arXiv subjects

Xiaohu Yang

Publications and source records attributed to Xiaohu Yang.

At least 181 records · Page 10Linked to original sources

arXiv2020

Galaxy-group (halo) alignments from SDSS DR7 and the ELUCID simulation

Based on galaxies from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) and subhalos in the corresponding reconstructed region from the constrained simulation of ELUCID, we study the alignment of central galaxies relative to their host groups in the group catalog, as well as the alignment relative to the corresponding subhalos in the ELUCID simulation. Galaxies in observation are matched to dark matter subhalos in the ELUCID simulation using a novel neighborhood abundance matching method. In observation, the major axes of galaxies are found to be preferentially aligned to the major axes of their host groups. There is a color dependence of galaxy-group alignment that red centrals have a stronger alignment along the major axes of their host groups than blue centrals. Combining galaxies in observation and subhalos in the ELUCID simulation, we also find that central galaxies have their major axes to be aligned to the major axes of their corresponding subhalos in the ELUCID simulation. We find that the galaxy-group and galaxy-subhalo alignment signals are stronger for galaxies in more massive halos. We find that the alignments between main subhalos and the SDSS matched subhalo systems in simulation are slightly stronger than the galaxy-group alignments in observation.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2020

The Next Generation Virgo Cluster Survey. XXXIV. Ultra-Compact Dwarf (UCD) Galaxies in the Virgo Cluster

We present a study of ultra compact dwarf (UCD) galaxies in the Virgo cluster based mainly on imaging from the Next Generation Virgo Cluster Survey (NGVS). Using $\sim$100 deg$^{2}$ of $u^*giz$ imaging, we have identified more than 600 candidate UCDs, from the core of Virgo out to its virial radius. Candidates have been selected through a combination of magnitudes, ellipticities, colors, surface brightnesses, half-light radii and, when available, radial velocities. Candidates were also visually validated from deep NGVS images. Subsamples of varying completeness and purity have been defined to explore the properties of UCDs and compare to those of globular clusters and the nuclei of dwarf galaxies with the aim of delineating the nature and origins of UCDs. From a surface density map, we find the UCDs to be mostly concentrated within Virgo's main subclusters, around its brightest galaxies. We identify several subsamples of UCDs -- i.e., the brightest, largest, and those with the most pronounced and/or asymmetric envelopes -- that could hold clues to the origin of UCDs and possible evolutionary links with dwarf nuclei. We find some evidence for such a connection from the existence of diffuse envelopes around some UCDs, and comparisons of radial distributions of UCDs and nucleated galaxies within the cluster.

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arXiv2020

Relating the structure of dark matter halos to their assembly and environment

We use a large $N$-body simulation to study the relation of the structural properties of dark matter halos to their assembly history and environment. The complexity of individual halo assembly histories can be well described by a small number of principal components (PCs), which, compared to formation times, provide a more complete description of halo assembly histories and have a stronger correlation with halo structural properties. Using decision trees built with the random ensemble method, we find that about $60\%$, $10\%$, and $20\%$ of the variances in halo concentration, axis ratio, and spin, respectively, can be explained by combining four dominating predictors: the first PC of the assembly history, halo mass, and two environment parameters. Halo concentration is dominated by halo assembly. The local environment is found to be important for the axis ratio and spin but is degenerate with halo assembly. The small percentages of the variance in the axis ratio and spin that are explained by known assembly and environmental factors suggest that the variance is produced by many nuanced factors and should be modeled as such. The relations between halo intrinsic properties and environment are weak compared to their variances, with the anisotropy of the local tidal field having the strongest correlation with halo properties. Our method of dimension reduction and regression can help simplify the characterization of the halo population and clarify the degeneracy among halo properties.

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arXiv2020

Measuring the integrated Sachs-Wolfe effect from the low-density regions of the universe

The integrated Sachs-Wolfe (ISW) effect is caused by the decay of cosmological gravitational potential, and is therefore a unique probe of dark energy. However, its robust detection is still problematic. Various tensions between different data sets, different large scale structure (LSS) tracers, and between data and the $Λ$CDM theory prediction, exist. We propose a novel method of ISW measurement by cross correlating CMB and the LSS traced by "low-density-position" (LDP, \citet{2019ApJ...874....7D}). It isolates the ISW effect generated by low-density regions of the universe, but insensitive to selection effects associated with voids. We apply it to the DR8 galaxy catalogue of the DESI Legacy imaging surveys, and obtain the LDPs at $z\leq 0.6$ over $\sim$ 20000 $deg^2$ sky coverage. We then cross correlate with the Planck temperature map, and detect the ISW effect at $3.2σ$. We further compare the measurement with numerical simulations of the concordance $Λ$CDM cosmology, and find the ISW amplitude parameter $A_{ISW}=1.14\pm0.38$ when we adopt a LDP definition radius $R_s=3^{'}$, fully consistent with the prediction of the standard $Λ$CDM cosmology ($A_{ISW}=1$). This agreement with $Λ$CDM cosmology holds for all the galaxy samples and $R_s$ that we have investigated. Furthermore, the S/N is comparable to that of galaxy ISW measurement. These results demonstrate the LDP method as a competitive alternative to existing ISW measurement methods, and provide independent checks to existing tensions.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2020

On the Replicability and Reproducibility of Deep Learning in Software Engineering

Deep learning (DL) techniques have gained significant popularity among software engineering (SE) researchers in recent years. This is because they can often solve many SE challenges without enormous manual feature engineering effort and complex domain knowledge. Although many DL studies have reported substantial advantages over other state-of-the-art models on effectiveness, they often ignore two factors: (1) replicability - whether the reported experimental result can be approximately reproduced in high probability with the same DL model and the same data; and (2) reproducibility - whether one reported experimental findings can be reproduced by new experiments with the same experimental protocol and DL model, but different sampled real-world data. Unlike traditional machine learning (ML) models, DL studies commonly overlook these two factors and declare them as minor threats or leave them for future work. This is mainly due to high model complexity with many manually set parameters and the time-consuming optimization process. In this study, we conducted a literature review on 93 DL studies recently published in twenty SE journals or conferences. Our statistics show the urgency of investigating these two factors in SE. Moreover, we re-ran four representative DL models in SE. Experimental results show the importance of replicability and reproducibility, where the reported performance of a DL model could not be replicated for an unstable optimization process. Reproducibility could be substantially compromised if the model training is not convergent, or if performance is sensitive to the size of vocabulary and testing data. It is therefore urgent for the SE community to provide a long-lasting link to a replication package, enhance DL-based solution stability and convergence, and avoid performance sensitivity on different sampled data.

cs.SE↗

arXiv2020

The intrinsic SFRF and sSFRF of galaxies: comparing SDSS observation with IllustrisTNG simulation

The star formation rate function (SFRF) and specific star formation rate function (sSFRF) from the observation are impacted by the Eddington bias, due to the uncertainties on the estimated SFR. We develop a novel method to correct the Eddington bias and obtained the intrinsic SFRF and sSFRF from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Data Release 7. The intrinsic SFRF is in good agreement with measurements from previous data in the literature that relied on UV SFRs but its high star-forming end is slightly lower than those IR and radio tracers. We demonstrate that the intrinsic sSFRF from SDSS has a bi-modal form with the one peak found at ${\rm sSFR \sim 10^{-9.7} yr^{-1}}$ representing the star-forming objects while the other peak is found at ${\rm sSFR \sim 10^{-12} yr^{-1}}$ representing the quenched population. Furthermore, we compare our observations with the predictions from the IllustrisTNG and Illustris simulations and show that the ``TNG'' model performs much better than its predecessor. However, we show that the simulated SFRF and cosmic star formation density (CSFRD) of TNG simulations are highly dependent on resolution, reflecting the limitations of the model and today state-of-the-art simulations. We demonstrate that the bi-modal, two peaked sSFRF implied by the SDSS observations does not appear in TNG regardless of the adopted box-size or resolution. This tension reflects the need for inclusion of an additional efficient quenching mechanism to the TNG model.

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arXiv2020

The parameter-free Finger-Of-God model and its application to 21cm intensity mapping

Using the galaxy catalog built from ELUCID N-body simulation and the semi-analytical galaxy formation model, we have built a mock HI intensity mapping map. We have implemented the Finger-of-God (FoG) effect in the map by considering the galaxy HI gas velocity dispersion. By comparing the HI power spectrum in the redshift space with the measurement from IllustrisTNG simulation, we have found that such FoG effect can explain the discrepancy between current mock map built from N-body simulation and Illustris TNG simulation. Then we built a parameter-free FoG model and a shot-noise model to calculate the HI power spectrum. We found that our model can accurately fit both the monopole and quadrupole moments of the HI matter power spectrum. Our method of building the mock HI intensity map and the parameter-free FoG model will be widely useful for the up-coming 21cm intensity mapping experiments, such as CHIME, Tianlai, BINGO, FAST and SKA. It is also crucial for us to study the non-linear effects in 21cm intensity mapping.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2020

The Three Hundred Project: the stellar and gas profiles

Using the catalogues of galaxy clusters from The Three Hundred project, modelled with both hydrodynamic simulations, (Gadget-X and Gadget-MUSIC), and semi-analytic models (SAMs), we study the scatter and self-similarity of the profiles and distributions of the baryonic components of the clusters: the stellar and gas mass, metallicity, the stellar age, gas temperature, and the (specific) star formation rate. Through comparisons with observational results, we find that the shape and the scatter of the gas density profiles matches well the observed trends including the reduced scatter at large radii which is a signature of self-similarity suggested in previous studies. One of our simulated sets, Gadget-X, reproduces well the shape of the observed temperature profile, while Gadget-MUSIC has a higher and flatter profile in the cluster centre and a lower and steeper profile at large radii. The gas metallicity profiles from both simulation sets, despite following the observed trend, have a relatively lower normalisation. The cumulative stellar density profiles from SAMs are in better agreement with the observed result than both hydrodynamic simulations which show relatively higher profiles. The scatter in these physical profiles, especially in the cluster centre region, shows a dependence on the cluster dynamical state and on the cool-core/non-cool-core dichotomy. The stellar age, metallicity and (s)SFR show very large scatter, which are then presented in 2D maps. We also do not find any clear radial dependence of these properties. However, the brightest central galaxies have distinguishable features compared to the properties of the satellite galaxies.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2020

UV & U-band luminosity functions from CLAUDS and HSC-SSP -- I. Using four million galaxies to simultaneously constrain the very faint and bright regimes to $z \sim 3$

We constrain the rest-frame FUV (1546Å), NUV (2345Å) and U-band (3690Å) luminosity functions (LFs) and luminosity densities (LDs) with unprecedented precision from $z\sim0.2$ to $z\sim3$ (FUV, NUV) and $z\sim2$ (U-band). Our sample of over 4.3 million galaxies, selected from the CFHT Large Area $U$-band Deep Survey (CLAUDS) and HyperSuprime-Cam Subaru Strategic Program (HSC-SSP) data lets us probe the very faint regime (down to $M_\mathrm{FUV},M_\mathrm{NUV},M_\mathrm{U} \simeq -15$ at low redshift) while simultaneously detecting very rare galaxies at the bright end down to comoving densities $<10^{-5}$ Mpc$^{-3}$. Our FUV and NUV LFs are well fitted by single Schechter functions, with faint-end slopes that are very stable up to $z\sim2$. We confirm, but self-consistently and with much better precision than previous studies, that the LDs at all three wavelengths increase rapidly with lookback time to $z\sim1$, and then much more slowly at $1 1$ it is due to the evolution of both $M^\star_{UV}$ and the characteristic number density $ϕ^\star_{UV}$. In contrast, the U-band LF has an excess of faint galaxies and is fitted with a double-Schechter form; $M^\star_\mathrm{U}$, both $ϕ^\star_\mathrm{U}$ components, and the bright-end slope evolve throughout $0.2<z<2$, while the faint-end slope is constant over at least the measurable $0.05<z<0.6$. We present tables of our Schechter parameters and LD measurements that can be used for testing theoretical galaxy evolution models and forecasting future observations.

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arXiv2020

Observing the Effects of Galaxy Interactions on the Circumgalactic Medium

We continue our empirical study of the emission line flux originating in the cool ($T\sim10^4$ K) gas that populates the halos of galaxies and their environments. Specifically, we present results obtained for a sample of galaxy pairs with a range of projected separations, {\bf $10 < {S_p/\rm kpc} < 200$}, and mass ratios $<$ 1:5, intersected by 5,443 SDSS lines of sight at projected radii of 10 to 50 kpc from either or both of the two galaxies. We find significant enhancement in H$α$ emission and a moderate enhancement in [N {\small II}]6583 emission for low mass pairs (mean stellar mass per galaxy, $\overline{\rm M}_*, <10^{10.4} {\rm M}_\odot$) relative to the results from a control sample. This enhanced H$α$ emission comes almost entirely from sight lines located between the galaxies, consistent with a short-term, interaction-driven origin for the enhancement. We find no enhancement in H$α$ emission, but significant enhancement in [N {\small II}]6583 emission for high mass ($\overline{\rm M}_* >10^{10.4}{\rm M}_\odot$) pairs. Furthermore, we find a dependence of the emission line properties on the galaxy pair mass ratio such that those with a mass ratio below 1:2.5 have enhanced [N {\small II}]6583 and those with a mass ratio between 1:2.5 and 1:5 do not. In all cases, departures from the control sample are only detected for close pairs ($S_p <$ 100 kpc). Attributing an elevated [N {\small II}]6583/H$α$ ratio to shocks, we infer that shocks play a role in determining the CGM properties for close pairs that are among the more massive and have mass ratios closer to 1:1.

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arXiv2020

Probing Primordial Chirality with Galaxy Spins

Chiral symmetry is maximally violated in weak interactions, and such microscopic asymmetries in the early Universe might leave observable imprints on astrophysical scales without violating the cosmological principle. In this Letter, we propose a helicity measurement to detect primordial chiral violation. We point out that observations of halo-galaxy angular momentum directions (spins), which are frozen in during the galaxy formation process, provide a fossil chiral observable. From the clustering mode of large scale structure of the Universe, we construct a spin mode in Lagrangian space and show in simulations that it is a good probe of halo-galaxy spins. In standard model, a strong symmetric correlation between the left and right helical components of this spin mode and galaxy spins is expected. Measurements of these correlations will be sensitive to chiral breaking, providing a direct test of chiral symmetry breaking in the early Universe.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2020

Detection of missing baryons in galaxy groups with kinetic Sunyaev-Zel'dovich effect

We present the detection of the kinetic Sunyaev-Zel'dovich effect (kSZE) signals from groups of galaxies as a function of halo mass down to $\log (M_{500}/{\rm M_\odot}) \sim 12.3$, using the {\it Planck} CMB maps and stacking about $40,000$ galaxy systems with known positions, halo masses, and peculiar velocities. The signals from groups of different mass are constrained simultaneously to take care of projection effects of nearby halos. The total kSZE flux within halos estimated implies that the gas fraction in halos is about the universal baryon fraction, even in low-mass halos, indicating that the `missing baryons' are found. Various tests performed show that our results are robust against systematic effects, such as contamination by infrared/radio sources and background variations, beam-size effects and contributions from halo exteriors. Combined with the thermal Sunyaev-Zel'dovich effect, our results indicate that the `missing baryons' associated with galaxy groups are contained in warm-hot media with temperatures between $10^5$ and $10^6\,{\rm K}$.

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arXiv2020

Detection of missing baryons in galaxy groups with kinetic Sunyaev-Zel'dovich effect

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arXiv2019

Toward accurate measurement of property-dependent galaxy clustering I. Comparison of the Vmax method and the "shuffled" method

Galaxy clustering provides insightful clues to our understanding of galaxy formation and evolution, as well as the universe. The redshift assignment for the random sample is one of the key steps to measure the galaxy clustering accurately. In this paper, by virtue of the mock galaxy catalogs, we investigate the effect of two redshift assignment methods on the measurement of galaxy two-point correlation functions (hereafter 2PCFs), the Vmax method and the "shuffled" method. We found that the shuffled method significantly underestimates both of the projected 2PCFs and the two-dimensional 2PCFs in redshift space. While the Vmax method does not show any notable bias on the 2PCFs for volume-limited samples. For flux-limited samples, the bias produced by the Vmax method is less than half of the shuffled method on large scales. Therefore, we strongly recommend the Vmax method to assign redshifts to random samples in the future galaxy clustering analysis.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2019

The Dearth of Difference between Central and Satellite Galaxies III. Environmental Dependence of Mass-Size and Mass-Structure Relations

As demonstrated in Paper I, the quenching properties of central and satellite galaxies are quite similar as long as both stellar mass and halo mass are controlled. Here we extend the analysis to the size and bulge-to-total light ratio (B/T) of galaxies. In general central galaxies have size-stellar mass and B/T-stellar mass relations different from satellites. However, the differences are eliminated when halo mass is controlled. We also study the dependence of size and B/T on halo-centric distance and find a transitional stellar mass (M$_{*,t}$) at given halo mass (M$_h$), which is about one fifth of the mass of the central galaxies in halos of mass M$_h$. The transitional stellar masses for size, B/T and quenched fraction are similar over the whole halo mass range, suggesting a connection between the quenching of star formation and the structural evolution of galaxies. Our analysis further suggests that the classification based on the transitional stellar mass is more fundamental than the central-satellite dichotomy, and provide a more reliable way to understand the environmental effects on galaxy properties. We compare the observational results with the hydro-dynamical simulation, EAGLE and the semi-analytic model, L-GALAXIES. The EAGLE simulation successfully reproduces the similarities of size for centrals and satellites and even M$_{*,t}$, while L-GALAXIES fails to recover the observational results.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2019

H$α$ Emission and the Dependence of the Circumgalactic Cool Gas Fraction on Halo Mass

We continue our empirical study of the emission line flux originating in the cool ($T\sim10^4$ K) gas that populates the halos of galaxies and their environments. Specifically, we present results obtained for a sample of nearly half a million individual galaxies, groups, and clusters of galaxies, intersected by more than two million SDSS lines of sight at projected separations of up to a quarter of the virial radius. Adopting simple power law relationships between the circumgalactic (CGM) cool gas fraction and either the halo or stellar mass, we present expressions for the CGM cool gas fraction as a function of either halo or stellar mass, $f_{\rm cool}(M_h) = (0.25^{+0.07}_{-0.06}) \times (M_h/10^{12}M_\odot)^{(-0.39^{+0.06}_{-0.07})}$ or $f_{\rm cool}(M_{*}) = (0.28^{+0.07}_{-0.06}) \times (M_{\rm *}/10^{10.0}M_\odot)^{(-0.33\pm 0.06)}$. Where we can compare, our results are consistent with previous constraints from absorption line studies, our own previous emission line work, and simulations. The cool gas can be the dominant baryonic CGM component, comprising a fraction as high as $> 90\%$ of halo gaseous baryons, in low mass halos, $M_h\sim$ $10^{10.5} M_\odot$, and a minor fraction, $<$ 5\%, in groups and clusters, $M_h > 10^{14} M_\odot$.

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arXiv2019

The CFHT Large Area U-band Deep Survey (CLAUDS)

The CFHT Large Area U-band Deep Survey (CLAUDS) uses data taken with the MegaCam mosaic imager on CFHT to produce images of 18.60 deg2 with median seeing of FWHM=0.92 arcsec and to a median depth of U = 27.1 AB (5 sigma in 2 arcsec apertures), with selected areas that total 1.36 deg2 reaching a median depth of U=27.7 AB. These are the deepest U-band images assembled to date over this large an area. These data are located in four fields also imaged to comparably faint levels in grizy and several narrowband filters as part of the Hyper Suprime-Cam (HSC) Subaru Strategic Program (HSC-SSP). These CFHT and Subaru datasets will remain unmatched in their combination of area and depth until the advent of the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST). This paper provides an overview of the scientific motivation for CLAUDS and gives details of the observing strategy, observations, data reduction, and data merging with the HSC-SSP. Three early applications of these deep data are used to illustrate the potential of the dataset: deep U-band galaxy number counts, z~3 Lyman break galaxy (LBG) selection, and photometric redshifts improved by adding CLAUDS U to the Subaru HSC grizy photometry.

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arXiv2019

New perspectives on the BOSS small-scale lensing discrepancy for the Planck $Λ$CDM Cosmology

We investigate the abundance, small-scale clustering and galaxy-galaxy lensing signal of galaxies in the Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (BOSS). To this end, we present new measurements of the redshift and stellar mass dependence of the lensing properties of the galaxy sample. We analyse to what extent models assuming the Planck18 cosmology fit to the number density and clustering can accurately predict the small-scale lensing signal. In qualitative agreement with previous BOSS studies at redshift $z \sim 0.5$ and with results from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, we find that the expected signal at small scales ($0.1 < r_{\rm p} < 3 \, h^{-1} \mathrm{Mpc}$) is higher by $\sim 25\%$ than what is measured. Here, we show that this result is persistent over the redshift range $0.1 < z < 0.7$ and for galaxies of different stellar masses. If interpreted as evidence for cosmological parameters different from the Planck CMB findings, our results imply $S_8 = σ_8 \sqrt{Ω_{\rm m} / 0.3} = 0.744 \pm 0.015$, whereas $S_8 = 0.832 \pm 0.013$ for Planck18. However, in addition to being in tension with CMB results, such a change in cosmology alone does not accurately predict the lensing amplitude at larger scales. Instead, other often neglected systematics like baryonic feedback or assembly bias are likely contributing to the small-scale lensing discrepancy. We show that either effect alone, though, is unlikely to completely resolve the tension. Ultimately, a combination of the two effects in combination with a moderate change in cosmological parameters might be needed.

astro-ph.CO↗