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Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

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All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2023

Noise analysis for the Sorkin and Peres tests performed on a quantum computer

We use quantum computers to test the foundations of quantum mechanics through quantum algorithms that implement some of the experimental tests as the basis of the theory's postulates. These algorithms can be used as a test of the physical theory under the premise of a perfect hardware or as a test of the hardware under the premise that quantum theory is correct. In this paper, we show how the algorithms can be used to test the efficacy of a quantum computer in obeying the postulates of quantum mechanics. We study the effect of different types of errors on the results of experimental tests of the postulates. A salient feature of this error analysis is that it is deeply rooted in the fundamentals of quantum mechanics as it highlights how systematic errors affect the quantumness of the quantum computer.

Sadana, Simanraj↗
DOE OSTI2018

Improved RF measurements of SRF cavity quality factors

SRF cavity quality factors can be accurately measured using RF-power based techniques only when the cavity is very close to critically coupled. This limitation is from systematic errors driven by non-ideal RF components. When the cavity is not close to critically coupled, these systematic effects limit the accuracy of the measurements. The combination of the complex base-band envelopes of the cavity RF signals in combination with a trombone in the circuit allow the relative calibration of the RF signals to be extracted from the data and systematic effects to be characterized and suppressed. The improved calibration allows accurate measurements to be made over a much wider range of couplings. Demonstration of these techniques during testing of a single-spoke resonator with a coupling factor of near 7 will be presented, along with recommendations for application of these techniques.

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗
NASA NTRS2007

Tunable Antireflection Layers for Planar Bolometer Arrays

It remains a challenge to obtain high-efficiency coupling of far-infrared through millimeter radiation to large-format detector arrays. The conventional approach of increasing detector coupling is to use reflective backshorts. However, this approach often results in excessive systematic errors resulting from reflections off the backshort edge. An alternate approach to both increasing quantum efficiency and reducing systematics associated with stray light is to place an antireflective coating near the front surface of the array. When incorporated with a resistive layer and placed behind the detector focal plane, the AR coating can serve to prevent optical ghosting by capturing radiation transmitted through the detector. By etching a hexagonal pattern in silicon, in which the sizes of the hexes are smaller than the wavelength of incident radiation, it is possible to fabricate a material that has a controllable dielectric constant, thereby allowing for simple tunable optical device fabrication. To this end, we have fabricated and tested tunable silicon "honeycomb" AR layers and AR/resistive layer devices. These devices were fabricated entirely out of silicon in order to eliminate problems associated with differential contraction upon detector cooling.

Brown, Ari-David↗
NASA NTRS2017

Detection of the Pairwise Kinematic Sunyaev-Zel'dovich Effect with BOSS DR11 and the Atacama Cosmology Telescope

We present a new measurement of the kinematic Sunyaev-Zel'dovich effect using data from the Atacama Cosmology Telescope (ACT) and the Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (BOSS). Using 600 square degrees of overlapping sky area, we evaluate the mean pairwise baryon momentum associated with the positions of 50,000 bright galaxies in the BOSS DR11 Large Scale Structure catalog. A non-zero signal arises from the large-scale motions of halos containing the sample galaxies. The data fits an analytical signal model well, with the optical depth to microwave photon scattering as a free parameter determining the overall signal amplitude. We estimate the covariance matrix of the mean pairwise momentum as a function of galaxy separation, using microwave sky simulations, jackknife evaluation, and bootstrap estimates. The most conservative simulation-based errors give signal-to-noise estimates between 3.6 and 4.1 for varying galaxy luminosity cuts. We discuss how the other error determinations can lead to higher signal-to-noise values, and consider the impact of several possible systematic errors. Estimates of the optical depth from the average thermal Sunyaev-Zel'dovich signal at the sample galaxy positions are broadly consistent with those obtained from the mean pairwise momentum signal.

De Bernardis, F.↗
DOE OSTI2017

H0LiCOW – II. Spectroscopic survey and galaxy-group identification of the strong gravitational lens system HE 0435-1223

Galaxies located in the environment or on the line of sight towards gravitational lenses can significantly affect lensing observables, and can lead to systematic errors on the measurement of H 0 from the time-delay technique. We present the results of a systematic spectroscopic identi cation of the galaxies in the field of view of the lensed quasar HE0435-1223 using the W. M. Keck, Gemini and ESO-Very Large telescopes. Our new catalog triples the number of known galaxy redshifts in the direct vicinity of the lens, expanding to 102 the number of measured redshifts for galaxies separated by less than 30 from the lens. We complement our catalog with literature data to gather redshifts up to 150 from the lens, and search for galaxy groups or clusters projected towards HE0435-1223. We con rm that the lens is a member of a small group that includes at least 12 galaxies, and nd 8 other group candidates near the line of sight of the lens. The flexion shift, namely the shift of lensed images produced by high order perturbation of the lens potential, is calculated for each galaxy/group and used to identify which objects produce the largest perturbation of the lens potential. This analysis demonstrates that i) at most three of the five brightest galaxies projected within 1200 of the lens need to be explicitly used in the lens models, and ii) the groups can be treated in the lens model as an external tidal field (shear) contribution.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2025

Systematic uncertainties in the measurement of the neutron lifetime using the Lunar Prospector neutron spectrometer

The lifetime of free neutrons measured in the laboratory has a longstanding disparity of ≈9 s. A space-based technique has recently been proposed to independently measure the neutron lifetime using interactions between the galactic cosmic rays and a low atmosphere planetary body. This technique has not produced competitive results yet due to constraints of nonoptimized data that contain large systematic errors. We use data from the neutron spectrometer on-board NASA's Lunar Prospector, and study two large systematics in the measurement of neutron lifetime: the lunar subsurface temperature and the lunar surface composition. We use the HeCd and HeSn neutron spectrometer data when the spacecraft was in a highly elliptical orbit during the orbit insertion period. We report the neutron lifetime using four different models that each have different choices of surface temperature and composition. The 5° [Prettyman et al ., J. Geophys. Res.: Planets 111, 2005JE002656 (2006)] and 2° [Wilson et al., Phys. Rev. C 104, 045501 (2021)] rebinned maps result in 777.6±11.7 s and 739.6±10.8 s, respectively. For the 20° map (Prettyman et al., 2006), constant equatorial and a latitude-dependent temperature model result in 738.6±10.8 s and 767.3±11.2 s, respectively. Increasing the complexities of the models accounting for the systematic effects increase the measured lifetime. However, the reported measurements are not competitive with the laboratory results due to large unaccounted systematics resulting from nonoptimized measurements and modeling assumptions. This work serves as a study of systematic uncertainties for future neutron lifetime measurements using the space-based technique. We estimate the effect on the lifetime from the choice of temperature model to be to be 28.7 ±15.5 s, and choice of compositional map (for 20° and 5° maps) to be 10.3 ±12.2 s.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2014

TU-C-BRE-08: IMRT QA: Selecting Meaningful Gamma Criteria Based On Error Detection Sensitivity

Purpose: To develop a strategy for defining meaningful tolerance limits and studying the sensitivity of IMRT QA gamma criteria by inducing known errors in QA plans. Methods: IMRT QA measurements (ArcCHECK, Sun Nuclear) were compared to QA plan calculations with induced errors. Many (>24) gamma comparisons between data and calculations were performed for each of several kinds of cases and classes of induced error types with varying magnitudes (e.g. MU errors ranging from -10% to +10%), resulting in over 3,000 comparisons. Gamma passing rates for each error class and case were graphed against error magnitude to create error curves in order to represent the range of missed errors in routine IMRT QA using various gamma criteria. Results: This study demonstrates that random, case-specific, and systematic errors can be detected by the error curve analysis. Depending on location of the peak of the error curve (e.g., not centered about zero), 3%/3mm threshold=10% criteria may miss MU errors of up to 10% and random MLC errors of up to 5 mm. Additionally, using larger dose thresholds for specific devices may increase error sensitivity (for the same X%/Ymm criteria) by up to a factor of two. This analysis will allow clinics to select more meaningful gamma criteria based on QA device, treatment techniques, and acceptable error tolerances. Conclusion: We propose a strategy for selecting gamma parameters based on the sensitivity of gamma criteria and individual QA devices to induced calculation errors in QA plans. Our data suggest large errors may be missed using conventional gamma criteria and that using stricter criteria with an increased dose threshold may reduce the range of missed errors. This approach allows quantification of gamma criteria sensitivity and is straightforward to apply to other combinations of devices and treatment techniques.

60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES↗
NASA NTRS1990

Critical exponent for the viscosity of carbon dioxide and xenon

The viscosities of carbon dioxide and xenon have been measured near their critical points and the critical exponent y characterizing the asymptotic divergence has been determined. Both fluids yielded exponents in the range y = 0.041 + or - 0.001 and thus also fell in the range y = 0.042 + or - 0.002 from an earlier study of four binary liquids. This agreement between experiments is the first evidence that pure fluids and binary liquids are in the same dynamic universality class. A recent theoretical value for y is 0.032. The 30 percent discrepancy is much greater than the combined errors from experiment and theory. The torsion oscillator viscometer operated at low frequency and low shear rate to avoid systematic errors caused by critical slowing down. Far from T(c) the analysis accounted for the crossover from critical to noncritical temperature dependence, where the latter was obtained from previously published correlations. Corrections for gravitational stratification were included close to T(c).

Berg, R. F.↗
NASA NTRS2012

The Effect of Geocenter Motion on Jason-2 Orbits and the Mean Sea Level

We compute a series of Jason-2 GPS and SLR/DORIS-based orbits using ITRF2005 and the std0905 standards (Lemoine et al. 2010). Our GPS and SLR/DORIS orbit data sets span a period of 2 years from cycle 3 (July 2008) to cycle 74 (July 2010). We extract the Jason-2 orbit frame translational parameters per cycle by the means of a Helmert transformation between a set of reference orbits and a set of test orbits. We compare the annual terms of these time-series to the annual terms of two different geocenter motion models where biases and trends have been removed. Subsequently, we include the annual terms of the modeled geocenter motion as a degree-1 loading displacement correction to the GPS and SLR/DORIS tracking network of the POD process. Although the annual geocenter motion correction would reflect a stationary signal in time, under ideal conditions, the whole geocenter motion is a non-stationary process that includes secular trends. Our results suggest that our GSFC Jason-2 GPS-based orbits are closely tied to the center of mass (CM) of the Earth consistent with our current force modeling, whereas GSFC's SLR/DORIS-based orbits are tied to the origin of ITRF2005, which is the center of figure (CF) for sub-secular scales. We quantify the GPS and SLR/DORIS orbit centering and how this impacts the orbit radial error over the globe, which is assimilated into mean sea level (MSL) error, from the omission of the annual term of the geocenter correction. We find that for the SLR/DORIS std0905 orbits, currently used by the oceanographic community, only the negligence of the annual term of the geocenter motion correction results in a 4.67 plus or minus 3.40 mm error in the Z-component of the orbit frame which creates 1.06 plus or minus 2.66 mm of systematic error in the MSL estimates, mainly due to the uneven distribution of the oceans between the North and South hemisphere.

Melachroinos, S. A.↗
DOE OSTI2019

Performance of Laser-Based Electronic Devices for Structural Analysis of Amazonian Terra-Firme Forests

Tropical vegetation biomass represents a key component of the carbon stored in global forest ecosystems. Estimates of aboveground biomass commonly rely on measurements of tree size (diameter and height) and then indirectly relate, via allometric relationships and wood density, to biomass sampled from a relatively small number of harvested and weighed trees. Recently, however, novel in situ remote sensing techniques have been proposed, which may provide nondestructive alternative approaches to derive biomass estimates. Nonetheless, we still lack knowledge of the measurement uncertainties, as both the calibration and validation of estimates using different techniques and instruments requires consistent assessment of the underlying errors. To that end, we investigate different approaches estimating the tropical aboveground biomass in situ. We quantify the total and systematic errors among measurements obtained from terrestrial light detection and ranging (LiDAR), hypsometer-based trigonometry, and traditional forest inventory. We show that laser-based estimates of aboveground biomass are in good agreement (<10% measurement uncertainty) with traditional measurements. However, relative uncertainties vary among the allometric equations based on the vegetation parameters used for parameterization. We report the error metrics for measurements of tree diameter and tree height and discuss the consequences for estimated biomass. Despite methodological differences detected in this study, we conclude that laser-based electronic devices could complement conventional measurement techniques, thereby potentially improving estimates of tropical vegetation biomass.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
NASA NTRS2003

Variational Continuous Assimilation of TMI and SSM/I Rain Rates: Impact on GEOS-3 Hurricane Analyses and Forecasts

We describe a variational continuous assimilation (VCA) algorithm for assimilating tropical rainfall data using moisture and temperature tendency corrections as the control variable to offset model deficiencies. For rainfall assimilation, model errors are of special concern since model-predicted precipitation is based on parameterized moist physics, which can have substantial systematic errors. This study examines whether a VCA scheme using the forecast model as a weak constraint offers an effective pathway to precipitation assimilation. The particular scheme we exarnine employs a '1+1' dimension precipitation observation operator based on a 6-h integration of a column model of moist physics from the Goddard Earth Observing System (GEOS) global data assimilation system DAS). In earlier studies, we tested a simplified version of this scheme and obtained improved monthly-mean analyses and better short-range forecast skills. This paper describes the full implementation ofthe 1+1D VCA scheme using background and observation error statistics, and examines how it may improve GEOS analyses and forecasts of prominent tropical weather systems such as hurricanes. Parallel assimilation experiments with and without rainfall data for Hurricanes Bonnie and Floyd show that assimilating 6-h TMI and SSM/I surfice rain rates leads to more realistic storm features in the analysis, which, in turn, provide better initial conditions for 5-day storm track prediction and precipitation forecast. These results provide evidence that addressing model deficiencies in moisture tendency may be crucial to making effective use of precipitation information in data assimilation.

Hou, Arthur Y.↗
NASA NTRS2007

A Scanning Hartmann Focus Test for the EUVI Telescopes aboard STEREO

The Solar TErrestrial RElations Observatory (STEREO), the third mission in NASA's Solar Terrestrial Probes program, was launched in 2006 on a two year mission to study solar phenomena. STEREO consists of two nearly identical satellites, each carrying an Extreme Ultraviolet Imager (EUVI) telescope as part of the Sun Earth Connection Coronal and Heliospheric Investigation instrument suite. EUVI is a normal incidence, 98mm diameter, Ritchey-Chretien telescope designed to obtain wide field of view images of the Sun at short wavelengths (17.1-30.4nm) using a CCD detector. The telescope entrance aperture is divided into four quadrants by a mask near the secondary mirror spider veins. A mechanism that rotates another mask allows only one of these sub-apertures to accept light over an exposure. The EUVI contains no focus mechanism. Mechanical models predict a difference in telescope focus between ambient integration conditions and on-orbit operation. We describe an independent check of the ambient, ultraviolet, absolute focus setting of the EUVI telescopes after they were integrated with their respective spacecraft. A scanning Hartmann-like test design resulted from constraints implied by the EUVI aperture select mechanism. This inexpensive test was simultaneously coordinated with other NASA integration and test activities in a high-vibration, clean room environment. The total focus test error was required to be better than +/-0.05 mm. We describe the alignment and test procedure, sources of statistical and systematic error, and then the focus determination results using various algorithms. The results are consistent with other tests of focus alignment and indicate that the EUVI telescopes meet the ambient focus offset requirements. STEREO is functioning well on-orbit and the EUVI telescopes meet their on-orbit image quality requirements.

Ohl, Ray↗
DOE OSTI2015

Evaluation of in vivo quantification accuracy of the Ingenuity-TF PET/MR

Purpose: The quantitative accuracy of standardized uptake values (SUVs) and tracer kinetic uptake parameters in patient investigations strongly depends on accurate determination of regional activity concentrations in positron emission tomography (PET) data. This determination rests on the assumption that the given scanner calibration is valid in vivo. In a previous study, we introduced a method to test this assumption. This method allows to identify discrepancies in quantitative accuracy in vivo by comparison of activity concentrations of urine samples measured in a well-counter with activity concentrations extracted from PET images of the bladder. In the present study, we have applied this method to the Philips Ingenuity-TF PET/MR since at the present stage, absolute quantitative accuracy of combined PET/MR systems is still under investigation. Methods: Twenty one clinical whole-body F18-FDG scans were included in this study. The bladder region was imaged as the last bed position and urine samples were collected afterward. PET images were reconstructed including MR-based attenuation correction with and without truncation compensation and 3D regions-of-interest (ROIs) of the bladder were delineated by three observers. To exclude partial volume effects, ROIs were concentrically shrunk by 8–10 mm. Then, activity concentrations were determined in the PET images for the bladder and for the urine by measuring the samples in a calibrated well-counter. In addition, linearity measurements of SUV vs singles rate and measurements of the stability of the coincidence rate of “true” events of the PET/MR system were performed over a period of 4 months. Results: The measured in vivo activity concentrations were significantly lower in PET/MR than in the well-counter with a ratio of the former to the latter of 0.756 ± 0.060 (mean ± std. dev.), a range of 0.604–0.858, and a P value of 3.9 ⋅ 10{sup −14}. While the stability measurements of the coincidence rate of “true” events showed no relevant deviation over time, the linearity scans revealed a systematic error of 8%–11% (avg. 9%) for the range of singles rates present in the bladder scans. After correcting for this systematic bias caused by shortcomings of the manufacturers calibration procedure, the PET to well-counter ratio increased to 0.832 ± 0.064 (0.668 –0.941), P = 1.1 ⋅ 10{sup −10}. After compensating for truncation of the upper extremities in the MR-based attenuation maps, the ratio further improved to 0.871 ± 0.069 (0.693–0.992), P = 3.9 ⋅ 10{sup −8}. Conclusions: Our results show that the Philips PET/MR underestimates activity concentrations in the bladder by 17%, which is 7 percentage points (pp.) larger than in the previously investigated PET and PET/CT systems. We attribute this increased underestimation to remaining limitations of the MR-based attenuation correction. Our results suggest that only a 2 pp. larger underestimation of activity concentrations compared to PET/CT can be observed if compensation of attenuation truncation of the upper extremities is applied. Thus, quantification accuracy of the Philips Ingenuity-TF PET/MR can be considered acceptable for clinical purposes given the ±10% error margin in the EANM guidelines. The comparison of PET images from the bladder region with urine samples has proven a useful method. It might be interesting for evaluation and comparison of the in vivo quantitative accuracy of PET, PET/CT, and especially PET/MR systems from different manufacturers or in multicenter trials.

60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2018

Methodical Aspects of the Determination of Carbon Dioxide in Atmosphere Using FTIR Spectroscopy

Monitoring the state of ground-based spectroscopic systems ensures high accuracy of atmospheric gas composition measurements and the possibility of using measurement data for validating satellite measurements and numerical models. Column-averaged carbon dioxide mixing ratios (XCO{sub 2}) can be used to assess the quality of spectroscopic measurements because its content is stable in the atmosphere. The XCO{sub 2} values were retrieved from spectra measured by Fourier transform IR spectrometry (FTIR) using a Bruker 125HR instrument between 2009 and 2017 at the Peterhof station (St. Petersburg, Russia). The total error of the FTIR CO{sub 2} columns retrieval was 4.18 ± 0.02%, with 0.36 ± 0.06% and 4.16 ± 0.02% for random and systematic errors, respectively. The data obtained are compared with model calculations based on long-term observations at the Mauna Loa station. Various schemes solving for the inverse problem were analyzed and compared among themselves, and estimates of empirical random errors in the determination of XCO{sub 2} were obtained. To improve the accuracy of XCO{sub 2} measurements, it is recommended to determine the error of the Fourier-spectrometer phase and the slope of the zero line of the spectrum simultaneously with the atmospheric gas composition measurements taking into account various continuum sources of error.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2022

Polarization angle requirements for CMB B-mode experiments. Application to the LiteBIRD satellite

A methodology to provide the polarization angle requirements for different sets of detectors, at a given frequency of a CMB polarization experiment, is presented. The uncertainties in the polarization angle of each detector set are related to a given bias on the tensor-to-scalar ratio r parameter. The approach is grounded in using a linear combination of the detector sets to obtain the CMB polarization signal. In addition, assuming that the uncertainties on the polarization angle are in the small angle limit (lower than a few degrees), it is possible to derive analytic expressions to establish the requirements. The methodology also accounts for possible correlations among detectors, that may originate from the optics, wafers, etc. The approach is applied to the LiteBIRD space mission. We show that, for the most restrictive case (i.e., full correlation of the polarization angle systematics among detector sets), the requirements on the polarization angle uncertainties are of around 1 arcmin at the most sensitive frequency bands (i.e., ≈ 150 GHz) and of few tens of arcmin at the lowest (i.e., ≈ 40 GHz) and highest (i.e., ≈ 400 GHz) observational bands. Conversely, for the least restrictive case (i.e., no correlation of the polarization angle systematics among detector sets), the requirements are ≈ 5 times less restrictive than for the previous scenario. At the global and the telescope levels, polarization angle knowledge of a few arcmins is sufficient for correlated global systematic errors and can be relaxed by a factor of two for fully uncorrelated errors in detector polarization angle. The reported uncertainty levels are needed in order to have the bias on r due to systematics below the limit established by the LiteBIRD collaboration.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2025

Dark Energy Survey Year 6 Results: Point-Spread Function Modeling

We present the point-spread function (PSF) modeling for weak lensing shear measurement using the full six years of the Dark Energy Survey (DES Y6) data. We review the PSF estimation procedure using the PIFF (PSFs In the Full FOV) software package and describe the key improvements made to PIFF and modeling diagnostics since the DES year three (Y3) analysis: (i) use of external Gaia and infrared photometry catalogs to ensure higher purity of the stellar sample used for model fitting, (ii) addition of color-dependent PSF modeling, the first for any weak lensing analysis, and (iii) inclusion of model diagnostics inspecting fourth-order moments, which can bias weak lensing measurements to a similar degree as second-order modeling errors. Through a comprehensive set of diagnostic tests, we demonstrate the improved accuracy of the Y6 models evident in significantly smaller systematic errors than those of the Y3 analysis, in which all g band data were excluded due to insufficiently accurate PSF models. For the Y6 weak lensing analysis, we include g band photometry data in addition to the riz bands, providing a fourth band for photometric redshift estimation. Looking forward to the next generation of wide-field surveys, we describe several ongoing improvements to PIFF, which will be the default PSF modeling software for weak lensing analyses for the Vera C. Rubin Observatory’s Legacy Survey of Space and Time.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗
NASA NTRS1996

Estimating Engine Airflow in Gas-Turbine Powered Aircraft with Clean and Distorted Inlet Flows

The P404-GF-400 Powered F/A-18A High Alpha Research Vehicle (HARV) was used to examine the impact of inlet-generated total-pressure distortion on estimating levels of engine airflow. Five airflow estimation methods were studied. The Reference Method was a fan corrected airflow to fan corrected speed calibration from an uninstalled engine test. In-flight airflow estimation methods utilized the average, or individual, inlet duct static- to total-pressure ratios, and the average fan-discharge static-pressure to average inlet total-pressure ratio. Correlations were established at low distortion conditions for each method relative to the Reference Method. A range of distorted inlet flow conditions were obtained from -10 deg. to +60 deg. angle of attack and -7 deg. to +11 deg. angle of sideslip. The individual inlet duct pressure ratio correlation resulted in a 2.3 percent airflow spread for all distorted flow levels with a bias error of -0.7 percent. The fan discharge pressure ratio correlation gave results with a 0.6 percent airflow spread with essentially no systematic error. Inlet-generated total-pressure distortion and turbulence had no significant impact on the P404-GE400 engine airflow pumping. Therefore, a speed-flow relationship may provide the best airflow estimate for a specific engine under all flight conditions.

Williams, J. G.↗
DOE OSTI2022

The DESI N -body simulation project – I. Testing the robustness of simulations for the DESI dark time survey

ABSTRACT Analysis of large galaxy surveys requires confidence in the robustness of numerical simulation methods. The simulations are used to construct mock galaxy catalogues to validate data analysis pipelines and identify potential systematics. We compare three N-body simulation codes, abacus, gadget-2, and swift, to investigate the regimes in which their results agree. We run N-body simulations at three different mass resolutions, 6.25 × 108, 2.11 × 109, and 5.00 × 109 h−1 M⊙, matching phases to reduce the noise within the comparisons. We find systematic errors in the halo clustering between different codes are smaller than the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) statistical error for $s\ \gt\ 20\ h^{-1}$ Mpc in the correlation function in redshift space. Through the resolution comparison we find that simulations run with a mass resolution of 2.1 × 109 h−1 M⊙ are sufficiently converged for systematic effects in the halo clustering to be smaller than the DESI statistical error at scales larger than $20\ h^{-1}$ Mpc. These findings show that the simulations are robust for extracting cosmological information from large scales which is the key goal of the DESI survey. Comparing matter power spectra, we find the codes agree to within 1 per cent for k ≤ 10 h Mpc−1. We also run a comparison of three initial condition generation codes and find good agreement. In addition, we include a quasi-N-body code, FastPM, since we plan use it for certain DESI analyses. The impact of the halo definition and galaxy–halo relation will be presented in a follow-up study.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗