DOE OSTI · 3011025
Validation of the DESI DR2 measurements of baryon acoustic oscillations from galaxies and quasars
Abstract
The Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) Data Release 2 (DR2) galaxy and quasar clustering data represents a significant expansion of data from Data Release 1 (DR1), providing improved statistical precision in baryon acoustic oscillation (BAO) constraints across multiple tracers, including bright galaxies, luminous red galaxies, emission line galaxies, and quasars. In this paper, we validate the BAO analysis of DR2. We present the results of robustness tests on the blinded DR2 data and, after unblinding, consistency checks on the unblinded DR2 data. All results are compared with those obtained from a suite of mock catalogs that replicate the selection and clustering properties of the DR2 sample. We confirm the consistency of DR2 BAO measurements with DR1 while achieving a reduction in statistical uncertainties due to the increased survey volume and completeness. The combined BAO precision, including both statistical and systematic errors, improves from ∼0.52% in DR1 to 0.30% in DR2—a factor of 1.7 gain. We assess the impact of analysis choices, including different data vectors (correlation function vs power spectrum), modeling approaches and systematics treatments, and an assumption of the Gaussian likelihood, finding that our BAO constraints are stable across these variations and assumptions with a few minor refinements to the baseline setup of the DR1 BAO analysis. We summarize a series of pre-unblinding tests that confirmed the readiness of our analysis pipeline, the final systematic errors, and the DR2 BAO analysis baseline. The successful completion of these tests led to the unblinding of the DR2 BAO measurements, ultimately leading to the DESI DR2 cosmological analysis, with their implications for the expansion history of the Universe and the nature of dark energy presented in the DESI key paper (companion paper).
Explore related subjects
Keep this discovery
Explore connections, maps & timelines
Andrade, U. [University of Michigan; University of Michigan] (ORCID:0000000241188236), Paillas, E. [University of Arizona; Universidad Diego Portales] (ORCID:0000000246372868), Mena-Fernández, J. [Laboratoire de Physique Subatomique et de Cosmologie] (ORCID:0000000194977266), Li, Q. [The University of Utah] (ORCID:0000000336166486), Ross, A. J. [The Ohio State University; The Ohio State University; The Ohio State University] (ORCID:0000000275229083), Nadathur, S. [University of Portsmouth] (ORCID:0000000190703102), Rashkovetskyi, M. [Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian] (ORCID:0000000171442349), Pérez-Fernández, A. [Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics] (ORCID:0009000613314035), Seo, H. [Ohio University] (ORCID:0000000265883508), Sanders, N. [Ohio University] (ORCID:0009000800202995), Alves, O. [University of Michigan], Chen, X. [Yale University] (ORCID:0000000334560957), Deiosso, N. [CIEMAT] (ORCID:0000000273114506), de Mattia, A. [IRFU] (ORCID:0000000309202947), White, M. [University of California, Berkeley; University of California] (ORCID:0000000199125070), Karim, M. Abdul [IRFU] (ORCID:000900007133142X), Ahlen, S. [Boston University] (ORCID:0000000160987247), Armengaud, E. [IRFU] (ORCID:0000000176005148), Aviles, A. [Instituto Avanzado de Cosmología A. C.; Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México] (ORCID:0000000159983986), Bansal, P. [University of Michigan; University of Michigan] (ORCID:0009000073094341), Behera, J. [Kansas State University] (ORCID:0009000224345903), Bianchi, D. [Università degli Studi di Milano; INAF-Osservatorio Astronomico di Brera] (ORCID:0000000197120006), Brieden, S. [University of Edinburgh] (ORCID:0000000338969215), Brodzeller, A. [Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory] (ORCID:0000000289340954), Brooks, D. [University College London], Burtin, E. [IRFU], Calderon, R. [Institute of Physics of the Czech Academy of Sciences] (ORCID:0000000282157292), Canning, R. [University of Portsmouth], Rosell, A. Carnero [Universidad de La Laguna (ULL); Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias] (ORCID:0000000330445150), Casas, L. [The Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology], Castander, F. J. [Institut d’Estudis Espacials de Catalunya (IEEC); Institute of Space Sciences] (ORCID:0000000173164573), Charles, M. [The Ohio State University] (ORCID:0009000640364919), Chaussidon, E. [Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory] (ORCID:0000000189964874), Chaves-Montero, J. [The Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology] (ORCID:0000000295534261), Claybaugh, T. [Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory], Cole, S. [Durham University] (ORCID:0000000259547903), Cooper, A. P. [National Tsing Hua University] (ORCID:000000018274158X), Cuceu, A. [Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory] (ORCID:0000000221690595), Dawson, K. S. [The University of Utah] (ORCID:0000000205533805), de la Macorra, A. [Ciudad Universitaria] (ORCID:0000000217691640), Della Costa, J. [San Diego State University; NSF NOIRLab] (ORCID:0000000309282000), Dey, A. [NSF NOIRLab] (ORCID:0000000249284003), Dey, B. [University of Toronto; University of Pittsburgh] (ORCID:0000000256657912), Ding, Z. [University of Chinese Academy of Sciences] (ORCID:0000000233693718), Doel, P. [University College London], Eisenstein, D. J. [Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian], Elbers, W. [Durham University] (ORCID:0000000222076108), Fernández-García, E. [Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía (CSIC)] (ORCID:0009000621259590), Ferraro, S. [Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory; University of California] (ORCID:0000000349927854), Font-Ribera, A. [The Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology] (ORCID:0000000230337312), Forero-Romero, J. E. [Universidad de los Andes; Universidad de los Andes] (ORCID:0000000228903725), Garcia-Quintero, C. [Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian] (ORCID:0000000314814294), Garrison, L. H. [Flatiron Institute; Flatiron Institute] (ORCID:0000000298535673), Gaztañaga, E. [Institut d’Estudis Espacials de Catalunya (IEEC); University of Portsmouth; Institute of Space Sciences], Gil-Marín, H. [Universitat de Barcelona; Institut d’Estudis Espacials de Catalunya (IEEC); Universitat de Barcelona (UB)] (ORCID:0000000302656217), Gontcho, S. Gontcho A [Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory] (ORCID:000000033142233X), Gonzalez-Morales, A. X. [Universidad de Guanajuato] (ORCID:0000000340896924), Gordon, C. [The Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology] (ORCID:0000000325615733), Gutierrez, G. [Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory], Guy, J. [Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory] (ORCID:0000000198226793), Hahn, C. [University of Arizona] (ORCID:0000000311970902), He, S. [Institute of Physics], Herrera-Alcantar, H. K. [Institut d’Astrophysique de Paris; IRFU] (ORCID:0000000291369609), Honscheid, K. [The Ohio State University; The Ohio State University; The Ohio State University] (ORCID:0000000265502023), Howlett, C. [University of Queensland] (ORCID:0000000210819410), Huterer, D. [University of Michigan] (ORCID:0000000165580112), Ishak, M. [The University of Texas at Dallas] (ORCID:000000026024466X), Juneau, S. [NSF NOIRLab] (ORCID:0000000200002394), Kehoe, R. [Southern Methodist University], Kirkby, D. [University of California] (ORCID:0000000288285463), Kisner, T. [Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory] (ORCID:0000000335107134), Kremin, A. [Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory] (ORCID:0000000163567424), Lahav, O. [University College London], Lamman, C. [Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian] (ORCID:0000000267319329), Landriau, M. [Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory] (ORCID:0000000318388528), Le Guillou, L. [Sorbonne Université] (ORCID:0000000171788868), Leauthaud, A. [University of California; University of California] (ORCID:0000000236773617), Levi, M. E. [Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory] (ORCID:0000000318871018), Magneville, C. [IRFU], Manera, M. [Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona; The Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology] (ORCID:0000000349628934), Martini, P. [The Ohio State University; The Ohio State University; The Ohio State University] (ORCID:0000000242794182), Matthewson, W. L. [Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute] (ORCID:000000016957772X), Meisner, A. [NSF NOIRLab] (ORCID:0000000211257384), Miquel, R. [Institució Catalana de Recerca i Estudis Avançats; The Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology], Moustakas, J. [Department of Physics and Astronomy] (ORCID:0000000227334559), Muñoz-Gutiérrez, A. [Ciudad Universitaria], Muñoz-Santos, D. [Aix Marseille Université], Myers, A. D. [University of Wyoming], Napolitano, L. [University of Wyoming] (ORCID:0000000251668671), Newman, J. A. [University of Pittsburgh] (ORCID:0000000186842222), Noriega, H. E. [Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México; Ciudad Universitaria] (ORCID:0000000233973998), Palanque-Delabrouille, N. [IRFU; Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory] (ORCID:000000033188784X), Pan, J. [University of Michigan] (ORCID:0000000196855756), Percival, W. J. [University of Waterloo; Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics; University of Waterloo] (ORCID:0000000206445727), Pérez-Ràfols, I. [Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya] (ORCID:0000000169790125), Poppett, C. [Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory; University of California; University of California], Prada, F. [Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía (CSIC)] (ORCID:0000000171458674), Raichoor, A. [Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory] (ORCID:0000000159997923), Ramírez-Pérez, C. [The Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology], Ravoux, C. [Université Clermont-Auvergne] (ORCID:0000000235006635). 2025-10-06. Validation of the DESI DR2 measurements of baryon acoustic oscillations from galaxies and quasars. https://doi.org/10.1103/kdys-w8vl
Cite the original work for its findings. Save a collection to share your selection of sources.