Abstract
We present the large-scale three-point correlation function (3PCF) of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey DR12 Constant stellar Mass (CMASS) sample of 777 202 Luminous Red Galaxies, the ...largest-ever sample used for a 3PCF or bispectrum measurement. We make the first high-significance (4.5σ) detection of baryon acoustic oscillations (BAO) in the 3PCF. Using these acoustic features in the 3PCF as a standard ruler, we measure the distance to z = 0.57 to 1.7 per cent precision (statistical plus systematic). We find DV = 2024 ± 29 Mpc (stat) ± 20 Mpc (sys) for our fiducial cosmology (consistent with Planck 2015) and bias model. This measurement extends the use of the BAO technique from the two-point correlation function (2PCF) and power spectrum to the 3PCF and opens an avenue for deriving additional cosmological distance information from future large-scale structure redshift surveys such as DESI. Our measured distance scale from the 3PCF is fairly independent from that derived from the pre-reconstruction 2PCF and is equivalent to increasing the length of BOSS by roughly 10 per cent; reconstruction appears to lower the independence of the distance measurements. Fitting a model including tidal tensor bias yields a moderate-significance (2.6σ) detection of this bias with a value in agreement with the prediction from local Lagrangian biasing.
ABSTRACT
We measure the clustering of quasars of the final data release (DR16) of eBOSS. The sample contains $343\, 708$ quasars between redshifts 0.8 ≤ z ≤ 2.2 over $4699\, \mathrm{deg}^2$. We ...calculate the Legendre multipoles (0,2,4) of the anisotropic power spectrum and perform a BAO and a Full-Shape (FS) analysis at the effective redshift zeff = 1.480. The errors include systematic errors that amount to 1/3 of the statistical error. The systematic errors comprise a modelling part studied using a blind N-body mock challenge and observational effects studied with approximate mocks to account for various types of redshift smearing and fibre collisions. For the BAO analysis, we measure the transverse comoving distance DM(zeff)/rdrag = 30.60 ± 0.90 and the Hubble distance DH(zeff)/rdrag = 13.34 ± 0.60. This agrees with the configuration space analysis, and the consensus yields: DM(zeff)/rdrag = 30.69 ± 0.80 and DH(zeff)/rdrag = 13.26 ± 0.55. In the FS analysis, we fit the power spectrum using a model based on Regularised Perturbation Theory, which includes redshift space distortions and the Alcock–Paczynski effect. The results are DM(zeff)/rdrag = 30.68 ± 0.90 and DH(zeff)/rdrag = 13.52 ± 0.51 and we constrain the linear growth rate of structure f(zeff)σ8(zeff) = 0.476 ± 0.047. Our results agree with the configuration space analysis. The consensus analysis of the eBOSS quasar sample yields: DM(zeff)/rdrag = 30.21 ± 0.79, DH(zeff)/rdrag = 3.23 ± 0.47, and f(zeff)σ8(zeff) = 0.462 ± 0.045 and is consistent with a flat ΛCDM cosmological model using Planck results.
We analyse the anisotropic clustering of the Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey CMASS Data Release 11 sample, which consists of 690 827 galaxies in the redshift range 0.43 < z < 0.70 and has a ...sky coverage of 8498 deg2 corresponding to an effective volume of ∼ 6 Gpc3. We fit the Fourier space statistics, the power spectrum and bispectrum monopoles to measure the linear and quadratic bias parameters, b
1 and b
2, for a non-linear non-local bias model, the growth of structure parameter f and the amplitude of dark matter density fluctuations parametrized by σ8. We obtain b
1(z
eff)1.40σ8(z
eff) = 1.672 ± 0.060 and
$b_2^{0.30}(z_{\rm eff})\sigma _8(z_{\rm eff})=0.579\pm 0.082$
at the effective redshift of the survey, z
eff = 0.57. The main cosmological result is the constraint on the combination f 0.43(z
eff)σ8(z
eff) = 0.582 ± 0.084, which is complementary to fσ8 constraints obtained from two-point redshift-space distortion analyses. A less conservative analysis yields f 0.43(z
eff)σ8(z
eff) = 0.584 ± 0.051. We ensure that our result is robust by performing detailed systematic tests using a large suite of survey galaxy mock catalogues and N-body simulations. The constraints on f 0.43σ8 are useful for setting additional constraints on neutrino mass, gravity, curvature as well as the number of neutrino species from galaxy surveys analyses (as presented in a companion paper).
We explore the cosmological implications of anisotropic clustering measurements in configuration space of the final galaxy samples from Data Release 12 of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey III Baryon ...Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey. We implement a new detailed modelling of the effects of non-linearities, bias and redshift-space distortions that can be used to extract unbiased cosmological information from our measurements for scales ... We combined the information from Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (BOSS) with the latest cosmic microwave background (CMB) observations and Type Ia supernovae samples and found no significant evidence for a deviation from the ... cold dark matter (...CDM) cosmological model. In particular, these data sets can constrain the dark energy equation-of-state parameter to ... when to be assumed time independent, the curvature of the Universe to ... and the sum of the neutrino masses to ... at 95 per cent confidence levels. We explore the constraints on the growth rate of cosmic structures assuming ... and obtain ..., in good agreement with the predictions of general relativity of ... We compress the information of our clustering measurements into constraints on the parameter combinations ... and 0.61 with their respective covariance matrices and find good agreement with the predictions for these parameters obtained from the best-fitting ...CDM model to the CMB data from the Planck satellite. This paper is part of a set that analyses the final galaxy clustering data set from BOSS. The measurements and likelihoods presented here are combined with others by Alam et al. to produce the final cosmological constraints from BOSS. (ProQuest: ... denotes formulae/symbols omitted.)
ABSTRACT
We analyse the clustering of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey IV extended Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey Data Release 16 luminous red galaxy sample (DR16 eBOSS LRG) in combination with ...the high redshift tail of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey III Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey Data Release 12 (DR12 BOSS CMASS). We measure the redshift space distortions (RSD) and also extract the longitudinal and transverse baryonic acoustic oscillation (BAO) scale from the anisotropic power spectrum signal inferred from 377 458 galaxies between redshifts 0.6 and 1.0, with the effective redshift of zeff = 0.698 and effective comoving volume of $2.72\, {\rm Gpc}^3$. After applying reconstruction, we measure the BAO scale and infer DH(zeff)/rdrag = 19.30 ± 0.56 and DM(zeff)/rdrag = 17.86 ± 0.37. When we perform an RSD analysis on the pre-reconstructed catalogue on the monopole, quadrupole, and hexadecapole we find, DH(zeff)/rdrag = 20.18 ± 0.78, DM(zeff)/rdrag = 17.49 ± 0.52 and fσ8(zeff) = 0.454 ± 0.046. We combine both sets of results along with the measurements in configuration space and report the following consensus values: DH(zeff)/rdrag = 19.77 ± 0.47, DM(zeff)/rdrag = 17.65 ± 0.30 and fσ8(zeff) = 0.473 ± 0.044, which are in full agreement with the standard ΛCDM and GR predictions. These results represent the most precise measurements within the redshift range 0.6 ≤ z ≤ 1.0 and are the culmination of more than 8 yr of SDSS observations.
ABSTRACT
Standard analysis pipelines for measurements of Baryon Acoustic Oscillations (BAO) in galaxy surveys make use of a fiducial cosmological model to guide the data compression required to ...transform from observed redshifts and angles to the measured angular and radial BAO peak positions. In order to remove any dependence on the fiducial cosmology from the results, all models compared to the data should mimic the compression and its dependence on the fiducial model. In practice, approximations are made when testing models: (1) There is assumed to be no residual dependence on the fiducial cosmology after reconstruction, (2) differences in the distance–redshift relationship are assumed to match a linear scaling, and (3) differences in clustering between true and fiducial models are assumed to be removed by the free parameters used to null the non-BAO signal. We test these approximations using the current standard measurement procedure with a set of halo catalogues from the aemulus suite of N-body simulations, which span a range of wCDM cosmological models. We focus on reconstruction of the primordial BAO and locating the BAO. For the range of wCDM cosmologies covered by the aemulus suite, we find no evidence for systematic errors in the measured BAO shift parameters α∥ and α⊥ to $\lt 0.1\%$. However, the measured errors $\sigma _{\alpha _{\parallel }}$ and $\sigma _{\alpha _{\bot }}$ show a notable absolute increase by up to +0.001 and +0.002, respectively, in the case that the fiducial cosmology does not match the truth. These effects on the inferred BAO scale will be important, given the precision of measurements expected from future surveys including DESI, Euclid, and WFIRST.
ABSTRACT
We present the anisotropic clustering of emission-line galaxies (ELGs) from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey IV (SDSS-IV) extended Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (eBOSS) Data Release 16 ...(DR16). Our sample is composed of 173 736 ELGs covering an area of 1170 deg2 over the redshift range 0.6 ≤ z ≤ 1.1. We use the convolution Lagrangian perturbation theory in addition to the Gaussian streaming redshift space distortions to model the Legendre multipoles of the anisotropic correlation function. We show that the eBOSS ELG correlation function measurement is affected by the contribution of a radial integral constraint that needs to be modelled to avoid biased results. To mitigate the effect from unknown angular systematics, we adopt a modified correlation function estimator that cancels out the angular modes from the clustering. At the effective redshift, zeff = 0.85, including statistical and systematical uncertainties, we measure the linear growth rate of structure fσ8(zeff) = 0.35 ± 0.10, the Hubble distance $D_ H(z_{\rm eff})/r_{\rm drag} = 19.1^{+1.9}_{-2.1}$, and the comoving angular diameter distance DM(zeff)/rdrag = 19.9 ± 1.0. These results are in agreement with the Fourier space analysis, leading to consensus values of: fσ8(zeff) = 0.315 ± 0.095, $D_H(z_{\rm eff})/r_{\rm drag} = 19.6^{+2.2}_{-2.1}$, and DM(zeff)/rdrag = 19.5 ± 1.0, consistent with ΛCDM model predictions with Planck parameters.
We present baryon acoustic oscillation (BAO) scale measurements determined from the clustering of 1.2 million massive galaxies with redshifts 0.2 < z < 0.75 distributed over 9300 deg super( 2), as ...quantified by their redshift-space correlation function. In order to facilitate these measurements, we define, describe, and motivate the selection function for galaxies in the final data release (DR12) of the SDSS III Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (BOSS). This includes the observational footprint, masks for image quality and Galactic extinction, and weights to account for density relationships intrinsic to the imaging and spectroscopic portions of the survey. We simulate the observed systematic trends in mock galaxy samples and demonstrate that they impart no bias on BAO scale measurements and have a minor impact on the recovered statistical uncertainty. We measure transverse and radial BAO distance measurements in 0.2 < z < 0.5, 0.5 < z < 0.75, and (overlapping) 0.4 < z < 0.6 redshift bins. In each redshift bin, we obtain a precision that is 2.7 per cent or better on the radial distance and 1.6 per cent or better on the transverse distance. The combination of the redshift bins represents 1.8 per cent precision on the radial distance and 1.1 per cent precision on the transverse distance. This paper is part of a set that analyses the final galaxy clustering data set from BOSS. The measurements and likelihoods presented here are combined with others in Alam et al. to produce the final cosmological constraints from BOSS.
Abstract
Three-dimensional galaxy clustering measurements provide a wealth of cosmological information. However, obtaining spectra of galaxies is expensive, and surveys often only measure redshifts ...for a subsample of a target galaxy population. Provided that the spectroscopic data is representative, we argue that angular pair upweighting should be used in these situations to improve the 3D clustering measurements. We present a toy model showing mathematically how such a weighting can improve measurements, and provide a practical example of its application using mocks created for the Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (BOSS). Our analysis of mocks suggests that if an angular clustering measurement is available over twice the area covered spectroscopically, weighting gives an∼10–20 per cent reduction of the variance of the monopole correlation function on the baryon acoustic oscillation scale.