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At least 325 records · Page 18

Impact of survey spatial variability on galaxy redshift distributions and the cosmological 3 × 2-point statistics for the Rubin Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST)

We investigate the impact of spatial survey non-uniformity on the galaxy redshift distributions for forthcoming data releases of the Rubin Observatory Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST). Specifically, we construct a mock photometry data set degraded by the Rubin OpSim observing conditions, and estimate photometric redshifts of the sample using a template-fitting photo-z estimator, BPZ, and a machine learning method, FlexZBoost. We select the Gold sample, defined as $i\lt 25.3$ for 10 yr LSST data, with an adjusted magnitude cut for each year and divide it into five tomographic redshift bins for the weak lensing lens and source samples. We quantify the change in the number of objects, mean redshift, and width of each tomographic bin as a function of the coadd i-band depth for 1-yr (Y1), 3-yr (Y3), and 5-yr (Y5) data. In particular, Y3 and Y5 have large non-uniformity due to the rolling cadence of LSST, hence provide a worst-case scenario of the impact from non-uniformity. We find that these quantities typically increase with depth, and the variation can be $10\!-\!40~{{\rm per\ cent}}$ at extreme depth values. Using Y3 as an example, we propagate the variable depth effect to the weak lensing $3\times 2$ pt analysis, and assess the impact on cosmological parameters via a Fisher forecast. We find that galaxy clustering is most susceptible to variable depth, and non-uniformity needs to be mitigated below 3 per cent to recover unbiased cosmological constraints. There is little impact on galaxy–shear and shear–shear power spectra, given the expected LSST Y3 noise.

cosmology↗

Maximum a posteriori Ly α estimator (MAPLE): band power and covariance estimation of the 3D Ly α forest power spectrum

We present a novel maximum a posteriori estimator to jointly estimate band powers and the covariance of the three-dimensional power spectrum (P3D) of Ly $\alpha$ forest flux fluctuations, called MAPLE. Our Wiener-filter based algorithm reconstructs a window-deconvolved P3D in the presence of complex survey geometries typical for Ly $\alpha$ surveys that are sparsely sampled transverse to and densely sampled along the line of sight. We demonstrate our method on idealized Gaussian random fields with two selection functions: (i) a sparse sampling of 30 background sources per square degree designed to emulate the current Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument; (ii) a dense sampling of 900 background sources per square degree emulating the upcoming Prime Focus Spectrograph Galaxy Evolution Survey. Our proof-of-principle shows promise, especially since the algorithm can be extended to marginalize jointly over nuisance parameters and contaminants, i.e. offsets introduced by continuum fitting. Our code is implemented in JAX and is publicly available on GitHub.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

Redshift-dependent RSD bias from intrinsic alignment with DESI Year 1 spectra

ABSTRACT We estimate the redshift-dependent, anisotropic clustering signal in the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) Year 1 Survey created by tidal alignments of Luminous Red Galaxies (LRGs) and a selection-induced galaxy orientation bias. To this end, we measured the correlation between LRG shapes and the tidal field with DESI’s Year 1 redshifts, as traced by LRGs and Emission-Line Galaxies. We also estimate the galaxy orientation bias of LRGs caused by DESI’s aperture-based selection, and find it to increase by a factor of seven between redshifts 0.4−1.1 due to redder, fainter galaxies falling closer to DESI’s imaging selection cuts. These effects combine to dampen measurements of the quadrupole of the correlation function (ξ2) caused by structure growth on scales of 10–80 h−1 Mpc by about 0.15 per cent for low redshifts (0.4 < z < 0.6) and 0.8 per cent for high (0.8 < z < 1.1), a significant fraction of DESI’s error budget. We provide estimates of the ξ2 signal created by intrinsic alignments that can be used to correct this effect, which is necessary to meet DESI’s forecasted precision on measuring the growth rate of structure. While imaging quality varies across DESI’s footprint, we find no significant difference in this effect between imaging regions in the Legacy Imaging Survey.

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Exploring the non-Gaussianity of the cosmic infrared background and its weak gravitational lensing

ABSTRACT Gravitational lensing deflects the paths of photons, altering the statistics of cosmic backgrounds and distorting their information content. We take the cosmic infrared background (CIB), which provides plentiful information about galaxy formation and evolution, as an example to probe the effect of lensing on non-Gaussian statistics. Using the Websky simulations, we first quantify the non-Gaussianity of the CIB, revealing additional detail on top of its well-measured power spectrum. To achieve this, we use needlet-like multipole-band filters to calculate the variance and higher-point correlations. Using our simulations, we show the two-, three- and four-point spectra, and compare our calculated power spectra and bispectra to Planck values. We then lens the CIB, shell-by-shell with corresponding convergence maps, to capture the broad redshift extent of both the CIB and its lensing convergence. The lensing of the CIB changes the three- and four-point functions by a few tens of per cent at large scales, unlike with the power spectrum, which changes by less than two per cent. We expand our analyses to encompass the full intensity probability distribution functions (PDFs) involving all n-point correlations as a function of scale. In particular, we use the relative entropy between lensed and unlensed PDFs to create a spectrum of templates that can allow estimation of lensing. The underlying CIB model is missing the important role of star bursting, which we test by adding a stochastic lognormal term to the intensity distributions. The novel aspects of our filtering and lensing pipeline should prove useful for any radiant background, including line intensity maps.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

Cluster cosmology without cluster finding

ABSTRACT We propose that observations of supermassive galaxies contain cosmological statistical constraining power similar to conventional cluster cosmology, and we provide promising indications that the associated systematic errors are comparably easier to control. We consider a fiducial spectroscopic and stellar mass complete sample of galaxies drawn from the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) and forecast how constraints on Ωm–σ8 from this sample will compare with those from number counts of clusters based on richness λ. At fixed number density, we find that massive galaxies offer similar constraints to galaxy clusters. However, a mass-complete galaxy sample from DESI has the potential to probe lower halo masses than standard optical cluster samples (which are typically limited to λ ≳ 20 and Mhalo ≳ 1013.5 M⊙ h−1); additionally, it is straightforward to cleanly measure projected galaxy clustering wp for such a DESI sample, which we show can substantially improve the constraining power on Ωm. We also compare the constraining power of M*-limited samples to those from larger but mass-incomplete samples [e.g. the DESI Bright Galaxy Survey (BGS) sample]; relative to a lower number density M*-limited samples, we find that a BGS-like sample improves statistical constraints by 60 per cent for Ωm and 40 per cent for σ8, but this uses small-scale information that will be harder to model for BGS. Our initial assessment of the systematics associated with supermassive galaxy cosmology yields promising results. The proposed samples have a ∼10 per cent satellite fraction, but we show that cosmological constraints may be robust to the impact of satellites. These findings motivate future work to realize the potential of supermassive galaxies to probe lower halo masses than richness-based clusters and to potentially avoid persistent systematics associated with optical cluster finding.

(cosmology): large-scale structure of Universe↗

FLAMINGO: combining kinetic SZ effect and galaxy–galaxy lensing measurements to gauge the impact of feedback on large-scale structure

Energetic feedback processes associated with accreting supermassive black holes can expel gas from massive haloes and significantly alter various measures of clustering on $\sim$Mpc scales, potentially biasing the values of cosmological parameters inferred from analyses of large-scale structure (LSS) if not modelled accurately. Here, we use the state-of-the-art FLAMINGO suite of cosmological hydrodynamical simulations to gauge the impact of feedback on large-scale structure by comparing to Planck + ACT stacking measurements of the kinetic Sunyaev–Zel’dovich (kSZ) effect of SDSS BOSS galaxies. We make careful like-with-like comparisons to the observations, aided by high precision KiDS and DES galaxy–galaxy lensing measurements of the BOSS galaxies to inform the selection of the simulated galaxies. In qualitative agreement with several recent studies using dark matter only simulations corrected for baryonic effects, we find that the kSZ effect measurements prefer stronger feedback than predicted by simulations which have been calibrated to reproduce the gas fractions of low redshift X-ray-selected groups and clusters. We find that the increased feedback can help to reduce the so-called $S_8$ tension between the observed and CMB-predicted clustering on small scales as probed by cosmic shear (although at the expense of agreement with the X-ray group measurements). However, the increased feedback is only marginally effective at reducing the reported offsets between the predicted and observed clustering as probed by the thermal SZ (tSZ) effect power spectrum and tSZ effect – weak lensing cross-spectrum, both of which are sensitive to higher halo masses than cosmic shear.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

Cosmology with galaxy–galaxy lensing on non-perturbative scales: emulation method and application to BOSS LOWZ

ABSTRACT We describe our non-linear emulation (i.e. interpolation) framework that combines the halo occupation distribution (HOD) galaxy bias model with N-body simulations of non-linear structure formation, designed to accurately predict the projected clustering and galaxy–galaxy lensing signals from luminous red galaxies in the redshift range 0.16 < z < 0.36 on comoving scales 0.6 < rp < 30 $h^{-1} \, \text{Mpc}$. The interpolation accuracy is ≲ 1–2 per cent across the entire physically plausible range of parameters for all scales considered. We correctly recover the true value of the cosmological parameter S8 = (σ8/0.8228)(Ωm/0.3107)0.6 from mock measurements produced via subhalo abundance matching (SHAM)-based light-cones designed to approximately match the properties of the SDSS LOWZ galaxy sample. Applying our model to Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (BOSS) Data Release 14 (DR14) LOWZ galaxy clustering and galaxy-shear cross-correlation measurements made with Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) Data Release 8 (DR8) imaging, we perform a prototype cosmological analysis marginalizing over wCDM cosmological parameters and galaxy HOD parameters. We obtain a 4.4 per cent measurement of S8 = 0.847 ± 0.037, in 3.5σ tension with the Planck cosmological results of 1.00 ± 0.02. We discuss the possibility of underestimated systematic uncertainties or astrophysical effects that could explain this discrepancy.

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Linear point and sound horizon as purely geometric standard rulers

The baryon acoustic oscillations feature (BAO) imprinted in the clustering correlation function is known to furnish us cosmic distance determinations that are independent of the cosmological-background model and the primordial perturbation parameters. These measurements can be accomplished rigorously by means of the purely geometric BAO methods. To date two different purely geometric BAO approaches have been proposed. The first exploits the linear-point standard ruler. The second, called correlation-function model-fitting, exploits the sound-horizon standard ruler. A key difference between them is that, when estimated from clustering data, the linear point makes use of a cosmological-model-independent procedure to extract the ratio of the ruler to the cosmic distance, while the correlation-function model-fitting relies on a phenomenological cosmological model for the correlation function. Nevertheless the two rulers need to be precisely defined independently of any specific observable (e.g., the BAO). We define the linear point and sound horizon and we fully characterize and compare the two rulers’ cosmological-parameter dependence. We find that they are both geometrical (i.e., independent of the primordial cosmological parameters) within the required accuracy, and that they have the same parameter dependence for a wide range of parameter values. We estimate the rulers’ best-fit values and errors, given the cosmological constraints obtained by the Planck Satellite team from their measurements of the cosmic microwave background temperature and polarization anisotropies. We do this for three different cosmological models encompassed by the purely geometric BAO methods. In each case we find that the relative errors of the two rulers coincide and they are insensitive to the assumed cosmological model. Interestingly both the linear point and the sound horizon shift by 0.5σ when we do not fix the spatial geometry to be flat in Λ CDM. Finally, this points toward a sensitivity of the rulers to different cosmological models when they are estimated from the cosmic microwave background.

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Perturbation theory models for LSST-era galaxy clustering: Tests with subpercent mock catalog measurements in Fourier and configuration space

Here, we analyze the clustering of galaxies using the z = 1.006 snapshot of the CosmoDC2 simulation, a high-fidelity synthetic galaxy catalog designed to validate analysis methods for the Vera C. Rubin Observatory Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST). We present sub-percent measurements of the galaxy auto-correlation and galaxy-dark matter cross correlations in Fourier space and configuration space for a magnitude-limited galaxy sample. At these levels of precision, the statistical errors of the measurement are comparable to the systematic effects present in the simulation and measurement procedure; nevertheless, using a hybrid-PT model, we are able to model non-linear galaxy bias with 0.5% precision up to scales of k max = 0.5 h/Mpc and r min = 4 Mpc/h. While the linear bias parameter is measured with 0.01% precision, other bias parameters are determined with considerably weaker constraints and sometimes bimodal posterior distributions. We compare our fiducial model with lower dimensional models where the higher-order bias parameters are fixed at their co-evolution values and find that leaving these parameters free provides significant improvements in our ability to model small scale information. We also compare bias parameters for galaxy samples defined using different magnitude bands and find agreement between samples containing equal numbers of galaxies. Finally, we compare bias parameters between Fourier space and configuration space and find moderate to significant tension between the two approaches. Although our model is often unable to fit the CosmoDC2 galaxy samples within the 0.1% precision of our measurements, our results suggest that the hybrid-PT model used in this analysis is capable of modeling non-linear galaxy bias within the percent level precision needed for upcoming galaxy surveys.

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Cosmological forecasts for future galaxy surveys with the linear point standard ruler: Toward consistent BAO analyses far from a fiducial cosmology

The linear point (LP) standard ruler was identified as the basis of a purely geometric method for exploiting the baryon acoustic oscillations (BAO). The LP exploits the BAO feature imprinted in the galaxy two-point correlation function to measure cosmological distances independent of any specific cosmological model. We forecast the expected precision of future and ongoing spectroscopic galaxy surveys to measure distances leveraging the linear point. We investigate the cosmological implications of our forecasted results. We focus in particular on a relevant working example: the detection of the late-time cosmic acceleration independent of other cosmological probes. Further, our findings show that, even within the Λ⁢CDM standard cosmological paradigm, estimated distances need to be reliable over a very wide parameter range in order to realize their maximum utility. This is particularly relevant if we aim to properly characterize cosmological tensions. The LP is a promising candidate approach to achieve this reliability. In contrast, widely employed procedures in BAO analysis estimate distances keeping fixed cosmological parameters to fiducial values close to cosmic-microwave-background constraints in flat-Λ⁢CDM. It is unclear whether they are purely geometric methods. Moreover, they rely on untested extrapolations to explore the parameter space away from those fiducial flat-Λ⁢CDM values. We recommend that all BAO methodologies be validated across the full range of models and parameters over which their results are quoted, first by means of linear predictions and then N -body simulations.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

Transitioning from Stage-III to Stage-IV: Cosmology from galaxy×CMB lensing and shear×CMB lensing (Final Report for Grant SC0021429 "Cosomology with Galaxy and CMB Surveys: Mitigating Systematic Effects Through Combining Datasets")

We examine the cosmological constraining power from two cross-correlation probes between galaxy and cosmic microwave background (CMB) surveys: the cross-correlation of lens galaxy density with CMB lensing convergence $\langle δ_g$$^κ\text{CMB}\rangle$, and source galaxy weak lensing shear with CMB lensing convergence $\langle^{γκ}$$_{\text{CMB}}\rangle$. These two cross-correlation probes provide an independent cross-check of other large-scale structure constraints and are insensitive to galaxy-only or CMB-only systematic effects. In addition, when combined with other large-scale structure probes, the cross-correlations can break degeneracies in cosmological and nuisance parameters, improving both the precision and robustness of the analysis. In this work, we study how the constraining power of $\langle δ_g$$^κ\text{CMB}\rangle + \langle^{γκ}$$_{\text{CMB}}\rangle$ changes from Stage-III (ongoing) to Stage-IV (future) surveys. Given the flexibility in selecting the lens galaxy sample, we also explore systematically the impact on cosmological constraints when we vary the redshift range and magnitude limit of the lens galaxies using mock galaxy catalogs. We find that in our setup, the contribution to cosmological constraints from $\langle δ_g$$^κ\text{CMB}\rangle$ and $\langle^{γκ}$$_{\text{CMB}}\rangle$ are comparable in the Stage-III data sets; but in Stage-IV surveys, the noise in$\langle δ_g$$^κ\text{CMB}\rangle$ becomes subdominant to cosmic variance, preventing $\langle δ_g$$^κ\text{CMB}\rangle$ to further improve the constraints. This implies that to maximize the cosmological constraints from future $\langle δ_g$$^κ\text{CMB}\rangle$ + $\langle^{γκ}$$_{\text{CMB}}\rangle$ analyses, we should focus more on the requirements on$^{γκ}$$_{\text{CMB}}\rangle$ instead of$\langle δ_g$$^κ\text{CMB}\rangle$. Furthermore, the selection of the lens sample should be optimized in terms of our ability to characterize its redshift or galaxy bias instead of its number density.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

Large-scale homogeneity in the distribution of quasars in the Hercules-Corona Borealis Great Wall region

In light of recent debates on the existence of a gigaparsec-scale structure traced by gamma-ray bursts, namely the Hercules-Corona Borealis Great Wall (HCBGW), we revisit large-scale homogeneity in the spatial distribution of quasars. Our volume-limited sample of quasars in the redshift range 1:6 < z ≤ 2:1, which is constructed from the data release 7 of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey quasar catalogue, covers about half of the suspected HCBGW region. We analyze the sample in two complementary ways: fractal analysis of determining the average scale of homogeneity and friends- of-friends analysis of identifying specific large-scale structures. The quasar distribution on average reaches homogeneity at rh = 136 ± 38h-1 Mpc and the richness and comoving size frequencies of large (> ~ 150h-1 Mpc) quasar groups are consistent with the prediction of homogeneous distribution. These results put constraints on the spatial extent of the HCBGW but do not contradict its existence since our quasar sample does not cover the entire HCBGW region.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

Clustering of LRGs in the DECaLS DR8 Footprint: Distance Constraints from Baryon Acoustic Oscillations Using Photometric Redshifts

A photometric redshift sample of luminous red galaxies (LRGs) obtained from the DECam Legacy Survey (DECaLS) is analyzed to probe cosmic distances by exploiting the wedge approach of the two-point correlation function. Although the cosmological information is highly contaminated by the uncertainties existing in the photometric redshifts from the galaxy map, an angular diameter distance can be probed at the perpendicular configuration in which the measured correlation function is minimally contaminated. An ensemble of wedged correlation functions selected up to a given threshold based on having the least contamination was studied in previous work (Sridhar & Song 2019) using simulations, and the extracted cosmological information was unbiased within this threshold. Furthermore, we apply the same methodology for analyzing the LRG sample from DECaLS, which will provide the optical imaging for targeting two-thirds of the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument footprint and measure the angular diameter distances at z = 0.69 and z = 0.87 to be D A (0.697) = (1529 ± 73 Mpe)(r d /r d.fid ) and D A (0.874) = (1674 ± 102 Mpe)(r d /r d.fid ) with a fractional error of 4.77% and 6.09%, respectively. We obtain a value of H 0 = 66.58 ± 5.31 km s -1 Mpc -1 , which supports the H 0 measured by all other baryon acoustic oscillation results and is consistent with the ΛCDM model.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

An Improved Measurement of the Secondary Cosmic Microwave Background Anisotropies from the SPT-SZ + SPTpol Surveys

We report new measurements of millimeter-wave power spectra in the angular multipole range 2000 ≤ ℓ ≤ 11,000 (angular scales ). By adding 95 and 150 GHz data from the low-noise 500 deg 2 SPTpol survey to the SPT-SZ three-frequency 2540 deg 2 survey, we substantially reduce the uncertainties in these bands. These power spectra include contributions from the primary cosmic microwave background, cosmic infrared background, radio galaxies, and thermal and kinematic Sunyaev–Zel'dovich (SZ) effects. The data favor a thermal SZ (tSZ) power at 143 GHz of and a kinematic SZ (kSZ) power of . This is the first measurement of kSZ power at ≥3 σ . However, different assumptions about the CIB or SZ models can reduce the significance down to 2.4 σ in the worst case. We study the implications of the measured kSZ power for the epoch of reionization under the Calabrese et al. model for the kSZ power spectrum and find the duration of reionization to be ( at 95% confidence), when combined with our previously published tSZ bispectrum measurement. The upper limit tightens to if the assumed homogeneous kSZ power is increased by 25% (~0.5 μ K 2 ) and relaxes to if the homogeneous kSZ power is decreased by the same amount.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

The Distribution of Ultrahigh-energy Cosmic Rays along the Supergalactic Plane Measured at the Pierre Auger Observatory

Ultrahigh-energy cosmic rays are known to be mainly of extragalactic origin, and their propagation is limited by energy losses, so their arrival directions are expected to correlate with the large-scale structure of the local Universe. In this work, we investigate the possible presence of intermediate-scale excesses in the flux of the most energetic cosmic rays from the direction of the supergalactic plane region using events with energies above 20 EeV recorded with the surface detector array of the Pierre Auger Observatory up to 2022 December 31, with a total exposure of 135,000 km 2 sr yr. The strongest indication for an excess that we find, with a posttrial significance of 3.1σ, is in the Centaurus region, as in our previous reports, and it extends down to lower energies than previously studied. We do not find any strong hints of excesses from any other region of the supergalactic plane at the same angular scale. In particular, our results do not confirm the reports by the Telescope Array Collaboration of excesses from two regions in the Northern Hemisphere at the edge of the field of view of the Pierre Auger Observatory. With a comparable integrated exposure over these regions, our results there are in good agreement with the expectations from an isotropic distribution.

Abdul Halim, A. [Univ. of Adelaide, SA (Australia)↗

The SPTpol Extended Cluster Survey

We describe the observations and resultant galaxy cluster catalog from the 2770 deg2 SPTpol Extended Cluster Survey (SPT-ECS). Clusters are identified via the Sunyaev–Zel'dovich (SZ) effect and confirmed with a combination of archival and targeted follow-up data, making particular use of data from the Dark Energy Survey (DES). With incomplete follow-up we have confirmed as clusters 244 of 266 candidates at a detection significance ξ ≥ 5 and an additional 204 systems at 4 < ξ < 5. The confirmed sample has a median mass of ${M}_{500c}\sim 4.4\times {10}^{14}\,{M}_{\odot }\,{h}_{70}^{-1}$ and a median redshift of z = 0.49, and we have identified 44 strong gravitational lenses in the sample thus far. Radio data are used to characterize contamination to the SZ signal; the median contamination for confirmed clusters is predicted to be ~1% of the SZ signal at the ξ > 4 threshold, and <4% of clusters have a predicted contamination >10% of their measured SZ flux. We associate SZ-selected clusters, from both SPT-ECS and the SPT-SZ survey, with clusters from the DES redMaPPer sample, and we find an offset distribution between the SZ center and central galaxy in general agreement with previous work, though with a larger fraction of clusters with significant offsets. Adopting a fixed Planck-like cosmology, we measure the optical richness–SZ mass ($\lambda -M$) relation and find it to be 28% shallower than that from a weak-lensing analysis of the DES data—a difference significant at the 4σ level—with the relations intersecting at λ = 60. The SPT-ECS cluster sample will be particularly useful for studying the evolution of massive clusters and, in combination with DES lensing observations and the SPT-SZ cluster sample, will be an important component of future cosmological analyses.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

The Atacama Cosmology Telescope: A Catalog of >4000 Sunyaev–Zel’dovich Galaxy Clusters

Here, we present a catalog of 4195 optically confirmed Sunyaev–Zel’dovich (SZ) selected galaxy clusters detected with signal-to-noise ratio >4 in 13,211 deg 2 of sky surveyed by the Atacama Cosmology Telescope (ACT). Cluster candidates were selected by applying a multifrequency matched filter to 98 and 150 GHz maps constructed from ACT observations obtained from 2008 to 2018 and confirmed using deep, wide-area optical surveys. The clusters span the redshift range 0.04 < z < 1.91 (median z = 0.52). The catalog contains 222 z > 1 clusters, and a total of 868 systems are new discoveries. Assuming an SZ signal versus mass-scaling relation calibrated from X-ray observations, the sample has a 90% completeness mass limit of M 500 c > 3.8 × 10 14 M ⊙ , evaluated at z = 0.5, for clusters detected at signal-to-noise ratio >5 in maps filtered at an angular scale of 2.'4. The survey has a large overlap with deep optical weak-lensing surveys that are being used to calibrate the SZ signal mass-scaling relation, such as the Dark Energy Survey (4566 deg 2 ), the Hyper Suprime-Cam Subaru Strategic Program (469 deg 2 ), and the Kilo Degree Survey (825 deg 2 ). We highlight some noteworthy objects in the sample, including potentially projected systems, clusters with strong lensing features, clusters with active central galaxies or star formation, and systems of multiple clusters that may be physically associated. The cluster catalog will be a useful resource for future cosmological analyses and studying the evolution of the intracluster medium and galaxies in massive clusters over the past 10 Gyr.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

Cavitation model of the inflationary stage of Big Bang

In this study, we propose a model for the initial stage of the development of the universe analogous to cavitation in a liquid in a negative pressure field. It is assumed that at the stage of inflation, multiple breaks of the metric occur with the formation of areas of physical vacuum in which the generation of matter occurs. The proposed model explains the large-scale isotropy of the universe without ultrafast inflationary expansion and the emergence of a large-scale cellular (cluster) structure, as a result of the development of cavitation ruptures of a false vacuum. It is shown that the cavitation model can be considered on par with (or as an alternative to) the generally accepted inflationary multiverse model of the Big Bang.

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