Engineering topics

Gontcho A. Gontcho, Satya [Virginia U.]

Publications and source records attributed to Gontcho A. Gontcho, Satya [Virginia U.].

6 records

DOE OSTI2026

Measuring local primordial non-Gaussianity from the clustering of DESI DR1 LRGs and QSOs

We report the first measurement of primordial non-Gaussianity (PNG), parameterized by $f_{\mathrm{NL}}$, in the configuration space two-point correlation function (2pcf). We employ simulation based modeling and a novel approach for the mitigation of imaging systematics. We apply this method to samples of luminous red galaxies (LRG) and quasars (QSO) observed by the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) during the first year of its observations (DR1). The observed 68% CL interval on $f_{\mathrm{NL}}$ is $-3^{+22}_{-21}$ using LRGs, and $ 0^{+17}_{-16}$ using QSOs. The joint measurement yields $f_{\mathrm{NL}} = -3^{+12}_{-12}$ at $\ [68\%]$ CL. Our pipeline imposes a Gaussian prior on the value of $p$ (which defines the PNG bias via the Universality relation), with $p_{\rm LRG} = 1.0 \pm 0.1$ and $p_{\rm QSO} = 1.6\pm 0.1$. The observed constraining power of DESI tracers significantly exceeds that of previous large-scale structure (LSS) surveys, and encouragingly, approaches the sensitivity of CMB probes of PNG.

Brown, Z. [Kansas State U.]↗

DOE OSTI2026

Tomography of the gamma-ray sky from cross-correlation with DESI DR2 and unWISE galaxies

We study the origin of extragalactic gamma-ray emission observed by Fermi-LAT, using the cross-correlation of the gamma-ray sky with maps of large-scale structure provided by the DESI and unWISE surveys. Tomographic cross-correlation reveals the bias-weighted redshift distributions of gamma-ray sources. We first illustrate this method by cross-correlating detected gamma-ray point sources with large-scale structure. We find a significant cross-correlation and infer a point source redshift distribution broadly consistent with the distribution of identified optical counterparts previously reported in the literature, as well as a similar linear bias ($b \approx 2$) to massive galaxies that host bright active galactic nuclei. We then study the clustering of the Fermi unresolved gamma-ray background (UGRB), both in auto-correlation and in cross-correlation with large-scale structure. We detect the cross-correlation of the UGRB and LSS at $\sim 10σ$ in total, with highly significant detections from both DESI and unWISE. Our measurements suggest that the redshift distribution of the UGRB is broadly consistent with the redshift distribution of detected point sources. Additionally, we find a relatively weak amplitude for the cross-correlation with large-scale structure at z < 2, suggesting a significant fraction of the UGRB does not come from z < 2 large-scale structure. A natural candidate is contamination of from residual Galactic emission, and our best estimate of the contamination level derived from the UGRB auto-spectrum suggests that the mean bias of UGRB sources is indeed quite similar to the bias of detected Fermi point sources. However, we cannot exclude additional emission from gamma-ray sources at high redshift, z > 2, and we suggest that cross-correlation with tracers at z > 2, including CMB lensing, would be the ideal way to determine the fraction of z > 2 emission.

Krolewski, Alex [Waterloo U., Math. Dept.; Waterlo↗

DOE OSTI2026

Constraining the Galactic bar using the M92 stellar stream

Stellar streams are excellent probes of the gravitational potential in which they evolve. In the Milky Way (MW), globular cluster (GC) streams are routinely used to infer properties about time-dependent perturbations of the underlying potential. This implies that streams with Galactocentric radii small enough to be perturbed by the MW bar should offer constraints on it, such as its pattern speed, which currently has a wide range of values reported in the literature and is important when studying stellar kinematics. The GC M92 has a small pericentre and should be affected by the bar. It has a diffuse stellar stream, but confirming stream members has previously been hindered by a lack of spectroscopic data. In this paper, we use Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) observations together with photometric and astrometric data to obtain spectroscopic members of the M92 stream for the first time. We identify a clear spatial distribution and gradients in distance moduli, proper motions, and radial velocities that confirm the stream's existence. We compare the observed stream to mock streams generated in different barred potentials and estimate the MW bar's pattern speed $Î©= 29.1^{+0.7}_{-0.4}$ km s$^{-1}$ kpc$^{-1}$ and $\dot Î©= 0.7^{+3.5}_{-2.3}$ km s$^{-1}$ kpc$^{-1}$ Gyr$^{-1}$. This is the first time a stellar stream is used to probabilistically infer these bar properties, and it opens up an exciting realm of inner Galactic potential characterisation using stellar streams.

Byström, Amanda [Edinburgh U., Inst. Astron.] (ORC↗

DOE OSTI2026

Peering down the barrel with DESI DR2: 10 000+ inflows at $z$ < 0.6 reveal how galaxies accrete cold gas

Direct observational constraints on how galaxies acquire their gas remain remarkably limited, hindering our understanding of the baryon cycle. We present a search for down-the-barrel NaI D absorption towards 15.6 million galaxies at $z < 0.6$ in DESI Data Release 2. We use Bayesian evidence ratios to assess whether the absorption requires additional components tracing interstellar gas distinct from the systemic component of the galaxy. We construct a catalogue of 50 088 (27 420) galaxies with moderate (strong) evidence for down-the-barrel absorption. The inferred absorption components are broadly distributed in velocity, with approximately 50% at $v_{\rm flow} < -50$ km/s, 30% within 50 km/s of the systemic velocity and the remaining 20% at $v_{\rm flow} > 50$ km/s. We find strong evidence for a large population of low-velocity, infalling absorbers with velocities $\sim$20 km/s in edge-on galaxies, consistent with radial inflows predicted in simulations. The stronger correlation in early-type galaxies between inflow velocity and stellar velocity dispersion, compared to that with stellar mass, suggests that a portion of these inflows may be associated with accreting satellites. These results reveal the multiple pathways in which galaxies accrete gas at redshift $z < 0.6$ for the first time in a statistically significant sample.

Weng, S. [Marseille, Lab. Astrophys.]↗

DOE OSTI2026

Precision Kinematic Sunyaev--Zel'dovich Measurements Across Halo Mass and Redshift with DESI DR2 and ACT DR6: Part II. Bright Galaxy Survey and Emission-Line Galaxies

We present the first high-significance spectroscopic stacked kinetic Sunyaev-Zel'dovich (kSZ) measurements of circumgalactic gas profiles for both Bright Galaxy Survey (BGS) and Emission Line Galaxy (ELG) tracers, combining DESI Data Release 2 with ACT Data Release 6. Using reconstructed line-of-sight velocities from the DESI galaxies and high-resolution ACT temperature maps, we detect the kSZ signal at high significance, reaching signal-to-noise ratios of up to $\sim$9 for BGS and $\sim$7.5 for ELGs in optimal stellar-mass selections. Together with the LRG measurements presented in Paper I, these constitute the most significant kSZ detections from any spectroscopic survey to date. We perform the analysis in both real and harmonic space, obtaining consistent results. By splitting both tracers into stellar-mass bins, we study the scaling of the kSZ amplitude with galaxy properties. Combining the kSZ measurements with ACT Data Release 6 (DR6) CMB lensing maps enables a joint calibration of the galaxy-halo connection and the gas fractions of host halos. For the BGS galaxies, we observe low gas fractions around the virial radius relative to standard expectations, likely attributable to active galactic nuclei (AGN) activity. We find some evidence for higher-mass halos retaining a larger fraction of their baryons, consistent with more efficient feedback in lower-mass systems. For the ELG sample, dominated by blue, star-forming galaxies, we provide the first detection of the gas distribution in ELG host halos. The ELGs appear to exhibit relatively high gas fractions, which points to the possibility of weaker feedback (due to e.g. low AGN and supernova feedback activity) at their mass scale. Finally, we present generalized Navarro-Frenk-White (GNFW) fits to the harmonic-space measurements, providing a compact parametrization of gas profiles for forward modeling in large-scale structure analyses.

Hadzhiyska, B. [Cambridge U.; Cambridge U., Inst. ↗

DOE OSTI2026

Nonlinear Information from DESI Luminous Red Galaxies: An Emulator-Based Analysis of Pre- and Post-Reconstruction Power Spectra

We present joint measurements of the pre- and post-reconstruction power spectra, $P_{\rm pre}$ and $P_{\rm post}$, together with their cross-power spectrum, $P_{\rm cross}$, for the Luminous Red Galaxies (LRGs) in the DESI Data Release 1 (DR1). We jointly analyse these observables with an emulator-based full-shape modeling framework, thereby, for the first time, we extract complementary nonlinear information from the galaxy density field before and after reconstruction in real survey data. Specifically, including $P_{\rm post}$ and $P_{\rm cross}$ in addition to $P_{\rm pre}$ (hereafter $P_{\rm all}$) yields an improvement of approximately $18$-$27\%$ in the $σ_8$ constraint in both $Λ$CDM and $w$CDM, depending on the redshift bin, relative to the $P_{\rm pre}$-only analysis with the cosmic microwave background distance priors (hereafter CMB). In $w$CDM, the joint CMB+$P_{\rm all}$ analysis can tighten the constraints on $w$ by approximately $5$-$15\%$ across the two LRG redshift bins, compared to the CMB+$P_{\rm pre}$ combination. Further incorporating the Type Ia supernova dataset and comparing the cosmological constraints in $w$CDM from each individual power-spectrum component with those from the full combination, we find that $P_{\rm all}$ consistently provides the tightest constraints. From the joint CMB+$P_{\rm all}$+DES-Dovekie dataset, we obtain $Ω_m = 0.314 \pm 0.0048$ and $w = -0.988 \pm 0.023$ for the \texttt{LRG1} sample, and $Ω_m = 0.318 \pm 0.0046$ and $w = -0.988 \pm 0.025$ for \texttt{LRG2}. These results demonstrate that combining pre- and post-reconstruction power spectra with their cross-correlation enables DESI to harvest additional nonlinear information, leading to tighter constraints on cosmological parameters.

Wang, Yuting [NAOC, Beijing; Beijing, GUCAS] (ORCI↗