alter the central density profiles of collapsed halos. Using a forward modeling inference framework with simulated datasets, we demonstrate that flux ratios in quadruple image strong gravitational lenses can detect the unique structural properties of SIDM halos, and statistically constrain the amplitude and velocity dependence of the interaction cross section in halos with masses between $10^6 - 10^{10} M_{\odot}$. Measurements on these scales probe self-interactions at velocities below $30 \ \rm{km} \ \rm{s^{-1}}$, a relatively unexplored regime of parameter space, complimenting constraints at higher velocities from galaxies and clusters. We cast constraints on the amplitude and velocity dependence of the interaction cross section in terms of $σ_{20}$, the cross section amplitude at $20 \ \rm{km} \ \rm{s^{-1}}$. With 50 lenses, a sample size available in the near future, and flux ratios measured from spatially compact mid-IR emission around the background quasar, we forecast $σ_{20} < 11-23 \ \rm{cm^2} \rm{g^{-1}}$ at $95 \%$ CI, depending on the amplitude of the subhalo mass function, and assuming cold dark matter (CDM). Alternatively, if $σ_{20} = 19.2 \ \rm{cm^2}\rm{g^{-1}}$ we can rule out CDM with a likelihood ratio of 20:1, assuming an amplitude of the subhalo mass function that results from doubly-efficient tidal disruption in the Milky Way relative to massive elliptical galaxies. These results demonstrate that strong lensing of compact, unresolved sources can constrain SIDM structure on sub-galactic scales across cosmological distances, and the evolution of SIDM density profiles over several Gyr of cosmic time.

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arXiv2021

Dark Matter Constraints from a Unified Analysis of Strong Gravitational Lenses and Milky Way Satellite Galaxies

Joint analyses of small-scale cosmological structure probes are relatively unexplored and promise to advance measurements of microphysical dark matter properties using heterogeneous data. Here, we present a multidimensional analysis of dark matter substructure using strong gravitational lenses and the Milky Way (MW) satellite galaxy population, accounting for degeneracies in model predictions and using covariances in the constraining power of these individual probes for the first time. We simultaneously infer the projected subhalo number density and the half-mode mass describing the suppression of the subhalo mass function in thermal relic warm dark matter (WDM), $M_{\mathrm{hm}}$, using the semianalytic model $\mathrm{\texttt{Galacticus}}$ to connect the subhalo population inferred from MW satellite observations to the strong lensing host halo mass and redshift regime. Combining MW satellite and strong lensing posteriors in this parameter space yields $M_{\mathrm{hm}}<10^{7.0}\ M_{\mathrm{\odot}}$ (WDM particle mass $m_{\mathrm{WDM}}>9.7\ \mathrm{keV}$) at $95\%$ confidence and disfavors $M_{\mathrm{hm}}=10^{7.4}\ M_{\mathrm{\odot}}$ ($m_{\mathrm{WDM}}=7.4\ \mathrm{keV}$) with a 20:1 marginal likelihood ratio, improving limits on $m_{\mathrm{WDM}}$ set by the two methods independently by $\sim 30\%$. These results are marginalized over the line-of-sight contribution to the strong lensing signal, the mass of the MW host halo, and the efficiency of subhalo disruption due to baryons and are robust to differences in the disruption efficiency between the MW and strong lensing regimes at the $\sim 10\%$ level. This work paves the way for unified analyses of next-generation small-scale structure measurements covering a wide range of scales and redshifts.

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arXiv2021

The Hubble constant from strongly lensed supernovae with standardizable magnifications

The dominant uncertainty in the current measurement of the Hubble constant ($H_0$) with strong gravitational lensing time delays is attributed to uncertainties in the mass profiles of the main deflector galaxies. Strongly lensed supernovae (glSNe) can provide, in addition to measurable time delays, lensing magnification constraints when knowledge about the unlensed apparent brightness of the explosion is imposed. We present a hierarchical Bayesian framework to combine a dataset of SNe that are not strongly lensed and a dataset of strongly lensed SNe with measured time delays. We jointly constrain (i) $H_0$ using the time delays as an absolute distance indicator, (ii) the lens model profiles using the magnification ratio of lensed and unlensed fluxes on the population level and (iii) the unlensed apparent magnitude distribution of the SNe population and the redshift-luminosity relation of the relative expansion history of the Universe. We apply our joint inference framework on a future expected data set of glSNe, and forecast that a sample of 144 glSNe of Type~Ia with well measured time series and imaging data will measure $H_0$ to 1.5\%. We discuss strategies to mitigate systematics associated with using absolute flux measurements of glSNe to constrain the mass density profiles. Using the magnification of SNe images is a promising and complementary alternative to using stellar kinematics. Future surveys, such as the Rubin and \textit{Roman} observatories, will be able to discover the necessary number of glSNe, and with additional follow-up observations this methodology will provide precise constraints on mass profiles and $H_0$.

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arXiv2021

A local baseline of the black hole mass scaling relations for active galaxies. IV. Correlations between $M_{\rm BH}$ and host galaxy $σ$, stellar mass, and luminosity

The tight correlations between the mass of supermassive black holes ($M_{\rm BH}$) and their host-galaxy properties have been of great interest to the astrophysical community, but a clear understanding of their origin and fundamental drivers still eludes us. The local relations for active galaxies are interesting in their own right and form the foundation for any evolutionary study over cosmic time. We present Hubble Space Telescope optical imaging of a sample of 66 local active galactic nuclei (AGNs); for 14 objects, we also obtained Gemini near-infrared images. We use state of the art methods to perform surface photometry of the AGN host galaxies, decomposing them in spheroid, disk and bar (when present) and inferring the luminosity and stellar mass of the components. We combine this information with spatially-resolved kinematics obtained at the Keck Telescopes to study the correlations between $M_{\rm BH}$ (determined from single-epoch virial estimators) and host galaxy properties. The correlations are uniformly tight for our AGN sample, with intrinsic scatter 0.2-0.4 dex, smaller than or equal to that of quiescent galaxies. We find no difference between pseudo and classical bulges or barred and non-barred galaxies. We show that all the tight correlations can be simultaneously satisfied by AGN hosts in the 10$^7$-10$^9$ $M_{\odot}$ regime, with data of sufficient quality. The MBH-$σ$ relation is also in agreement with that of AGNs with $M_{\rm BH}$ obtained from reverberation mapping, providing an indirect validation of single-epoch virial estimators of $M_{\rm BH}$.

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arXiv2021

Gravitational lensing formalism in a curved arc basis: A continuous description of observables and degeneracies from the weak to the strong lensing regime

Gravitationally lensed curved arcs provide a wealth of information about the underlying lensing distortions. Extracting precise lensing information from extended sources is a key component in many studies aiming to answer fundamental questions about the Universe. To maintain accuracy with increased precision, it is of vital importance to characterize and understand the impact of degeneracies inherent in lensing observables. In this work, we present a formalism to describe the gravitational lensing distortion effects resulting in curved extended arcs based on the eigenvectors and eigenvalues of the local lensing Jacobian and their directional differentials. We identify a non-local and non-linear extended deflector basis that inherits these local properties. Our parameterization is tightly linked to observable features in extended sources and allows one to accurately extract the lensing information of extended images without imposing an explicit global deflector model. We quantify what degeneracies can be broken based on specific assumptions on the local lensing nature and assumed intrinsic source shape. Our formalism is applicable from the weak linear regime, the semi-linear regime all the way up to the highly non-linear regime of highly magnified arcs of multiple images. The methodology and implementation presented in this work provides a framework to assessing systematics, to guide inference efforts in the right choices in complexity based on the data at hand, and to quantify the lensing information extracted in a model-independent way.

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arXiv2021

lenstronomy II: A gravitational lensing software ecosystem

lenstronomy is an Astropy-affiliated Python package for gravitational lensing simulations and analyses. lenstronomy was introduced by Birrer and Amara (2018) and is based on the linear basis set approach by Birrer et a. (2015). The user and developer base of lenstronomy has substantially grown since then, and the software has become an integral part of a wide range of recent analyses, such as measuring the Hubble constant with time-delay strong lensing or constraining the nature of dark matter from resolved and unresolved small scale lensing distortion statistics. The modular design has allowed the community to incorporate innovative new methods, as well as to develop enhanced software and wrappers with more specific aims on top of the lenstronomy API. Through community engagement and involvement, lenstronomy has become a foundation of an ecosystem of affiliated packages extending the original scope of the software and proving its robustness and applicability at the forefront of the strong gravitational lensing community in an open source and reproducible manner.

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arXiv2021

High-resolution imaging follow-up of doubly imaged quasars

We report upon three years of follow-up and confirmation of doubly imaged quasar lenses through imaging campaigns from 2016-2018 with the Near-Infrared Camera2 (NIRC2) on the W. M. Keck Observatory. A sample of 57 quasar lens candidates are imaged in adaptive-optics-assisted or seeing-limited $K^\prime$-band observations. Out of these 57 candidates, 15 are confirmed as lenses. We form a sample of 20 lenses adding in a number of previously-known lenses that were imaged with NIRC2 in 2013-14 as part of a pilot study. By modelling these 20 lenses, we obtain $K^\prime$-band relative photometry and astrometry of the quasar images and the lens galaxy. We also provide the lens properties and predicted time delays to aid planning of follow-up observations necessary for various astrophysical applications, e.g., spectroscopic follow-up to obtain the deflector redshifts for the newly confirmed systems. We compare the departure of the observed flux ratios from the smooth-model predictions between doubly and quadruply imaged quasar systems. We find that the departure is consistent between these two types of lenses if the modelling uncertainty is comparable.

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arXiv2021

Dark matter halos of massive elliptical galaxies at $z \sim 0.2$ are well described by the Navarro-Frenk-White profile

We investigate the internal structure of elliptical galaxies at $z\sim 0.2$ from a joint lensing-dynamics analysis. We model Hubble Space Telescope images of a sample of 23 galaxy-galaxy lenses selected from the Sloan Lens ACS (SLACS) survey. Whereas the original SLACS analysis estimated the logarithmic slopes by combining the kinematics with the imaging data, we estimate the logarithmic slopes only from the imaging data. We find that the distribution of the lensing-only logarithmic slopes has a median $2.08\pm0.03$ and intrinsic scatter $0.13 \pm 0.02$, consistent with the original SLACS analysis. We combine the lensing constraints with the stellar kinematics and weak lensing measurements, and constrain the amount of adiabatic contraction in the dark matter (DM) halos. We find that the DM halos are well described by a standard Navarro-Frenk-White halo with no contraction on average for both of a constant stellar mass-to-light ratio ($M/L$) model and a stellar $M/L$ gradient model. For the $M/L$ gradient model, we find that most galaxies are consistent with no $M/L$ gradient. Comparison of our inferred stellar masses with those obtained from the stellar population synthesis method supports a heavy initial mass function (IMF) such as the Salpeter IMF. We discuss our results in the context of previous observations and simulations, and argue that our result is consistent with a scenario in which active galactic nucleus feedback counteracts the baryonic-cooling-driven contraction in the DM halos.

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