Engineering Papers⌕ Search

Engineering topics

Burke, D. L.

Publications and source records attributed to Burke, D. L..

At least 91 records · Page 5

Dark Energy Survey Year 3 results: Cosmology from cosmic shear and robustness to modeling uncertainty

Here, this work and its companion paper, Amon et al. [Phys. Rev. D 105, 023514 (2022)], present cosmic shear measurements and cosmological constraints from over 100 million source galaxies in the Dark Energy Survey (DES) Year 3 data. We constrain the lensing amplitude parameter 𝑆 8 ≡𝜎 8 ⁢$\sqrt{Ω_{m}/0.3}$ at the 3% level in Λ⁢ CDM: 𝑆 8 =0.75⁢9$^{+0.025}_{−0.023}$ (68% CL). Our constraint is at the 2% level when using angular scale cuts that are optimized for the Λ⁢ CDM analysis: 𝑆 8 =0.77⁢2$^{+0.018}_{−0.017}$ (68% CL). With cosmic shear alone, we find no statistically significant constraint on the dark energy equation-of-state parameter at our present statistical power. We carry out our analysis blind, and compare our measurement with constraints from two other contemporary weak lensing experiments: the Kilo-Degree Survey (KiDS) and Hyper-Suprime Camera Subaru Strategic Program (HSC). We additionally quantify the agreement between our data and external constraints from the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB). Our DES Y3 result under the assumption of Λ⁢ CDM is found to be in statistical agreement with Planck 2018, although favors a lower 𝑆 8 than the CMB-inferred value by 2.3⁢𝜎 (a 𝑝-value of 0.02). This paper explores the robustness of these cosmic shear results to modeling of intrinsic alignments, the matter power spectrum and baryonic physics. We additionally explore the statistical preference of our data for intrinsic alignment models of different complexity. The fiducial cosmic shear model is tested using synthetic data, and we report no biases greater than 0.3⁢𝜎 in the plane of 𝑆 8 ×Ω m caused by uncertainties in the theoretical models.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

Dark Energy Survey Year 3 results: Cosmological constraints from galaxy clustering and weak lensing

We present the first cosmology results from large-scale structure using the full 5000 deg 2 of imaging data from the Dark Energy Survey (DES) Data Release 1. We perform an analysis of large-scale structure combining three two-point correlation functions ( 3 × 2 pt ): (i) cosmic shear using 100 million source galaxies, (ii) galaxy clustering, and (iii) the cross-correlation of source galaxy shear with lens galaxy positions, galaxy–galaxy lensing. To achieve the cosmological precision enabled by these measurements has required updates to nearly every part of the analysis from DES Year 1, including the use of two independent galaxy clustering samples, modeling advances, and several novel improvements in the calibration of gravitational shear and photometric redshift inference. The analysis was performed under strict conditions to mitigate confirmation or observer bias; we describe specific changes made to the lens galaxy sample following unblinding of the results and tests of the robustness of our results to this decision. We model the data within the flat Λ CDM and w CDM cosmological models, marginalizing over 25 nuisance parameters. We find consistent cosmological results between the three two-point correlation functions; their combination yields clustering amplitude S 8 = 0.77 6 - 0.017 + 0.017 and matter density Ω m = 0.33 9 - 0.031 + 0.032 in Λ CDM , mean with 68% confidence limits; S 8 = 0.77 5 - 0.024 + 0.026 , Ω m = 0.35 2 - 0.041 + 0.035 , and dark energy equation-of-state parameter w = - 0.9 8 - 0.20 + 0.32 in w CDM . These constraints correspond to an improvement in signal-to-noise of the DES Year 3 3 × 2 pt data relative to DES Year 1 by a factor of 2.1, about 20% more than expected from the increase in observing area alone. This combination of DES data is consistent with the prediction of the model favored by the Planck 2018 cosmic microwave background (CMB) primary anisotropy data, which is quantified with a probability-to-exceed p = 0.13 –0.48. We find better agreement between DES 3 × 2 pt and Planck than in DES Y1, despite the significantly improved precision of both. When combining DES 3 × 2 pt data with available baryon acoustic oscillation, redshift-space distortion, and type Ia supernovae data, we find p = 0.34 . Combining all of these datasets with Planck CMB lensing yields joint parameter constraints of S 8 = 0.81 2 - 0.008 + 0.008 , Ω m = 0.30 6 - 0.005 + 0.004 , h = 0.68 0 - 0.003 + 0.004 , and ∑ m ν < 0.13 eV (95% C.L.) in Λ CDM ; S 8 = 0.81 2 - 0.008 + 0.008 , Ω m = 0.30 2 - 0.006 + 0.006 , h = 0.68 7 - 0.007 + 0.006 , and w = - 1.03 1 - 0.027 + 0.030 in w CDM .

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

Dark Energy Survey Year 3 Results: Measuring the Survey Transfer Function with Balrog

Abstract We describe an updated calibration and diagnostic framework, Balrog , used to directly sample the selection and photometric biases of the Dark Energy Survey (DES) Year 3 (Y3) data set. We systematically inject onto the single-epoch images of a random 20% subset of the DES footprint an ensemble of nearly 30 million realistic galaxy models derived from DES Deep Field observations. These augmented images are analyzed in parallel with the original data to automatically inherit measurement systematics that are often too difficult to capture with generative models. The resulting object catalog is a Monte Carlo sampling of the DES transfer function and is used as a powerful diagnostic and calibration tool for a variety of DES Y3 science, particularly for the calibration of the photometric redshifts of distant “source” galaxies and magnification biases of nearer “lens” galaxies. The recovered Balrog injections are shown to closely match the photometric property distributions of the Y3 GOLD catalog, particularly in color, and capture the number density fluctuations from observing conditions of the real data within 1% for a typical galaxy sample. We find that Y3 colors are extremely well calibrated, typically within ∼1–8 mmag, but for a small subset of objects, we detect significant magnitude biases correlated with large overestimates of the injected object size due to proximity effects and blending. We discuss approaches to extend the current methodology to capture more aspects of the transfer function and reach full coverage of the survey footprint for future analyses.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗

Lensing without borders – I. A blind comparison of the amplitude of galaxy–galaxy lensing between independent imaging surveys

ABSTRACT Lensing without borders is a cross-survey collaboration created to assess the consistency of galaxy–galaxy lensing signals (ΔΣ) across different data sets and to carry out end-to-end tests of systematic errors. We perform a blind comparison of the amplitude of ΔΣ using lens samples from BOSS and six independent lensing surveys. We find good agreement between empirically estimated and reported systematic errors which agree to better than 2.3σ in four lens bins and three radial ranges. For lenses with zL > 0.43 and considering statistical errors, we detect a 3–4σ correlation between lensing amplitude and survey depth. This correlation could arise from the increasing impact at higher redshift of unrecognized galaxy blends on shear calibration and imperfections in photometric redshift calibration. At zL > 0.54, amplitudes may additionally correlate with foreground stellar density. The amplitude of these trends is within survey-defined systematic error budgets that are designed to include known shear and redshift calibration uncertainty. Using a fully empirical and conservative method, we do not find evidence for large unknown systematics. Systematic errors greater than 15 per cent (25 per cent) ruled out in three lens bins at 68 per cent (95 per cent) confidence at z < 0.54. Differences with respect to predictions based on clustering are observed to be at the 20–30 per cent level. Our results therefore suggest that lensing systematics alone are unlikely to fully explain the ‘lensing is low’ effect at z < 0.54. This analysis demonstrates the power of cross-survey comparisons and provides a promising path for identifying and reducing systematics in future lensing analyses.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

Multiwavelength optical and NIR variability analysis of the Blazar PKS 0027-426

ABSTRACT We present multiwavelength spectral and temporal variability analysis of PKS 0027-426 using optical griz observations from Dark Energy Survey between 2013 and 2018 and VEILS Optical Light curves of Extragalactic TransienT Events (VOILETTE) between 2018 and 2019 and near-infrared (NIR) JKs observations from Visible and Infrared Survey Telescope for Astronomy Extragalactic Infrared Legacy Survey (VEILS) between 2017 and 2019. Multiple methods of cross-correlation of each combination of light curve provides measurements of possible lags between optical–optical, optical–NIR, and NIR–NIR emission, for each observation season and for the entire observational period. Inter-band time lag measurements consistently suggest either simultaneous emission or delays between emission regions on time-scales smaller than the cadences of observations. The colour–magnitude relation between each combination of filters was also studied to determine the spectral behaviour of PKS 0027-426. Our results demonstrate complex colour behaviour that changes between bluer when brighter, stable when brighter, and redder when brighter trends over different time-scales and using different combinations of optical filters. Additional analysis of the optical spectra is performed to provide further understanding of this complex spectral behaviour.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

Dark Energy Survey Year 3 Results: clustering redshifts – calibration of the weak lensing source redshift distributions with redMaGiC and BOSS/eBOSS

ABSTRACT We present the calibration of the Dark Energy Survey Year 3 (DES Y3) weak lensing (WL) source galaxy redshift distributions n(z) from clustering measurements. In particular, we cross-correlate the WL source galaxies sample with redMaGiC galaxies (luminous red galaxies with secure photometric redshifts) and a spectroscopic sample from BOSS/eBOSS to estimate the redshift distribution of the DES sources sample. Two distinct methods for using the clustering statistics are described. The first uses the clustering information independently to estimate the mean redshift of the source galaxies within a redshift window, as done in the DES Y1 analysis. The second method establishes a likelihood of the clustering data as a function of n(z), which can be incorporated into schemes for generating samples of n(z) subject to combined clustering and photometric constraints. Both methods incorporate marginalization over various astrophysical systematics, including magnification and redshift-dependent galaxy-matter bias. We characterize the uncertainties of the methods in simulations; the first method recovers the mean z of tomographic bins to RMS (precision) of ∼0.014. Use of the second method is shown to vastly improve the accuracy of the shape of n(z) derived from photometric data. The two methods are then applied to the DES Y3 data.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

Dark Energy Survey Year 3 results: galaxy–halo connection from galaxy–galaxy lensing

ABSTRACT Galaxy–galaxy lensing is a powerful probe of the connection between galaxies and their host dark matter haloes, which is important both for galaxy evolution and cosmology. We extend the measurement and modelling of the galaxy–galaxy lensing signal in the recent Dark Energy Survey Year 3 cosmology analysis to the highly non-linear scales (∼100 kpc). This extension enables us to study the galaxy–halo connection via a Halo Occupation Distribution (HOD) framework for the two lens samples used in the cosmology analysis: a luminous red galaxy sample (redmagic) and a magnitude-limited galaxy sample (maglim). We find that redmagic (maglim) galaxies typically live in dark matter haloes of mass log10(Mh/M⊙) ≈ 13.7 which is roughly constant over redshift (13.3−13.5 depending on redshift). We constrain these masses to ${\sim}15{{\ \rm per\ cent}}$, approximately 1.5 times improvement over the previous work. We also constrain the linear galaxy bias more than five times better than what is inferred by the cosmological scales only. We find the satellite fraction for redmagic (maglim) to be ∼0.1−0.2 (0.1−0.3) with no clear trend in redshift. Our constraints on these halo properties are broadly consistent with other available estimates from previous work, large-scale constraints, and simulations. The framework built in this paper will be used for future HOD studies with other galaxy samples and extensions for cosmological analyses.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

Probing gravity with the DES-CMASS sample and BOSS spectroscopy

ABSTRACT The DES-CMASS sample (DMASS) is designed to optimally combine the weak lensing measurements from the Dark Energy Survey (DES) and redshift-space distortions (RSD) probed by the CMASS galaxy sample from the Baryonic Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey. In this paper, we demonstrate the feasibility of adopting DMASS as the equivalent of CMASS for a joint analysis of DES and BOSS in the framework of modified gravity. We utilize the angular clustering of the DMASS galaxies, cosmic shear of the DES metacalibration sources, and cross-correlation of the two as data vectors. By jointly fitting the combination of the data with the RSD measurements from the CMASS sample and Planck data, we obtain the constraints on modified gravity parameters $\mu _0=-0.37^{+0.47}_{-0.45}$ and $\Sigma _0=0.078^{+0.078}_{-0.082}$. Our constraints of modified gravity with DMASS are tighter than those with the DES Year 1 redMaGiC sample with the same external data sets by 29 per cent for μ0 and 21 per cent for Σ0, and comparable to the published results of the DES Year 1 modified gravity analysis despite this work using fewer external data sets. This improvement is mainly because the galaxy bias parameter is shared and more tightly constrained by both CMASS and DMASS, effectively breaking the degeneracy between the galaxy bias and other cosmological parameters. Such an approach to optimally combine photometric and spectroscopic surveys using a photometric sample equivalent to a spectroscopic sample can be applied to combining future surveys having a limited overlap such as DESI and LSST.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

C/2014 UN 271 (Bernardinelli-Bernstein): The Nearly Spherical Cow of Comets

Abstract Comet C/2014 UN 271 (Bernardinelli-Bernstein), incoming from the Oort cloud, is remarkable in having the brightest (and presumably largest) nucleus of any well-measured comet and having been discovered at the heliocentric distance r h ≈ 29 au, farther than any Oort cloud comet. In this work, we describe the discovery process and observations and the properties that can be inferred from images recorded until the first reports of activity in 2021 June. The orbit has i = 95°, with a perihelion of 10.97 au to be reached in 2031 and a previous aphelion at 40,400 ± 260 au. Backward integration of the orbit under a standard Galactic tidal model and known stellar encounters suggests a perihelion of q ≈ 18 au on its previous perihelion passage 3.5 Myr ago; hence, the current data could be the first ever obtained of a comet that has not been inside Uranus’s orbit in 4 Gyr. The photometric data show an unresolved nucleus with absolute magnitude H r = 8.0, colors that are typical of comet nuclei or Damocloids, and no secular trend as it traversed the range 34–23 au. For the r -band geometric albedo p r , this implies a diameter of 150 ( p r / 0.04 ) − 0.5 km. There is strong evidence of brightness fluctuations at the ±0.2 mag level, but no rotation period can be discerned. A coma, nominally consistent with a “stationary” 1/ ρ surface brightness distribution, grew in scattering cross section at an exponential rate from A f ρ ≈ 1 to ≈150 m as the comet approached from 28 to 20 au. The activity rate is consistent with a very simple model of sublimation of a surface species in radiative equilibrium with the Sun. The inferred enthalpy of sublimation matches those of CO 2 and NH 3 . More volatile species, such as N 2 , CH 4 , and CO, must be far less abundant on the sublimating surfaces.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

Galaxy–galaxy lensing with the DES-CMASS catalogue: measurement and constraints on the galaxy-matter cross-correlation

ABSTRACT The DMASS sample is a photometric sample from the DES Year 1 data set designed to replicate the properties of the CMASS sample from BOSS, in support of a joint analysis of DES and BOSS beyond the small overlapping area. In this paper, we present the measurement of galaxy–galaxy lensing using the DMASS sample as gravitational lenses in the DES Y1 imaging data. We test a number of potential systematics that can bias the galaxy–galaxy lensing signal, including those from shear estimation, photometric redshifts, and observing conditions. After careful systematic tests, we obtain a highly significant detection of the galaxy–galaxy lensing signal, with total S/N = 25.7. With the measured signal, we assess the feasibility of using DMASS as gravitational lenses equivalent to CMASS, by estimating the galaxy-matter cross-correlation coefficient rcc. By jointly fitting the galaxy–galaxy lensing measurement with the galaxy clustering measurement from CMASS, we obtain $r_{\rm cc}=1.09^{+0.12}_{-0.11}$ for the scale cut of $4 \, h^{-1}{\rm \,\,Mpc}$ and $r_{\rm cc}=1.06^{+0.13}_{-0.12}$ for $12 \, h^{-1}{\rm \,\,Mpc}$ in fixed cosmology. By adding the angular galaxy clustering of DMASS, we obtain rcc = 1.06 ± 0.10 for the scale cut of $4 \, h^{-1}{\rm \,\,Mpc}$ and rcc = 1.03 ± 0.11 for $12 \, h^{-1}{\rm \,\,Mpc}$. The resulting values of rcc indicate that the lensing signal of DMASS is statistically consistent with the one that would have been measured if CMASS had populated the DES region within the given statistical uncertainty. The measurement of galaxy–galaxy lensing presented in this paper will serve as part of the data vector for the forthcoming cosmology analysis in preparation.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

Dark Energy Survey Year 3 Results: Deep Field optical + near-infrared images and catalogue

ABSTRACT We describe the Dark Energy Survey (DES) Deep Fields, a set of images and associated multiwavelength catalogue (ugrizJHKs) built from Dark Energy Camera (DECam) and Visible and Infrared Survey Telescope for Astronomy (VISTA) data. The DES Deep Fields comprise 11 fields (10 DES supernova fields plus COSMOS), with a total area of ∼30 sq. deg. in ugriz bands and reaching a maximum i-band depth of 26.75 (AB, 10σ, 2 arcsec). We present a catalogue for the DES 3-yr cosmology analysis of those four fields with full 8-band coverage, totalling 5.88 sq. deg. after masking. Numbering 2.8 million objects (1.6 million post-masking), our catalogue is drawn from images coadded to consistent depths of r = 25.7, i = 25, and z = 24.3 mag. We use a new model-fitting code, built upon established methods, to deblend sources and ensure consistent colours across the u-band to Ks-band wavelength range. We further detail the tight control we maintain over the point-spread function modelling required for the model fitting, astrometry and consistency of photometry between the four fields. The catalogue allows us to perform a careful star–galaxy separation and produces excellent photometric redshift performance (NMAD = 0.023 at i < 23). The Deep-Fields catalogue will be made available as part of the cosmology data products release, following the completion of the DES 3-yr weak lensing and galaxy clustering cosmology work.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗

Dark Energy Survey Y3 results: blending shear and redshift biases in image simulations

ABSTRACT As the statistical power of galaxy weak lensing reaches per cent level precision, large, realistic, and robust simulations are required to calibrate observational systematics, especially given the increased importance of object blending as survey depths increase. To capture the coupled effects of blending in both shear and photometric redshift calibration, we define the effective redshift distribution for lensing, nγ(z), and describe how to estimate it using image simulations. We use an extensive suite of tailored image simulations to characterize the performance of the shear estimation pipeline applied to the Dark Energy Survey (DES) Year 3 data set. We describe the multiband, multi-epoch simulations, and demonstrate their high level of realism through comparisons to the real DES data. We isolate the effects that generate shear calibration biases by running variations on our fiducial simulation, and find that blending-related effects are the dominant contribution to the mean multiplicative bias of approximately $-2{{\ \rm per\ cent}}$. By generating simulations with input shear signals that vary with redshift, we calibrate biases in our estimation of the effective redshift distribution, and demonstrate the importance of this approach when blending is present. We provide corrected effective redshift distributions that incorporate statistical and systematic uncertainties, ready for use in DES Year 3 weak lensing analyses.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

The mass and galaxy distribution around SZ-selected clusters

ABSTRACT We present measurements of the radial profiles of the mass and galaxy number density around Sunyaev–Zel’dovich (SZ)-selected clusters using both weak lensing and galaxy counts. The clusters are selected from the Atacama Cosmology Telescope Data Release 5 and the galaxies from the Dark Energy Survey Year 3 data set. With signal-to-noise ratio of 62 (45) for galaxy (weak lensing) profiles over scales of about 0.2–20 h−1 Mpc, these are the highest precision measurements for SZ-selected clusters to date. Because SZ selection closely approximates mass selection, these measurements enable several tests of theoretical models of the mass and light distribution around clusters. Our main findings are: (1) The splashback feature is detected at a consistent location in both the mass and galaxy profiles and its location is consistent with predictions of cold dark matter N-body simulations. (2) The full mass profile is also consistent with the simulations. (3) The shapes of the galaxy and lensing profiles are remarkably similar for our sample over the entire range of scales, from well inside the cluster halo to the quasilinear regime. We measure the dependence of the profile shapes on the galaxy sample, redshift, and cluster mass. We extend the Diemer & Kravtsov model for the cluster profiles to the linear regime using perturbation theory and show that it provides a good match to the measured profiles. We also compare the measured profiles to predictions of the standard halo model and simulations that include hydrodynamics. Applications of these results to cluster mass estimation, cosmology, and astrophysics are discussed.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

Reducing Ground-based Astrometric Errors with Gaia and Gaussian Processes

Stochastic field distortions caused by atmospheric turbulence are a fundamental limitation to the astrometric accuracy of ground-based imaging. This distortion field is measurable at the locations of stars with accurate positions provided by the Gaia DR2 catalog; we develop the use of Gaussian process regression (GPR) to interpolate the distortion field to arbitrary locations in each exposure. We introduce an extension to standard GPR techniques that exploits the knowledge that the 2D distortion field is curl-free. Applied to several hundred 90 s exposures from the Dark Energy Survey as a test bed, we find that the GPR correction reduces the variance of the turbulent astrometric distortions ≈12× , on average, with better performance in denser regions of the Gaia catalog. The rms per-coordinate distortion in the riz bands is typically ≈7 mas before any correction and ≈2 mas after application of the GPR model. The GPR astrometric corrections are validated by the observation that their use reduces, from 10 to 5 mas rms, the residuals to an orbit fit to riz-band observations over 5 yr of the r = 18.5 trans-Neptunian object Eris. We also propose a GPR method, not yet implemented, for simultaneously estimating the turbulence fields and the 5D stellar solutions in a stack of overlapping exposures, which should yield further turbulence reductions in future deep surveys.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗

Dark Energy Survey year 3 results: covariance modelling and its impact on parameter estimation and quality of fit

ABSTRACT We describe and test the fiducial covariance matrix model for the combined two-point function analysis of the Dark Energy Survey Year 3 (DES-Y3) data set. Using a variety of new ansatzes for covariance modelling and testing, we validate the assumptions and approximations of this model. These include the assumption of Gaussian likelihood, the trispectrum contribution to the covariance, the impact of evaluating the model at a wrong set of parameters, the impact of masking and survey geometry, deviations from Poissonian shot noise, galaxy weighting schemes, and other sub-dominant effects. We find that our covariance model is robust and that its approximations have little impact on goodness of fit and parameter estimation. The largest impact on best-fitting figure-of-merit arises from the so-called fsky approximation for dealing with finite survey area, which on average increases the χ2 between maximum posterior model and measurement by $3.7{{\ \rm per\ cent}}$ (Δχ2 ≈ 18.9). Standard methods to go beyond this approximation fail for DES-Y3, but we derive an approximate scheme to deal with these features. For parameter estimation, our ignorance of the exact parameters at which to evaluate our covariance model causes the dominant effect. We find that it increases the scatter of maximum posterior values for Ωm and σ8 by about $3{{\ \rm per\ cent}}$ and for the dark energy equation-of-state parameter by about $5{{\ \rm per\ cent}}$.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

OzDES Reverberation Mapping Programme: the first Mg ii lags from 5 yr of monitoring

ABSTRACT Reverberation mapping is a robust method to measure the masses of supermassive black holes outside of the local Universe. Measurements of the radius–luminosity (R−L) relation using the Mg ii emission line are critical for determining these masses near the peak of quasar activity at z ≈ 1−2, and for calibrating secondary mass estimators based on Mg ii that can be applied to large samples with only single-epoch spectroscopy. We present the first nine Mg ii lags from our 5-yr Australian Dark Energy Survey reverberation mapping programme, which substantially improves the number and quality of Mg ii lag measurements. As the Mg ii feature is somewhat blended with iron emission, we model and subtract both the continuum and iron contamination from the multiepoch spectra before analysing the Mg ii line. We also develop a new method of quantifying correlated spectroscopic calibration errors based on our numerous, contemporaneous observations of F-stars. The lag measurements for seven of our nine sources are consistent with both the H β and Mg ii R−L relations reported by previous studies. Our simulations verify the lag reliability of our nine measurements, and we estimate that the median false positive rate of the lag measurements is $4{{\ \rm per\ cent}}$.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

Galaxy morphological classification catalogue of the Dark Energy Survey Year 3 data with convolutional neural networks

ABSTRACT We present in this paper one of the largest galaxy morphological classification catalogues to date, including over 20 million galaxies, using the Dark Energy Survey (DES) Year 3 data based on convolutional neural networks (CNNs). Monochromatic i-band DES images with linear, logarithmic, and gradient scales, matched with debiased visual classifications from the Galaxy Zoo 1 (GZ1) catalogue, are used to train our CNN models. With a training set including bright galaxies (16 ≤ i < 18) at low redshift (z < 0.25), we furthermore investigate the limit of the accuracy of our predictions applied to galaxies at fainter magnitude and at higher redshifts. Our final catalogue covers magnitudes 16 ≤ i < 21, and redshifts z < 1.0, and provides predicted probabilities to two galaxy types – ellipticals and spirals (disc galaxies). Our CNN classifications reveal an accuracy of over 99 per cent for bright galaxies when comparing with the GZ1 classifications (i < 18). For fainter galaxies, the visual classification carried out by three of the co-authors shows that the CNN classifier correctly categorizes discy galaxies with rounder and blurred features, which humans often incorrectly visually classify as ellipticals. As a part of the validation, we carry out one of the largest examinations of non-parametric methods, including ∼100 ,000 galaxies with the same coverage of magnitude and redshift as the training set from our catalogue. We find that the Gini coefficient is the best single parameter discriminator between ellipticals and spirals for this data set.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

Rates and delay times of type Ia supernovae in the Dark Energy Survey

We use a sample of 809 photometrically classified Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) discovered by the Dark Energy Survey (DES) along with 40 415 field galaxies to calculate the rate of SNe Ia per galaxy in the redshift range 0.2 < z < 0.6. We recover the known correlation between SN Ia rate and galaxy stellar mass across a broad range of scales 8.5 ≤ log (M*/M ⊙ ) ≤ 11.25. We find that the SN Ia rate increases with stellar mass as a power law with index 0.63 ± 0.02, which is consistent with the previous work. We use an empirical model of stellar mass assembly to estimate the average star formation histories (SFHs) of galaxies across the stellar mass range of our measurement. Combining the modelled SFHs with the SN Ia rates to estimate constraints on the SN Ia delay time distribution (DTD), we find that the data are fit well by a power-law DTD with slope index β = –1.13 ± 0.05 and normalization A = 2.11 ± 0.05 × 10 –13 SNe M ⊙ –1 yr –1 , which corresponds to an overall SN Ia production efficiency N Ia /M * = 0.9 $^{+4.0}_{–0.7}$ × 10 –3 SNe M$^{–1}_{⊙}$. Upon splitting the SN sample by properties of the light curves, we find a strong dependence on DTD slope with the SN decline rate, with slower-declining SNe exhibiting a steeper DTD slope. We interpret this as a result of a relationship between intrinsic luminosity and progenitor age, and explore the implications of the result in the context of SN Ia progenitors.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗