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Soares-Santos, M.

Publications and source records attributed to Soares-Santos, M..

At least 55 records · Page 3

The Dark Energy Survey supernova programme: modelling selection efficiency and observed core-collapse supernova contamination

ABSTRACT The analysis of current and future cosmological surveys of Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) at high redshift depends on the accurate photometric classification of the SN events detected. Generating realistic simulations of photometric SN surveys constitutes an essential step for training and testing photometric classification algorithms, and for correcting biases introduced by selection effects and contamination arising from core-collapse SNe in the photometric SN Ia samples. We use published SN time-series spectrophotometric templates, rates, luminosity functions, and empirical relationships between SNe and their host galaxies to construct a framework for simulating photometric SN surveys. We present this framework in the context of the Dark Energy Survey (DES) 5-yr photometric SN sample, comparing our simulations of DES with the observed DES transient populations. We demonstrate excellent agreement in many distributions, including Hubble residuals, between our simulations and data. We estimate the core collapse fraction expected in the DES SN sample after selection requirements are applied and before photometric classification. After testing different modelling choices and astrophysical assumptions underlying our simulation, we find that the predicted contamination varies from 7.2 to 11.7 per cent, with an average of 8.8 per cent and an r.m.s. of 1.1 per cent. Our simulations are the first to reproduce the observed photometric SN and host galaxy properties in high-redshift surveys without fine-tuning the input parameters. The simulation methods presented here will be a critical component of the cosmology analysis of the DES photometric SN Ia sample: correcting for biases arising from contamination, and evaluating the associated systematic uncertainty.

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Understanding the extreme luminosity of DES14X2fna

We present DES14X2fna, a high-luminosity, fast-declining Type IIb supernova (SN IIb) at redshift z = 0.0453, detected by the Dark Energy Survey (DES). DES14X2fna is an unusual member of its class, with a light curve showing a broad, luminous peak reaching M r ≃ –19.3 mag 20 d after explosion. This object does not show a linear decline tail in the light curve until ≃60 d after explosion, after which it declines very rapidly (4.30 ± 0.10 mag 100 d –1 in the r band). By fitting semi-analytic models to the photometry of DES14X2fna, we find that its light curve cannot be explained by a standard 56 Ni decay model as this is unable to fit the peak and fast tail decline observed. Inclusion of either interaction with surrounding circumstellar material or a rapidly-rotating neutron star (magnetar) significantly increases the quality of the model fit. Furthermore, we also investigate the possibility for an object similar to DES14X2fna to act as a contaminant in photometric samples of SNe Ia for cosmology, finding that a similar simulated object is misclassified by a recurrent neural network (RNN)-based photometric classifier as an SN Ia in ~1.1–2.4 per cent of cases in DES, depending on the probability threshold used for a positive classification.

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Identifying RR Lyrae Variable Stars in Six Years of the Dark Energy Survey

We present a search for RR Lyrae stars using the full six-year data set from the Dark Energy Survey covering ∼5000 deg2 of the southern sky. Using a multistage multivariate classification and light-curve template-fitting scheme, we identify RR Lyrae candidates with a median of 35 observations per candidate. We detect 6971 RR Lyrae candidates out to ∼335 kpc, and we estimate that our sample is >70% complete at ∼150 kpc. We find excellent agreement with other wide-area RR Lyrae catalogs and RR Lyrae studies targeting the Magellanic Clouds and other Milky Way satellite galaxies. We fit the smooth stellar halo density profile using a broken-power-law model with fixed halo flattening (q = 0.7), and we find strong evidence for a break at with an inner slope of and an outer slope of . We use our catalog to perform a search for Milky Way satellite galaxies with large sizes and low luminosities. Using a set of simulated satellite galaxies, we find that our RR Lyrae-based search is more sensitive than those using resolved stellar populations in the regime of large (r h ≳ 500 pc), low-surface-brightness dwarf galaxies. A blind search for large, diffuse satellites yields three candidate substructures. The first can be confidently associated with the dwarf galaxy Eridanus II. The second has a distance and proper motion similar to the ultrafaint dwarf galaxy Tucana II but is separated by ∼5 deg. The third is close in projection to the globular cluster NGC 1851 but is ∼10 kpc more distant and appears to differ in proper motion.

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The first Hubble diagram and cosmological constraints using superluminous supernovae

In this work, we present the first Hubble diagram of superluminous supernovae (SLSNe) out to a redshift of two, together with constraints on the matter density, Ω M , and the dark energy equation-of-state parameter, w(≡p/ρ). We build a sample of 20 cosmologically useful SLSNe I based on light curve and spectroscopy quality cuts. We confirm the robustness of the peak–decline SLSN I standardization relation with a larger data set and improved fitting techniques than previous works. We then solve the SLSN model based on the above standardization via minimization of the χ2 computed from a covariance matrix that includes statistical and systematic uncertainties. For a spatially flat Λ cold dark matter (ΛCDM) cosmological model, we find $\Omega _{\rm M}=0.38^{+0.24}_{-0.19}$, with an rms of 0.27 mag for the residuals of the distance moduli. For a w 0 w a CDM cosmological model, the addition of SLSNe I to a ‘baseline’ measurement consisting of Planck temperature together with Type Ia supernovae, results in a small improvement in the constraints of w 0 and wa of 4 per cent. We present simulations of future surveys with 868 and 492 SLSNe I (depending on the configuration used) and show that such a sample can deliver cosmological constraints in a flat ΛCDM model with the same precision (considering only statistical uncertainties) as current surveys that use Type Ia supernovae, while providing a factor of 2–3 improvement in the precision of the constraints on the time variation of dark energy, w 0 and w a . This paper represents the proof of concept for superluminous supernova cosmology, and demonstrates they can provide an independent test of cosmology in the high-redshift (z > 1) universe.

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Dark energy survey year 3 results: weak lensing shape catalogue

ABSTRACT We present and characterize the galaxy shape catalogue from the first 3 yr of Dark Energy Survey (DES) observations, over an effective area of 4143 deg2 of the southern sky. We describe our data analysis process and our self-calibrating shear measurement pipeline metacalibration, which builds and improves upon the pipeline used in the DES Year 1 analysis in several aspects. The DES Year 3 weak-lensing shape catalogue consists of 100 204 026 galaxies, measured in the riz bands, resulting in a weighted source number density of neff = 5.59 gal arcmin−2 and corresponding shape noise σe = 0.261. We perform a battery of internal null tests on the catalogue, including tests on systematics related to the point spread function (PSF) modelling, spurious catalogue B-mode signals, catalogue contamination, and galaxy properties.

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Consistency of cosmic shear analyses in harmonic and real space

ABSTRACT Recent cosmic shear studies have reported discrepancies of up to 1σ on the parameter ${S_{8}=\sigma _{8}\sqrt{{\Omega _{\rm m}}/0.3}}$ between the analysis of shear power spectra and two-point correlation functions, derived from the same shear catalogues. It is not a priori clear whether the measured discrepancies are consistent with statistical fluctuations. In this paper, we investigate this issue in the context of the forthcoming analyses from the third year data of the Dark Energy Survey (DES Y3). We analyse DES Y3 mock catalogues from Gaussian simulations with a fast and accurate importance sampling pipeline. We show that the methodology for determining matching scale cuts in harmonic and real space is the key factor that contributes to the scatter between constraints derived from the two statistics. We compare the published scales cuts of the KiDS, Subaru-HSC, and DES surveys, and find that the correlation coefficients of posterior means range from over 80 per cent for our proposed cuts, down to 10 per cent for cuts used in the literature. We then study the interaction between scale cuts and systematic uncertainties arising from multiple sources: non-linear power spectrum, baryonic feedback, intrinsic alignments, uncertainties in the point spread function, and redshift distributions. We find that, given DES Y3 characteristics and proposed cuts, these uncertainties affect the two statistics similarly; the differential biases are below a third of the statistical uncertainty, with the largest biases arising from intrinsic alignment and baryonic feedback. While this work is aimed at DES Y3, the tools developed can be applied to Stage-IV surveys where statistical errors will be much smaller.

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The WaZP galaxy cluster sample of the dark energy survey year 1

We present a new (2+1)D galaxy cluster finder based on photometric redshifts called Wavelet Z Photometric (WaZP) applied to DES first year (Y1A1) data. The results are compared to clusters detected by the South Pole Telescope (SPT) survey and the redMaPPer cluster finder, the latter based on the same photometric data. WaZP searches for clusters in wavelet-based density maps of galaxies selected in photometric redshift space without any assumption on the cluster galaxy populations. The comparison to other cluster samples was performed with a matching algorithm based on angular proximity and redshift difference of the clusters. It led to the development of a new approach to match two optical cluster samples, following an iterative approach to minimize incorrect associations. The WaZP cluster finder applied to DES Y1A1 galaxy survey (1511.13 deg^2 up to = 23 mag) led to the detection of 60 547 galaxy clusters with redshifts 0.05 < z < 0.9 and richness N_gals ≥ 5. Considering the overlapping regions and redshift ranges between the DES Y1A1 and SPT cluster surveys, all sz based SPT clusters are recovered by the WaZP sample. The comparison between WaZP and redMaPPer cluster samples showed an excellent overall agreement for clusters with richness N_gals (λ for redMaPPer) greater than 25 (20), with 95 per cent recovery on both directions. Based on the cluster cross-match, we explore the relative fragmentation of the two cluster samples and investigate the possible signatures of unmatched clusters.

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Milky Way Satellite Census. III. Constraints on Dark Matter Properties from Observations of Milky Way Satellite Galaxies

We perform a comprehensive study of Milky Way (MW) satellite galaxies to constrain the fundamental properties of dark matter (DM). This analysis fully incorporates inhomogeneities in the spatial distribution and detectability of MW satellites and marginalizes over uncertainties in the mapping between galaxies and DM halos, the properties of the MW system, and the disruption of subhalos by the MW disk. Our results are consistent with the cold, collisionless DM paradigm and yield the strongest cosmological constraints to date on particle models of warm, interacting, and fuzzy dark matter. At $95\%$ confidence, we report limits on (i) the mass of thermal relic warm DM, $m_{\rm WDM} > 6.5\ \mathrm{keV}$ (free-streaming length, $\lambda_{\rm{fs}} \lesssim 10\,h^{-1}\ \mathrm{kpc}$), (ii) the velocity-independent DM-proton scattering cross section, $\sigma_{0} < 8.8\times 10^{-29}\ \mathrm{cm}^{2}$ for a $100\ \mathrm{MeV}$ DM particle mass (DM-proton coupling, $c_p \lesssim (0.3\ \mathrm{GeV})^{-2}$), and (iii) the mass of fuzzy DM, $m_{\phi}> 2.9 \times 10^{-21}\ \mathrm{eV}$ (de Broglie wavelength, $\lambda_{\rm{dB}} \lesssim 0.5\ \mathrm{kpc}$). These constraints are complementary to other observational and laboratory constraints on DM properties.

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Cosmological constraints from DES Y1 cluster abundances and SPT multiwavelength data

We perform a joint analysis of the counts of redMaPPer clusters selected from the Dark Energy Survey (DES) year 1 data and multiwavelength follow-up data collected within the 2500 deg2 South Pole Telescope (SPT) Sunyaev-Zel’dovich (SZ) survey. The SPT follow-up data, calibrating the richness-mass relation of the optically selected redMaPPer catalog, enable the cosmological exploitation of the DES cluster abundance data. To explore possible systematics related to the modeling of projection effects, we consider two calibrations of the observational scatter on richness estimates: a simple Gaussian model which account only for the background contamination (BKG), and a model which further includes contamination and incompleteness due to projection effects (PRJ). Assuming either a ΛCDM+∑mν or wCDM+∑mν cosmology, and for both scatter models, we derive cosmological constraints consistent with multiple cosmological probes of the low and high redshift Universe, and in particular with the SPT cluster abundance data. This result demonstrates that the DES Y1 and SPT cluster counts provide consistent cosmological constraints, if the same mass calibration data set is adopted. It thus supports the conclusion of the DES Y1 cluster cosmology analysis which interprets the tension observed with other cosmological probes in terms of systematics affecting the stacked weak lensing analysis of optically selected low–richness clusters. Finally, we analyze the first combined optically SZ selected cluster catalog obtained by including the SPT sample above the maximum redshift probed by the DES Y1 redMaPPer sample (z=0.65). Besides providing a mild improvement of the cosmological constraints, this data combination serves as a stricter test of our scatter models: the PRJ model, providing scaling relations consistent between the two abundance and multiwavelength follow-up data, is favored over the BKG model.

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Dark Energy Survey Year 3 results: Optimizing the lens sample in a combined galaxy clustering and galaxy-galaxy lensing analysis

We investigate potential gains in cosmological constraints from the combination of galaxy clustering and galaxy-galaxy lensing by optimizing the lens galaxy sample selection using information from Dark Energy Survey (DES) Year 3 data and assuming the DES Year 1 metacalibration sample for the sources. We explore easily reproducible selections based on magnitude cuts in i-band as a function of (photometric) redshift, zphot, and benchmark the potential gains against those using the well-established redMaGiC [E. Rozo et al., Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc. 461, 1431 (2016)MNRAA40035-871110.1093/mnras/stw1281] sample. We focus on the balance between density and photometric redshift accuracy, while marginalizing over a realistic set of cosmological and systematic parameters. Our optimal selection, the MagLim sample, satisfies i<4zphot+18 and has ∼30% wider redshift distributions but ∼3.5 times more galaxies than redMaGiC. Assuming a wCDM model (i.e. with a free parameter for the dark energy equation of state) and equivalent scale cuts to mitigate nonlinear effects, this leads to 40% increase in the figure of merit for the pair combinations of Ωm, w, and σ8, and gains of 16% in σ8, 10% in Ωm, and 12% in w. Similarly, in ΛCDM, we find an improvement of 19% and 27% on σ8 and Ωm, respectively. We also explore flux-limited samples with a flat magnitude cut finding that the optimal selection, i<22.2, has ∼7 times more galaxies and ∼20% wider redshift distributions compared to MagLim, but slightly worse constraints. We show that our results are robust with respect to the assumed galaxy bias and photometric redshift uncertainties with only moderate further gains from increased number of tomographic bins or the inclusion of bin cross-correlations, except in the case of the flux-limited sample, for which these gains are more significant.

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Machine Learning for Searching the Dark Energy Survey for Trans-Neptunian Objects

In this paper we investigate how implementing machine learning could improve the efficiency of the search for Trans-Neptunian Objects (TNOs) within Dark Energy Survey (DES) data when used alongside orbit fitting. The discovery of multiple TNOs that appear to show a similarity in their orbital parameters has led to the suggestion that one or more undetected planets, an as yet undiscovered “Planet 9”, may be present in the outer solar system. DES is well placed to detect such a planet and has already been used to discover many other TNOs. Here, we perform tests on eight different supervised machine learning algorithms, using a data set consisting of simulated TNOs buried within real DES noise data. We found that the best performing classifier was the Random Forest which, when optimized, performed well at detecting the rare objects. We achieve an area under the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve, (AUC) = 0.996 ± 0.001. After optimizing the decision threshold of the Random Forest, we achieve a recall of 0.96 while maintaining a precision of 0.80. Finally, by using the optimized classifier to pre-select objects, we are able to run the orbit-fitting stage of our detection pipeline five times faster.

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Perturbation theory for modeling galaxy bias: validation with simulations of the Dark Energy Survey

We describe perturbation theory (PT) models of galaxy bias for applications to photometric galaxy surveys. We model the galaxy-galaxy and galaxy-matter correlation functions in configuration space and validate against measurements from mock catalogs designed for the Dark Energy Survey (DES). We find that an effective PT model with five galaxy bias parameters provides a good description of the 3D correlation functions above scales of 4 Mpc/$h$ and $z < 1$. Our tests show that at the projected precision of the DES-Year 3 analysis, two of the non-linear bias parameters can be fixed to their co-evolution values, and a third (the $k^2$ term for higher derivative bias) set to zero. The agreement is typically at the 2 percent level over scales of interest, which is the statistical uncertainty of our simulation measurements. To achieve this level of agreement, our {\it fiducial} model requires using the full non-linear matter power spectrum (rather than the 1-loop PT one). We also measure the relationship between the non-linear and linear bias parameters and compare them to their expected co-evolution values. We use these tests to motivate the galaxy bias model and scale cuts for the cosmological analysis of the Dark Energy Survey; our conclusions are generally applicable to all photometric surveys.

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Optical follow-up of gravitational wave triggers with DECam during the first two LIGO/VIRGO observing runs

Gravitational wave (GW) events detectable by LIGO and Virgo have several possible progenitors, including black hole mergers, neutron star mergers, black hole–neutron star mergers, supernovae, and cosmic string cusps. A subset of GW events is expected to produce electromagnetic (EM) emission that, once detected, will provide complementary information about their astrophysical context. To that end, the LIGO–Virgo Collaboration (LVC) sends GW candidate alerts to the astronomical community so that searches for their EM counterparts can be pursued. The DESGW group, consisting of members of the Dark Energy Survey (DES), the LVC, and other members of the astronomical community, uses the Dark Energy Camera (DECam) to perform a search and discovery program for optical signatures of LVC GW events. DESGW aims to use a sample of GW events as standard sirens for cosmology. Due to the short decay timescale of the expected EM counterparts and the need to quickly eliminate survey areas with no counterpart candidates, it is critical to complete the initial analysis of each night’s images as quickly as possible. We discuss our search area determination, imaging pipeline, and candidate selection processes. We review results from the DESGW program during the first two LIGO–Virgo observing campaigns and introduce other science applications that our pipeline enables.

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STRIDES: Spectroscopic and photometric characterization of the environment and effects of mass along the line of sight to the gravitational lenses DES J0408–5354 and WGD 2038–4008

In time-delay cosmography, three of the key ingredients are (1) determining the velocity dispersion of the lensing galaxy, (2) identifying galaxies and groups along the line of sight with sufficient proximity and mass to be included in the mass model, and (3) estimating the external convergence κ_ext from less massive structures that are not included in the mass model. We present results on all three of these ingredients for two time-delay lensed quad quasar systems, DES J0408–5354 and WGD 2038–4008 . We use the Gemini, Magellan, and VLT telescopes to obtain spectra to both measure the stellar velocity dispersions of the main lensing galaxies and to identify the line-of-sight galaxies in these systems. Next, we identify 10 groups in DES J0408–5354 and two groups in WGD 2038–4008 using a group-finding algorithm. We then identify the most significant galaxy and galaxy-group perturbers using the ‘flexion shift’ criterion. We determine the probability distribution function of the external convergence κ_ext for both of these systems based on our spectroscopy and on the DES-only multiband wide-field observations. Using weighted galaxy counts, calibrated based on the Millennium Simulation, we find that DES J0408–5354 is located in a significantly underdense environment, leading to a tight (width |$\sim 3{{\ \rm per\ cent}}$|⁠), negative-value κ_ext distribution. On the other hand, WGD 2038–4008 is located in an environment of close to unit density, and its low source redshift results in a much tighter κ_ext of |$\sim 1{{\ \rm per\ cent}}$|⁠, as long as no external shear constraints are imposed.

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The environment of Lyman break analogues (ELBA) survey: star-forming galaxies in small groups

ABSTRACT The environment of Lyman break analogues survey is an imaging survey of 33 deg2 of the southern sky. The survey was observed in u, g, r, and i bands with the Dark Energy Camera on the Blanco telescope. The main goal of this project is to investigate the environment of Lyman break analogues (LBAs) low-redshift (z ∼0.2) galaxies that are remarkably similar to typical star-forming galaxies at z ∼ 3. We explore whether the environment has any influence on the observed properties of these galaxies, providing valuable insight on the formation and evolution of galaxies over cosmic time. Using the nearest neighbour method, we measure the local density of each object ranging from small to large scales (clusters of galaxies). Comparing the environment around LBAs with that of the general galaxy population in the field, we conclude that LBAs, on average, populate denser regions at small scales, but are located in similar environment to other star-forming galaxies at larger cluster-like scales. This offers evidence that nearby encounters such as mergers may influence the star formation activity in LBAs, before infall on to larger galaxy clusters. We interpret this as an indication of galaxy pre-processing, in agreement with theoretical expectations for galaxies at z ∼ 2–3 where the gravitational interactions are more intense in early formation processes of these objects.

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μ⋆ masses: weak-lensing calibration of the Dark Energy Survey Year 1 redMaPPer clusters using stellar masses

ABSTRACT We present the weak-lensing mass calibration of the stellar-mass-based μ⋆ mass proxy for redMaPPer galaxy clusters in the Dark Energy Survey Year 1. For the first time, we are able to perform a calibration of μ⋆ at high redshifts, z > 0.33. In a blinded analysis, we use ∼6000 clusters split into 12 subsets spanning the ranges 0.1 ≤ z < 0.65 and μ⋆ up to ${\sim} 5.5 \times 10^{13} \, \mathrm{M}_{\odot }$, and infer the average masses of these subsets through modelling of their stacked weak-lensing signal. In our model, we account for the following sources of systematic uncertainty: shear measurement and photometric redshift errors, miscentring, cluster-member contamination of the source sample, deviations from the Navarro–Frenk–White halo profile, halo triaxiality, and projection effects. We use the inferred masses to estimate the joint mass–μ⋆–z scaling relation given by $\langle M_{200c} | \mu _{\star },z \rangle = M_0 (\mu _{\star }/5.16\times 10^{12} \, \mathrm{M_{\odot }})^{F_{\mu _{\star }}} ((1+z)/1.35)^{G_z}$. We find $M_0= (1.14 \pm 0.07) \times 10^{14} \, \mathrm{M_{\odot }}$ with $F_{\mu _{\star }}= 0.76 \pm 0.06$ and Gz = −1.14 ± 0.37. We discuss the use of μ⋆ as a complementary mass proxy to the well-studied richness λ for: (i) exploring the regimes of low z, λ < 20 and high λ, z ∼ 1; and (ii) testing systematics such as projection effects for applications in cluster cosmology.

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Dark Energy Survey Year 3 results: cosmology with moments of weak lensing mass maps – validation on simulations

ABSTRACT We present a simulated cosmology analysis using the second and third moments of the weak lensing mass (convergence) maps. The second moment, or variances, of the convergence as a function of smoothing scale contains information similar to standard shear two-point statistics. The third moment, or the skewness, contains additional non-Gaussian information. The analysis is geared towards the third year (Y3) data from the Dark Energy Survey (DES), but the methodology can be applied to other weak lensing data sets. We present the formalism for obtaining the convergence maps from the measured shear and for obtaining the second and third moments of these maps given partial sky coverage. We estimate the covariance matrix from a large suite of numerical simulations. We test our pipeline through a simulated likelihood analyses varying 5 cosmological parameters and 10 nuisance parameters and identify the scales where systematic or modelling uncertainties are not expected to affect the cosmological analysis. Our simulated likelihood analysis shows that the combination of second and third moments provides a 1.5 per cent constraint on S8 ≡ σ8(Ωm/0.3)0.5 for DES Year 3 data. This is 20 per cent better than an analysis using a simulated DES Y3 shear two-point statistics, owing to the non-Gaussian information captured by the inclusion of higher order statistics. This paper validates our methodology for constraining cosmology with DES Year 3 data, which will be presented in a subsequent paper.

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