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At least 91 records · Page 5

New H(z) Measurement at Redshift = 0.12 with DESI Data Release 1

The Hubble parameter (H(z)) is a function of the redshift and a reliable measurement is very important to understand the expansion history of the Universe. In this work, we perform full-spectrum fitting using BAGPIPES on more than four thousand massive, passively evolving galaxies released by the DESI collaboration to estimate their cosmological-independent stellar ages and star formation histories, and derive a new measurement of H(z = 0.12) = 71.33 ± 4.20 km s −1 Mpc −1 , which is well consistent with those derived in other ways.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

Redshifting the Cosmological Constant in Unimodular Gravity via Nonlinear Quantum Mechanics

The cosmological constant problem represents a profound conflict between quantum field theory and general relativity. Unimodular gravity offers a compelling starting point by de-gravitating the vacuum energy of the Standard Model, but this framework traditionally trades the problem of vacuum energy for a fine-tuning of initial conditions, which manifest as a ``shadow" cosmological constant. In this paper, we resolve this initial conditions problem by proposing a novel modification to gravity based on nonlinear quantum mechanics. We introduce specific state-dependent terms to the Hamiltonian, constructed from expectation values of the metric such as the average Ricci scalar. These terms alter the dynamical equations of gravity such that the shadow energy density associated with unconstrained initial conditions redshifts away with cosmic expansion, rendering it negligible at late times. The resulting cosmology is naturally dominated by matter and radiation without fine-tuning. We demonstrate that this significant infrared modification of gravity is consistent with local and cosmological tests of gravity. We comment on the possibility of testing this solution in cosmological measurements of Newton's constant.

Kaplan, David E. [Johns Hopkins U.; Tokyo U., IPMU↗

Precision Kinematic Sunyaev--Zel'dovich Measurements Across Halo Mass and Redshift with DESI DR2 and ACT DR6: Part I. Luminous Red Galaxies

We present the most precise measurements of the kinetic Sunyaev-Zel'dovich (kSZ) effect around luminous red galaxies to date, detecting the signal at $18σ$ significance in both harmonic and configuration space. Our analysis cross-correlates 2.4 million spectroscopic LRGs from the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) DR2 sample with Data Release 6 (DR6) of the Atacama Cosmology Telescope (ACT). We develop a novel harmonic-space cross-correlation approach using momentum-weighted kSZ templates, yielding nearly uncorrelated bandpowers within a framework consistent with other large-scale structure analyses. By incorporating the LRG halo occupation distribution (HOD) and its uncertainty, we convert measured galaxy gas profiles into halo gas profiles and provide generalized Navarro-Frenk-White (GNFW) fitting profiles, providing empirical targets for tuning feedback efficiency in hydrodynamical simulations and for baryonic modeling in large-scale structure analyses. We find strong evidence that gas profiles do not trace dark matter, providing direct evidence for gas redistribution beyond gravitational collapse. Comparing to hydrodynamical simulations, our measurements favor feedback efficiencies exceeding those in the Battaglia profile, suggesting more efficient gas ejection in group-scale halos than previously predicted. Splitting by redshift, we detect the kSZ signal at SNR $\approx 5$--$10$ in each of four bins and find amplitude evolution consistent with the expected decline in mean halo mass at fixed comoving number density. Splitting by stellar mass, we study the scaling of kSZ amplitude with galaxy properties. Together with BGS and ELG measurements in Paper II, these results span $0.1 \lesssim z \lesssim 1.6$ across three galaxy populations, demonstrating the potential of spectroscopic kSZ to map circumgalactic gas and constrain baryonic feedback.

Qu, F. J. [KIPAC, Menlo Park; Stanford U., HEPL; S↗

Formation and Redshift Evolution of Dark Matter Spikes

Dark matter density spikes forming around adiabatically growing black holes can dramatically enhance indirect and direct detection signals. Canonical predictions, however, assume a zero-mass seed in a purely dark matter environment and do not track the long-term dynamical impact of surrounding stars. We present a semi-analytic framework that first generalizes adiabatic spike formation to include finite seed masses, stellar cusps, and non-circular orbits, and then studies the subsequent cosmic evolution by solving coupled Fokker-Planck equations for the dark matter and stellar phase-space distributions, with a heating rate modulated by the cosmic star formation rate. Starting conservatively from canonical Gondolo-Silk spikes and marginalizing over astrophysical uncertainties, we find that stellar gravitational heating drives the inner slope towards $γ_χ\simeq 1.5$ within a few Gyrs (e.g by $z \lesssim 2$ for spikes formed at $z\simeq 10$), yielding overdensities two to four orders of magnitude below canonical expectations but still well above an NFW-like cusp. We provide redshift-dependent benchmarks for the column density and $J$-factor relevant to scattering, decay and annihilation signatures. Any robust interpretation of indirect dark matter signals from galactic nuclei must account for this evolution.

Herrera, Gonzalo [MIT, LNS; MIT, MKI; Harvard U.]↗

STag. II. Classification of Serendipitous Supernovae Observed by Galaxy Redshift Surveys

With the number of supernovae observed expected to drastically increase thanks to large-scale surveys like the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI), it is necessary that the tools we use to classify these objects keep up with this increase. We previously created Supernova Tagging and Classification (STag) to address this problem by employing machine learning techniques alongside logistic regression in order to assign “tags” to spectra based on spectral features. STag II is a continuation of this work, which now makes use of model supernova spectra combined with real DESI spectra in order to train STag to better deal with realistic data. Furthermore, we also make use of the rlap score as a trustworthiness cut, making for a more robust and accurate supernova classifier than before.

Astrostatistics techniques↗

Impact of Self-shielding Minihalos on the Lyα Forest at High Redshift

Abstract Dense gas in minihalos with masses of 10 6 −10 8 M ⊙ can shield themselves from reionization for ∼100 Myr after being exposed to the UV background. These self-shielded systems, often unresolved in cosmological simulations, can introduce strong absorption in quasar spectra. This paper is the first systematic study on the impact of these systems on the Ly α forest. We first derive the H i column density profile of photoevaporating minihalos by conducting 1D radiation–hydrodynamics simulations. We utilize these results to estimate the Ly α opacity from minihalos in a large-scale simulation that cannot resolve self-shielding. When the ionization rate of the background radiation is 0.03 × 10 −12 s −1 , as expected near the end of reionization at z ∼ 5.5, we find that the incidence rate of damped Ly α absorbers increases by a factor of ∼2−4 compared to at z = 4.5. The Ly α flux is, on average, suppressed by ∼3% of its mean due to minihalos. The absorption features enhance the 1D power spectrum up to ∼5% at k ∼ 0.1 h Mpc −1 (or 10 −3 km −1 s), which is comparable to the enhancement caused by inhomogeneous reionization. The flux is particularly suppressed in the vicinity of large halos along the line-of-sight direction at separations of up to 10 h −1 Mpc at r ⊥ ≲ 2 h −1 Mpc. However, these effects become much smaller for higher ionizing rates (≳0.3 × 10 −12 s −1 ) expected in the post-reionization Universe. Our findings highlight the need to consider minihalo absorption when interpreting the Ly α forest at z ≳ 5.5. Moreover, the sensitivity of these quantities to the ionizing background intensity can be exploited to constrain the intensity itself.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

On the Physical Nature of Lyα Transmission Spikes in High-redshift Quasar Spectra

We investigate Lyman-alpha (Lyα) transmission spikes at 5.2 < z < 6.8 using synthetic quasar spectra from the “Cosmic Reionization on Computers” simulations. We focus on understanding the relationship between these spikes and the properties of the intergalactic medium (IGM). Disentangling the complex interplay between IGM physics and the influence of galaxies on the generation of these spikes presents a significant challenge. To address this, we employ Explainable Boosting machines, an interpretable machine learning algorithm, to quantify the relative impact of various IGM properties on the Lyα flux. Our findings reveal that gas density is the primary factor influencing absorption strength, followed by the intensity of background radiation and the temperature of the IGM. Ionizing radiation from local sources (i.e., galaxies) appears to have a minimal effect on Lyα flux. The simulations show that transmission spikes predominantly occur in regions of low gas density. Our results challenge recent observational studies suggesting the origin of these spikes in regions with enhanced radiation. We demonstrate that Lyα transmission spikes are largely a product of the large-scale structure, of which galaxies are biased tracers.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

Accurate Dark Energy Constraints via the Precise Characterization of Galaxy Intrinsic Alignment Coupled with Shear and Redshift Interference

One of the most fundamental mysteries we face in physics is understanding what the nature of the dark energy component of our Universe is that causes the accelerated expansion of space. A powerful way to study dark energy is via weak gravitational lensing due to large-scale structure in the Universe, which we observe as tiny distortions in the shapes of very distant galaxies due to the bending of light by foreground mass. The Dark Energy Survey (DES) and Vera C. Rubin Observatory Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST) were designed to enable unprecedented measurements of these distortions in the shapes of galaxies to study dark energy. The intrinsic shapes of galaxies before they are distorted by weak gravitational lensing can cancel out some of the effects of lensing to obscure or bias what we infer about the nature of dark energy. This research program has led to improved image-level simulations of the Rubin Observatory LSST data. These simulations have made it possible to characterize for the first time the cosmic impact of these intrinsic shapes on biasing weak gravitational lensing calibration. This work will inform crucial improvements in methodology for studying dark energy with weak gravitational lensing at the precision promised by the the Rubin Observatory LSST over the next decade to ensure we are able to infer unbiased information about the nature of dark energy.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

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. ↗

ELG spectroscopic systematics analysis of the DESI Data Release 1

Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) uses more than 2.4 million Emission Line Galaxies (ELGs) for 3D large-scale structure (LSS) analyses in its Data Release 1 (DR1). Such large statistics enable thorough research on systematic uncertainties. In this study, we focus on spectroscopic systematics of ELGs. The redshift success rate (f goodz ) is the relative fraction of secure redshifts among all measurements. It depends on observing conditions, thus introduces non-cosmological variations to the LSS. We, therefore, develop the redshift failure weight (w zfail ) and a per-fibre correction (η zfail ) to mitigate these dependences. They have minor influences on the galaxy clustering. For ELGs with a secure redshift, there are two subtypes of systematics: 1) catastrophics (large) that only occur in a few samples; 2) redshift uncertainty (small) that exists for all samples. The catastrophics represent 0.26% of the total DR1 ELGs, composed of the confusion between [O ii] and sky residuals, double objects, total catastrophics and others. We simulate the realistic 0.26% catastrophics of DR1 ELGs, the hypothetical 1% catastrophics, and the truncation of the contaminated 1.31 < z < 1.33 in the A BACUS S UMMIT ELG mocks. Their P ℓ show non-negligible bias from the uncontaminated mocks. But their influences on the redshift space distortions (RSD) parameters are smaller than 0.2σ. The redshift uncertainty of DR1 ELGs is 8.5km s -1 with a Lorentzian profile. The code for implementing the catastrophics and redshift uncertainty on mocks can be found in https://github.com/Jiaxi-Yu/modelling_spectro_sys.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

Recovered supernova Ia rate from simulated LSST images

Aims.TheVera C. RubinObservatory’s Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST) will revolutionize time-domain astronomy by detecting millions of different transients. In particular, it is expected to increase the number of known type Ia supernovae (SN Ia) by a factor of 100 compared to existing samples up to redshift ∼1.2. Such a high number of events will dramatically reduce statistical uncertainties in the analysis of the properties and rates of these objects. However, the impact of all other sources of uncertainty on the measurement of the SN Ia rate must still be evaluated. The comprehension and reduction of such uncertainties will be fundamental both for cosmology and stellar evolution studies, as measuring the SN Ia rate can put constraints on the evolutionary scenarios of different SN Ia progenitors. Methods.We used simulated data from the Dark Energy Science Collaboration (DESC) Data Challenge 2 (DC2) and LSST Data Preview 0 to measure the SN Ia rate on a 15 deg 2 region of the “wide-fast-deep” area. We selected a sample of SN candidates detected in difference images, associated them to the host galaxy with a specially developed algorithm, and retrieved their photometric redshifts. We then tested different light-curve classification methods, with and without redshift priors (albeit ignoring contamination from other transients, as DC2 contains only SN Ia). We discuss how the distribution in redshift measured for the SN candidates changes according to the selected host galaxy and redshift estimate. Results.We measured the SN Ia rate, analyzing the impact of uncertainties due to photometric redshift, host-galaxy association and classification on the distribution in redshift of the starting sample. We find that we are missing 17% of the SN Ia, on average, with respect to the simulated sample. As 10% of the mismatch is due to the uncertainty on the photometric redshift alone (which also affects classification when used as a prior), we conclude that this parameter is the major source of uncertainty. We discuss possible reduction of the errors in the measurement of the SN Ia rate, including synergies with other surveys, which may help us to use the rate to discriminate different progenitor models.

Astronomy & Astrophysics↗

Dark Energy Survey: Galaxy sample for the baryonic acoustic oscillation measurement from the final dataset

In this paper, we present and validate the galaxy sample used for the analysis of the baryon acoustic oscillation (BAO) signal in the Dark Energy Survey (DES) Y6 data. The definition is based on a color and redshift-dependent magnitude cut optimized to select galaxies at redshifts higher than 0.6, while ensuring a high-quality photo- z determination. The optimization is performed using a Fisher forecast algorithm, finding the optimal i -magnitude cut to be given by i < 19.64 + 2.894 z ph . For the optimal sample, we forecast an increase in precision in the BAO measurement of ∼ 25 % with respect to the Y3 analysis. Our BAO sample has a total of 15,937,556 galaxies in the redshift range 0.6 < z ph < 1.2 , and its angular mask covers 4 , 273.42 deg 2 to a depth of i = 22.5 . We validate its redshift distributions with three different methods: directional neighborhood fitting algorithm (DNF), which is our primary photo- z estimation; direct calibration with spectroscopic redshifts from VIPERS, which is a spectroscopic galaxy sample that overlaps with our BAO sample and is complete within our selection cuts; and clustering redshift using SDSS galaxies. The fiducial redshift distribution is a combination of these three techniques performed by modifying the mean and width of the DNF distributions to match those of VIPERS and clustering redshift. In this paper, we also describe the methodology used to mitigate the effect of observational systematics, which is analogous to the one used in the Y3 analysis. This paper is one of the two dedicated to the analysis of the BAO signal in DES Y6. In its companion paper, we present the angular diameter distance constraints obtained through the fitting to the BAO scale.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

Atacama Cosmology Telescope DR6 and DESI: Structure growth measurements from the cross-correlation of DESI legacy imaging galaxies and CMB lensing from ACT DR6 and 𝑃⁢𝑙⁢𝑎⁢𝑛⁢𝑐⁢𝑘 PR4

We measure the growth of cosmic density fluctuations on large scales and across the redshift range 0.3 < 𝑧 < 0.8 through galaxy clustering and the cross-correlation of the ACT data release 6 cosmic microwave background (CMB) lensing map and galaxies from the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument Legacy Survey, using three galaxy samples spanning the redshifts of 0.3 ≲ 𝑧 ≲ 0.45, 0.45 ≲ 𝑧 ≲ 0.6, 0.6 ≲ 𝑧 ≲ 0.8. We adopt a scale cut where nonlinear effects are negligible, so that the cosmological constraints are derived from the linear regime. We determine the amplitude of matter fluctuations over all three redshift bins using Atacama Cosmology Telescope (ACT) data alone to be 𝑆 8 ≡ 𝜎 8 ⁢(Ω 𝑚 /0.3) 0.5 =0.772 ± 0.040 in a joint analysis combining the three redshift bins and ACT lensing alone. Using a combination of ACT and Planck data we obtain 𝑆 8 = 0.765 ± 0.032. The lowest redshift bin used is the least constraining and exhibits a ∼2⁢𝜎 tension with the other redshift bins; thus we also report constraints excluding the first redshift bin, giving 𝑆 8 = 0.785 ± 0.033 for the combination of ACT and Planck. This result is in excellent agreement at the 0.3⁢𝜎 level with measurements from galaxy lensing, but is 1.8⁢𝜎 lower than predictions based on Planck primary CMB data. Understanding whether this hint of discrepancy in the growth of structure at low redshifts arises from a fluctuation, from systematics in data, or from new physics is a high priority for forthcoming CMB lensing and galaxy cross-correlation analyses.

cosmic microwave background↗

The Mantis Shrimp Dataset

The Mantis Shrimp Dataset (MSD) is a combination of matched cutouts of galaxies with known redshift in the ultra-violet, optical, and infrared wavelengths. MSD redshifts come from ''high-quality'' (as reported by the spectroscopic experiment) redshift measurements from a variety of spectroscopic surveys, including: SDSS, DESI early release, DEEP2, GAMA, VVDS, VIPERS, 6dF, and WiggleZ. Each redshift is accompanies with astrometry (ra,dec) pairs that were used to query cutout image services from PanSTARRs, UnWISE, and GALEX servers. The main data products are image vectors of these cutouts accompanied by the redshift value to be used to train computer vision networks on the supervised photometric redshift task. We also provide extinction values pre-queried at each galaxies' astrometry from the PLANCK and SFD dutstmaps, the SDSS MGS photometric redshift from Beck 2014 (if available) and the WISE x PS1 STRM photometric redshift for the galaxy (if available).

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

Atacama Cosmology Telescope DR6 and DESI: Structure growth measurements from the cross-correlation of DESI legacy imaging galaxies and CMB lensing from ACT DR6 and P l a n c k PR4

We measure the growth of cosmic density fluctuations on large scales and across the redshift range 0.3 < z < 0.8 through galaxy clustering and the cross-correlation of the ACT data release 6 cosmic microwave background (CMB) lensing map and galaxies from the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument Legacy Survey, using three galaxy samples spanning the redshifts of 0.3 ≲ z ≲ 0.45 , 0.45 ≲ z ≲ 0.6 , 0.6 ≲ z ≲ 0.8 . We adopt a scale cut where nonlinear effects are negligible, so that the cosmological constraints are derived from the linear regime. We determine the amplitude of matter fluctuations over all three redshift bins using Atacama Cosmology Telescope (ACT) data alone to be S 8 ≡ σ 8 ( Ω m / 0.3 ) 0.5 = 0.772 ± 0.040 in a joint analysis combining the three redshift bins and ACT lensing alone. Using a combination of ACT and Planck data we obtain S 8 = 0.765 ± 0.032 . The lowest redshift bin used is the least constraining and exhibits a ∼ 2 σ tension with the other redshift bins; thus we also report constraints excluding the first redshift bin, giving S 8 = 0.785 ± 0.033 for the combination of ACT and Planck. This result is in excellent agreement at the 0.3 σ level with measurements from galaxy lensing, but is 1.8 σ lower than predictions based on Planck primary CMB data. Understanding whether this hint of discrepancy in the growth of structure at low redshifts arises from a fluctuation, from systematics in data, or from new physics is a high priority for forthcoming CMB lensing and galaxy cross-correlation analyses.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗