In this paper, we present results from the weak-lensing shape measurement GRavitational lEnsing Accuracy Testing 2010 (GREAT10) Galaxy Challenge. This marks an order of magnitude step change in the ...level of scrutiny employed in weak-lensing shape measurement analysis. We provide descriptions of each method tested and include 10 evaluation metrics over 24 simulation branches.
GREAT10 was the first shape measurement challenge to include variable fields; both the shear field and the point spread function (PSF) vary across the images in a realistic manner. The variable fields enable a variety of metrics that are inaccessible to constant shear simulations, including a direct measure of the impact of shape measurement inaccuracies, and the impact of PSF size and ellipticity, on the shear power spectrum. To assess the impact of shape measurement bias for cosmic shear, we present a general pseudo-C
ℓ formalism that propagates spatially varying systematics in cosmic shear through to power spectrum estimates. We also show how one-point estimators of bias can be extracted from variable shear simulations.
The GREAT10 Galaxy Challenge received 95 submissions and saw a factor of 3 improvement in the accuracy achieved by other shape measurement methods. The best methods achieve sub-per cent average biases. We find a strong dependence on accuracy as a function of signal-to-noise ratio, and indications of a weak dependence on galaxy type and size. Some requirements for the most ambitious cosmic shear experiments are met above a signal-to-noise ratio of 20. These results have the caveat that the simulated PSF was a ground-based PSF. Our results are a snapshot of the accuracy of current shape measurement methods and are a benchmark upon which improvement can be brought. This provides a foundation for a better understanding of the strengths and limitations of shape measurement methods.
DAHe white dwarfs from the DESI Survey Manser, Christopher J; Gänsicke, Boris T; Inight, Keith ...
Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society,
03/2023, Volume:
521, Issue:
4
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
Open access
ABSTRACT
A new class of white dwarfs, dubbed DAHe, that present Zeeman-split Balmer lines in emission has recently emerged. However, the physical origin of these emission lines remains unclear. We ...present here a sample of 21 newly identified DAHe systems and determine magnetic field strengths and (for a subset) periods that span the ranges of ≃6.5–147 MG and ≃0.4–36 h, respectively. All but four of these systems were identified from the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument survey sample of more than 47 000 white dwarf candidates observed during its first year of observations. We present detailed analysis of the new DAHe WD J161634.36+541011.51 with a spin period of 95.3 min, which exhibits an anticorrelation between broad-band flux and Balmer line strength that is typically observed for this class of systems. All DAHe systems cluster closely on the Gaia Hertzsprung–Russell diagram where they represent ≃1 per cent of white dwarfs within that region. This grouping further solidifies their unexplained emergence at relatively late cooling times and we discuss this in context of current formation theories. Nine of the new DAHe systems are identifiable from Sloan Digital Sky Survey spectra of white dwarfs that had been previously classified as featureless DC-type systems. We suggest high-S/N (signal-to-noise ratios), unbiased observations of DCs as a possible route for discovering additional DAHe systems.
Planting a Lyman alpha forest on AbacusSummit Hadzhiyska, Boryana; Font-Ribera, A; Cuceu, A ...
Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society,
07/2023, Volume:
524, Issue:
1
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
Open access
ABSTRACT
The full-shape correlations of the Lyman alpha (Ly α) forest contain a wealth of cosmological information through the Alcock–Paczyński effect. However, these measurements are challenging to ...model without robustly testing and verifying the theoretical framework used for analysing them. Here, we leverage the accuracy and volume of the N-body simulation suite AbacusSummit to generate high-resolution Ly α skewers and quasi-stellar object (QSO) catalogues. One of the main goals of our mocks is to aid in the full-shape Ly α analysis planned by the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) team. We provide optical depth skewers for six of the fiducial cosmology base-resolution simulations ($L_{\rm box} = 2\, h^{-1}\, {\rm Gpc}$, N = 69123) at z = 2.5. We adopt a simple recipe based on the Fluctuating Gunn–Peterson Approximation (FGPA) for constructing these skewers from the matter density in an N-body simulation and calibrate it against the 1D and 3D Ly α power spectra extracted from the hydrodynamical simulation IllustrisTNG (TNG; $L_{\rm box} = 205\, h^{-1}\, {\rm Mpc}$, N = 25003). As an important application, we study the non-linear broadening of the baryon acoustic oscillation (BAO) peak and show the cross-correlation between DESI-like QSOs and our Ly α forest skewers. We find differences on small scales between the Kaiser approximation prediction and our mock measurements of the Ly α × QSO cross-correlation, which would be important to account for in upcoming analyses. The AbacusSummit Ly α forest mocks open up the possibility for improved modelling of cross-correlations between Ly α and cosmic microwave background (CMB) lensing and Ly α and QSOs, and for forecasts of the 3-point Ly α correlation function. Our catalogues and skewers are publicly available on Globus via the National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center (NERSC) (full link under the section ‘Data Availability’).
ABSTRACT
We present the first eight months of data from our secondary target programme within the ongoing Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) survey. Our programme uses a mid-infrared and ...optical colour selection to preferentially target dust-reddened quasi-stellar objects (QSOs) that would have otherwise been missed by the nominal DESI QSO selection. So far, we have obtained optical spectra for 3038 candidates, of which ∼70 per cent of the high-quality objects (those with robust redshifts) are visually confirmed to be Type 1 QSOs, consistent with the expected fraction from the main DESI QSO survey. By fitting a dust-reddened blue QSO composite to the QSO spectra, we find they are well-fitted by a normal QSO with up to AV ∼ 4 mag of line-of-sight dust extinction. Utilizing radio data from the LOFAR Two-metre Sky Survey (LoTSS) DR2, we identify a striking positive relationship between the amount of line-of-sight dust extinction towards a QSO and the radio detection fraction, that is not driven by radio-loud systems, redshift and/or luminosity effects. This demonstrates an intrinsic connection between dust reddening and the production of radio emission in QSOs, whereby the radio emission is most likely due to low-powered jets or winds/outflows causing shocks in a dusty environment. On the basis of this evidence, we suggest that red QSOs may represent a transitional ‘blow-out’ phase in the evolution of QSOs, where winds and outflows evacuate the dust and gas to reveal an unobscured blue QSO.
Abstract
Extremely metal-poor galaxies (XMPGs) at relatively low redshift are excellent laboratories for studying galaxy formation and evolution in the early universe. Much effort has been spent on ...identifying them from large-scale spectroscopic surveys or spectroscopic follow-up observations. Previous work has identified a few hundred XMPGs. In this work, we obtain a large sample of 223 XMPGs at
z
< 1 from the early data of the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI). The oxygen abundance is determined using the direct
T
e
method based on the detection of the O
iii
λ
4363 line. The sample includes 95 confirmed XMPGs based on the oxygen abundance uncertainty; the remaining 128 galaxies are regarded as XMPG candidates. These XMPGs are only 0.01% of the total DESI observed galaxies. Their coordinates and other properties are provided in the paper. The most XMPGs have an oxygen abundance of ∼1/34
Z
⊙
, a stellar mass of about 1.5 × 10
7
M
⊙,
and a star formation rate of 0.22
M
⊙
yr
−1
. The two most XMPGs present distinct morphologies suggesting different formation mechanisms. The local environmental investigation shows that XMPGs preferentially reside in relatively low-density regions. Many of them fall below the stellar mass–metallicity relations (MZRs) of normal star-forming galaxies. From a comparison of the MZR with theoretical simulations, it appears that XMPGs are good analogs to high-redshift star-forming galaxies. The nature of these XMPG populations will be further investigated in detail with larger and more complete samples from the ongoing DESI survey.
ABSTRACT There is an overwhelming evidence that white dwarfs host planetary systems; revealed by the presence, disruption, and accretion of planetary bodies. A lower limit on the frequency of white ...dwarfs that host planetary material has been estimated to be ≃ 25–50 per cent; inferred from the ongoing or recent accretion of metals on to both hydrogen-atmosphere and warm helium-atmosphere white dwarfs. Now with the unbiased sample of white dwarfs observed by the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) survey in their Early Data Release (EDR), we have determined the frequency of metal enrichment around cool-helium atmosphere white dwarfs as 21 ± 3 per cent using a sample of 234 systems. This value is in good agreement with values determined from previous studies. With the current samples we cannot distinguish whether the frequency of planetary accretion varies with system age or host-star mass, but the DESI data release 1 will contain roughly an order of magnitude more white dwarfs than DESI EDR and will allow these parameters to be investigated.
Silicon as an unconventional detector in positron emission tomography Clinthorne, Neal; Brzezinski, Karol; Chesi, Enrico ...
Nuclear instruments & methods in physics research. Section A, Accelerators, spectrometers, detectors and associated equipment,
2013-Jan-01, Volume:
699, Issue:
21
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
Open access
Positron emission tomography (PET) is a widely used technique in medical imaging and in studying small animal models of human disease. In the conventional approach, the 511keV annihilation photons ...emitted from a patient or small animal are detected by a ring of scintillators such as LYSO read out by arrays of photodetectors. Although this has been successful in achieving ∼5mm FWHM spatial resolution in human studies and ∼1mm resolution in dedicated small animal instruments, there is interest in significantly improving these figures. Silicon, although its stopping power is modest for 511keV photons, offers a number of potential advantages over more conventional approaches including the potential for high intrinsic spatial resolution in 3D. To evaluate silicon in a variety of PET “magnifying glass” configurations, an instrument was constructed that consists of an outer partial-ring of PET scintillation detectors into which various arrangements of silicon detectors are inserted to emulate dual-ring or imaging probe geometries. Measurements using the test instrument demonstrated the capability of clearly resolving point sources of 22Na having a 1.5mm center-to-center spacing as well as the 1.2mm rods of a 18F-filled resolution phantom. Although many challenges remain, silicon has potential to become the PET detector of choice when spatial resolution is the primary consideration.
► We examine the use of position-sensitive silicon detectors in magnifying PET geometries. ► A demonstrator using silicon detectors and BGO scintillation detectors was constructed. ► Both single-slice and volume PET configurations were tested. ► For a 4.5cm field-of-view, resolutions <1mm were achievable. ► Resolution will improve further with higher resolution silicon detectors.
AbstractExploring the large number of heavy quarks produced at Fermilab’s Tevatron collider, the BTeV experiment is designed to make precision measurements of Standard Model parameters and to perform ...an exhaustive search for physics beyond the Standard Model. In my presentation at LHC2003 I presented some highlights of the BTeV physics program and discussed a few of the many technological challenges the BTeV collaboration faces designing and building the detector
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