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DOE OSTI2025

Impact and mitigation of spectroscopic systematics on DESI DR1 clustering measurements

The large scale structure catalogs within DESI Data Release 1 (DR1) use nearly 6 million galaxies and quasars as tracers of the large-scale structure of the universe to measure the expansion history with baryon acoustic oscillations and the growth of structure with redshift-space distortions. In order to take advantage of DESI's unprecedented statistical power, we must ensure that the galaxy clustering measurements are unaffected by non-cosmological density fluctuations. One source of spurious fluctuations comes from variation in galaxy density with spectroscopic observing conditions, lowering the redshift efficiency (and thus galaxy density) in certain areas of the sky. We measure the uniformity of the redshift success rate for DESI luminous red galaxies (LRG), bright galaxies (BGS) and quasars (QSO), complementing the detailed discussion of emission line galaxy (ELG) systematics in a companion paper [1]. We find small but significant fluctuations of up to 3% in redshift success rate with the effective spectroscopic signal-to-noise, and create and describe weights that remove these fluctuations. We also describe the process to identify and remove data from certain poorly performing fibers from DESI DR1, and measure the stability of the redshift success rate with time. Finally, we find small but significant correlations of redshift success rate with position on the focal plane, survey speed, and number of exposures required, and show the impact of weights correcting these trends on the power spectrum multipoles and on cosmological parameters from BAO and RSD fits. These corrections change the best-fit parameters by <15% of their statistical errors, and thus contribute negligibly to the overall DESI error budget.

cosmological parameters from LSS↗
DOE OSTI2025

Cosmological constraints from the cross-correlation of DESI Luminous Red Galaxies with CMB lensing from Planck PR4 and ACT DR6

Here, we infer the growth of large scale structure over the redshift range 0.4 ≲ z ≲ 1 from the cross-correlation of spectroscopically calibrated Luminous Red Galaxies (LRGs) selected from the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) legacy imaging survey with CMB lensing maps reconstructed from the latest Planck and ACT data. We adopt a hybrid effective field theory (HEFT) model that robustly regulates the cosmological information obtainable from smaller scales, such that our cosmological constraints are reliably derived from the (predominantly) linear regime. We perform an extensive set of bandpower- and parameter-level systematics checks to ensure the robustness of our results and to characterize the uniformity of the LRG sample. We demonstrate that our results are stable to a wide range of modeling assumptions, finding excellent agreement with a linear theory analysis performed on a restricted range of scales. From a tomographic analysis of the four LRG photometric redshift bins we find that the rate of structure growth is consistent with ΛCDM with an overall amplitude that is ≃ 5-7% lower than predicted by primary CMB measurements with modest (∼ 2σ) statistical significance. From the combined analysis of all four bins and their cross-correlations with Planck we obtain S 8 = 0.765 ± 0.023, which is less discrepant with primary CMB measurements than previous DESI LRG cross Planck CMB lensing results. From the cross-correlation with ACT we obtain S 8 = 0.790 +0.024 -0.027 , while when jointly analyzing Planck and ACT we find S 8 = 0.775 +0.019 -0.022 from our data alone and σ 8 = 0.772 +0.020 -0.023 with the addition of BAO data. These constraints are consistent with the latest Planck primary CMB analyses at the ≃ 1.6-2.2σ level, and are in excellent agreement with galaxy lensing surveys.

cosmological parameters from LSS↗
DOE OSTI2025

Mitigating imaging systematics for DESI 2024 emission Line Galaxies and beyond

Emission Line Galaxies (ELGs) are one of the main tracers that the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) uses to probe the universe. However, they are afflicted by strong spurious correlations between target density and observing conditions known as imaging systematics. In this paper, we present the imaging systematics mitigation applied to the DESI Data Release 1 (DR1) large-scale structure catalogs used in the DESI 2024 cosmological analyses. We also explore extensions of the fiducial treatment. This includes a combined approach, through forward image simulations (Obiwan) in conjunction with neural network-based regression, to obtain an angular selection function that mitigates the imaging systematics observed in the DESI DR1 ELGs target density. We further derive a line of sight selection function from the forward model that removes the strong redshift dependence between imaging systematics and low redshift ELGs. Combining both angular and redshift-dependent systematics, we construct a three-dimensional selection function and assess the impact of all selection functions on clustering statistics. We quantify differences between these extended treatments and the fiducial treatment in terms of the measured 2-point statistics. We find that the results are generally consistent with the fiducial treatment and conclude that the differences are far less than the imaging systematics uncertainty included in DESI 2024 full-shape measurements. We extend our investigation to the ELGs at 0.6 < z < 0.8, i.e., beyond the redshift range (0.8 < z < 1.6) adopted for the DESI clustering catalog, and demonstrate that determining the full three-dimensional selection function is necessary in this redshift range. Our tests showed that all changes are consistent with statistical noise for BAO analyses indicating they are robust to even severe imaging systematics. Specific tests for the full-shape analysis will be presented in a companion paper.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2025

Enhancing DESI DR1 full-shape analyses using HOD-informed priors

We present an analysis of DESI Data Release 1 (DR1) that incorporates Halo Occupation Distribution (HOD)-informed priors into Full-Shape (FS) modeling of the power spectrum based on cosmological perturbation theory (PT). By leveraging physical insights from the galaxy-halo connection, these HOD-informed priors on nuisance parameters substantially mitigate projection effects in extended cosmological models that allow for dynamical dark energy. The resulting credible intervals now encompass the posterior maximum from the baseline analysis using gaussian priors, eliminating a significant posterior shift observed in baseline studies. In the ΛCDM framework, a combined DESI DR1 FS information and constraints from the DESI DR1 baryon acoustic oscillations (BAO) — including Big Bang Nucleosynthesis (BBN) constraints and a weak prior on the scalar spectral index — yields Ω m = 0.2994 ± 0.0090 and σ 8 = 0.836$^{+0.024}_{-0.027}$, representing improvements of approximately 4% and 23% over the baseline analysis, respectively. For the w 0 w a CDM model, our results from various data combinations are highly consistent, with all configurations converging to a region with w 0 > -1 and w a < 0. This convergence not only suggests intriguing hints of dynamical dark energy but also underscores the robustness of our HOD-informed prior approach in delivering reliable cosmological constraints.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2025

The Atacama Cosmology Telescope: DR6 constraints on extended cosmological models

We use new cosmic microwave background (CMB) primary temperature and polarization anisotropy measurements from the Atacama Cosmology Telescope (ACT) Data Release 6 (DR6) to test foundational assumptions of the standard cosmological model, ΛCDM, and set constraints on extensions to it. We derive constraints from the ACT DR6 power spectra alone, as well as in combination with legacy data from the Planck mission. To break geometric degeneracies, we include ACT and Planck CMB lensing data and baryon acoustic oscillation data from DESI Year-1. To test the dependence of our results on non-ACT data, we also explore combinations replacing Planck with WMAP and DESI with BOSS, and further add supernovae measurements from Pantheon+ for models that affect the late-time expansion history. We verify the near-scale-invariance (running of the spectral index dn s /d ln k = 0.0062 ± 0.0052) and adiabaticity of the primordial perturbations. Neutrino properties are consistent with Standard Model predictions: we find no evidence for new light, relativistic species that are free-streaming (N eff = 2.86 ± 0.13, which combined with astrophysical measurements of primordial helium and deuterium abundances becomes N eff = 2.89 ± 0.11), for non-zero neutrino masses (∑m ν < 0.089 eV at 95% CL), or for neutrino self-interactions. We also find no evidence for self-interacting dark radiation (N idr < 0.134), or for early-universe variation of fundamental constants, including the fine-structure constant (α EM /α EM,0 = 1.0043 ± 0.0017) and the electron mass (m e /m e,0 = 1.0063 ± 0.0056). Our data are consistent with standard big bang nucleosynthesis (we find Y p = 0.2312 ± 0.0092), the COBE/FIRAS-inferred CMB temperature (we find T CMB = 2.698 ± 0.016 K), a dark matter component that is collisionless and with only a small fraction allowed as axion-like particles, a cosmological constant (w = -0.986 ± 0.025), and the late-time growth rate predicted by general relativity (γ = 0.663 ± 0.052). We find no statistically significant preference for a departure from the baseline ΛCDM model. In fits to models invoking early dark energy, primordial magnetic fields, or an arbitrary modified recombination history, we find H 0 = 69.9 +0.8 -1.5 , 69.1 ± 0.5, or 69.6 ± 1.0 km/s/Mpc, respectively; using BOSS instead of DESI BAO data reduces the central values of these constraints by 1–1.5 km/s/Mpc while only slightly increasing the error bars. In general, models introduced to increase the Hubble constant or to decrease the amplitude of density fluctuations inferred from the primary CMB are not favored over ΛCDM by our data.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2025

Modeling of the high column density systems in the Lyman-Alpha forest

The Lyman-α forests observed in the spectra of high-redshift quasars can be used as a tracer of the cosmological matter density to study baryon acoustic oscillations (BAO) and the Alcock-Paczynski effect. Extraction of cosmological information from these studies requires modeling of the forest correlations. While the models depend most importantly on the bias parameters of the intergalactic medium (IGM), they also depend on the numbers and characteristics of high-column-density systems (HCDs) ranging from Lyman-limit systems with column densities log N HI /1cm -2 > 17 to damped Lyman-α systems (DLAs) with log N HI /1cm -2 > 20.2. These HCDs introduce broad damped absorption characteristic of a Voigt profile. Consequently they imprint a component on the power spectrum whose modes in the radial direction are suppressed, leading to a scale-dependent bias. Using mock data sets of known HCD content, we test a model that describes this effect in terms of the distribution of column densities of HCDs, the Fourier transforms of their Voigt profiles and the bias of the halos containing the HCDs. Our results show that this physically well-motivated model describes the effects of HCDs with an accuracy comparable to that of the ad-hoc models used in published forest analyses. We also discuss the problems of applying the model to real data, where the HCD content and their bias is uncertain.

Lyman alpha forest↗
DOE OSTI2026

H 0 without the sound horizon (or supernovae): A 2% measurement in DESI DR1

The sound horizon scale rs is a key source of information for measurements of H 0 from early-time data, and is therefore a common target of new physics proposed to solve the Hubble tension. We present a sub-2% measurement of the Hubble constant that is independent of this scale, using data from the first data release of the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI DR1). Building on previous work, we remove dependency on the sound horizon size using a heuristic rescaling procedure at the power spectrum level. A key innovation is the inclusion of uncalibrated (agnostic to r s ) post-reconstruction BAO measurements from DESI DR1, as well as using the CMB acoustic scale θ* as a high-redshift anchor. Uncalibrated type-Ia supernovae are often included as an independent source of Ω m information; here we demonstrate the robustness of our results by additionally considering two supernova-independent alternative datasets. We find somewhat higher values of H 0 relative to our previous work: 69.2 +1.3 -1.4 , 70.3 +1.4 -1.2 , and 69.6 +1.3 -1.8 km s -1 Mpc -1 respectively when including measurements from i) Planck/ACT CMB lensing × unWISE galaxies, ii) the DES Year 3 6×2pt analysis, and iii) Planck/ACT CMB lensing + the DES Year 5 supernova analysis. These remarkably consistent constraints achieve better than 2% precision; they are among the most stringent sound horizon-independent measurements from LSS to date, and provide a powerful avenue for probing the origin of the Hubble tension.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2026

Fiducial-cosmology-dependent systematics for the DESI 2024 full-shape analysis

We assess the impact of the fiducial cosmology choice on cosmological inference from full-shape (FS) fits of the galaxy power spectrum in the DESI 2024 Data Release 1 (DR1). Using a suite of AbacusSummit DR1 mock catalogues based on the Planck 2018 best-fit cosmology, we quantify potential systematic shifts introduced by analysing the data under five secondary cosmologies — featuring variations in matter density, thawing dark energy, higher effective number of neutrino species, reduced clustering amplitude, and the DESI DR1 BAO best-fit w 0 w a CDM cosmology — relative to DESI's baseline Planck 2018 cosmology. We investigate two complementary FS analysis approaches: full-modelling (FM) and ShapeFit (SF), each with distinct sensitivities to the assumed fiducial model. Across all tracers, we find for FM that systematic shifts induced by fiducial cosmology mismatches remain well below the DESI DR1 statistical uncertainties, with maximum deviations of 0.22σ DR1 in ΛCDM scenarios and 0.12σ DR1+SN when including SN Ia mock data in extended w 0 w a CDM fits. For SF, the shifts in the compressed parameters remain below 0.45σ DR1 for all tracers and cosmologies.

dark energy experiments↗
DOE OSTI2026

Cosmological analysis of the DESI DR1 Lyα 1D power spectrum

We present the cosmological analysis of the one-dimensional Lyman-α flux power spectrum from the first data release of the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI). We capture the dependence of the signal on cosmology and intergalactic medium physics using an emulator trained on a cosmological suite of hydrodynamical simulations, and we correct its predictions for the impact of astrophysical contaminants and systematics, many of these not considered in previous analyses. We employ this framework to constrain the amplitude and logarithmic slope of the linear matter power spectrum at k ★ = 0.009 km -1 s and redshift z = 3, obtaining Δ 2 ★ = 0.379 ± 0.032 and n ★ = -2.309 ± 0.019 https://github.com/igmhub/cobaya_lya_p1d. The robustness of these constraints is validated through the analysis of mocks and a large number of alternative data analysis variations, with cosmological parameters kept blinded throughout the validation process. We then combine our results with constraints from DESI BAO and temperature, polarization, and lensing measurements from Planck, ACT, and SPT-3G to set constraints on ΛCDM extensions. While our measurements do not significantly tighten the limits on the sum of neutrino masses from the combination of these probes, they sharpen the constraints on the effective number of relativistic species, N eff = 3.02 ± 0.10, the running of the spectral index, α s = 0.0014 ± 0.0041, and the running of the running, β s = -0.0006 ± 0.0048, by a factor of 1.18, 1.27, and 1.90, respectively. We conclude by outlining the improvements needed to fully reach the level of confidence implied by these uncertainties.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2026

Reviving sub-keV warm dark matter: a UVLF-based analysis

Thermal warm dark matter (WDM) particles with m WDM ≤ 1 keV are ruled out at more than 4σ by multiple observational probes, owing to the strong suppression of small-scale structure induced by early-time free-streaming. Recently, it was highlighted that a small admixture of ∼ 1% (f CDM ∼ 0.01) cold dark matter (CDM) endowed with a blue-tilted isocurvature spectrum could offset the WDM-induced suppression and relax the WDM mass bound by a factor of 𝒪(10). If viable, this “warm + cold-isocurvature” scenario would allow sub-keV WDM particles to constitute nearly the full dark matter abundance while potentially alleviating some small-scale tensions. In this work, we test this mechanism by constraining the WDM mass mWDM while marginalizing over CDM isocurvature parameters. We combine ultraviolet luminosity function measurements from the Hubble Space Telescope and James Webb Space Telescope over redshift 4 ≤ z ≤ 11 with CMB, BAO, and SNe data. For a pure WDM model, our joint analysis yields a lower bound m WDM > 1.8 keV (95% credible intervals). When CDM isocurvature is introduced at f CDM = 0.01, the limit relaxes to m WDM > 0.27 keV (95% credible intervals), reflecting a shallow degeneracy in which blue-tilted isocurvature fluctuations partially compensate for WDM suppression. These results provide new constraints on thermal WDM in the presence of CDM isocurvature fluctuations and quantify the extent to which such fluctuations can mask the small-scale signatures of light relics.

cosmological parameters from CMBR↗
DOE OSTI2020

The Completed SDSS-IV extended Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey: exploring the halo occupation distribution model for emission line galaxies

We study the modelling of the halo occupation distribution (HOD) for the eBOSS DR16 emission line galaxies (ELGs). Motivated by previous theoretical and observational studies, we consider different physical effects that can change how ELGs populate haloes. We explore the shape of the average HOD, the fraction of satellite galaxies, their probability distribution function (PDF), and their density and velocity profiles. Our baseline HOD shape was fitted to a semi-analytical model of galaxy formation and evolution, with a decaying occupation of central ELGs at high halo masses. We consider Poisson and sub/super-Poissonian PDFs for satellite assignment. We model both Navarro–Frenk–White and particle profiles for satellite positions, also allowing for decreased concentrations. We model velocities with the virial theorem and particle velocity distributions. Additionally, we introduce a velocity bias and a net infall velocity. We study how these choices impact the clustering statistics while keeping the number density and bias fixed to that from eBOSS ELGs. The projected correlation function, w p , captures most of the effects from the PDF and satellites profile. The quadrupole, ξ 2 , captures most of the effects coming from the velocity profile. We find that the impact of the mean HOD shape is subdominant relative to the rest of choices. Here, we fit the clustering of the eBOSS DR16 ELG data under different combinations of the above assumptions. The catalogues presented here have been analysed in companion papers, showing that eBOSS RSD+BAO measurements are insensitive to the details of galaxy physics considered here. These catalogues are made publicly available.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2020

The completed SDSS-IV extended baryon oscillation spectroscopic survey: geometry and growth from the anisotropic void–galaxy correlation function in the luminous red galaxy sample

ABSTRACT We present an analysis of the anisotropic redshift-space void–galaxy correlation in configuration space using the Sloan Digital Sky Survey extended Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (eBOSS) Data Release 16 luminous red galaxy (LRG) sample. This sample consists of LRGs between redshifts 0.6 and 1.0, combined with the high redshift z > 0.6 tail of the Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey Data Release 12 CMASS sample. We use a reconstruction method to undo redshift-space distortion (RSD) effects from the galaxy field before applying a watershed void-finding algorithm to remove bias from the void selection. We then perform a joint fit to the multipole moments of the correlation function for the growth rate fσ8 and the geometrical distance ratio DM/DH, finding $f\sigma _8(z_\rm {eff})=0.356\pm 0.079$ and $D_M/D_H(z_\rm {eff})=0.868\pm 0.017$ at the effective redshift $z_\rm {eff}=0.69$ of the sample. The posterior parameter degeneracies are orthogonal to those from galaxy clustering analyses applied to the same data, and the constraint achieved on DM/DH is significantly tighter. In combination with the consensus galaxy BAO and full-shape analyses of the same sample, we obtain fσ8 = 0.447 ± 0.039, DM/rd = 17.48 ± 0.23, and DH/rd = 20.10 ± 0.34. These values are in good agreement with the ΛCDM model predictions and represent reductions in the uncertainties of $13{{\ \rm per\ cent}}$, $23{{\ \rm per\ cent}}$, and $28{{\ \rm per\ cent}}$, respectively, compared to the combined results from galaxy clustering, or an overall reduction of 55 per cent in the allowed volume of parameter space.

Nadathur, Seshadri↗
DOE OSTI2020

Testing general relativity on cosmological scales at redshift z ∼ 1.5 with quasar and CMB lensing

ABSTRACT We test general relativity (GR) at the effective redshift $\bar{z} \sim 1.5$ by estimating the statistic EG, a probe of gravity, on cosmological scales $19 - 190\, h^{-1}{\rm Mpc}$. This is the highest redshift and largest scale estimation of EG so far. We use the quasar sample with redshifts 0.8 < z < 2.2 from Sloan Digital Sky Survey IV extended Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey Data Release 16 as the large-scale structure (LSS) tracer, for which the angular power spectrum $C_\ell ^{qq}$ and the redshift-space distortion parameter β are estimated. By cross-correlating with the Planck 2018 cosmic microwave background (CMB) lensing map, we detect the angular cross-power spectrum $C_\ell ^{\kappa q}$ signal at $12\, \sigma$ significance. Both jackknife resampling and simulations are used to estimate the covariance matrix (CM) of EG at five bins covering different scales, with the later preferred for its better constraints on the covariances. We find EG estimates agree with the GR prediction at $1\, \sigma$ level over all these scales. With the CM estimated with 300 simulations, we report a best-fitting scale-averaged estimate of $E_G(\bar{z})=0.30\pm 0.05$, which is in line with the GR prediction $E_G^{\rm GR}(\bar{z})=0.33$ with Planck 2018 CMB + BAO matter density fraction Ωm = 0.31. The statistical errors of EG with future LSS surveys at similar redshifts will be reduced by an order of magnitude, which makes it possible to constrain modified gravity models.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2021

The Completed SDSS-IV Extended Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey: N-body Mock Challenge for Galaxy Clustering Measurements

We develop a series of N-body data challenges, functional to the final analysis of the extended Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (eBOSS) Data Release 16 (DR16) galaxy sample. The challenges are primarily based on high-fidelity catalogues constructed from the Outer Rim simulation - a large box size realization (3h(-1) Gpc) characterized by an unprecedented combination of volume and mass resolution, down to 1.85 x 10(9) h(-1)M(circle dot). We generate synthetic galaxy mocks by populating Outer Rim haloes with a variety of halo occupation distribution (HOD) schemes of increasing complexity, spanning different redshift intervals. We then assess the performance of three complementary redshift space distortion (RSD) models in configuration and Fourier space, adopted for the analysis of the complete DR16 eBOSS sample of Luminous Red Galaxies (LRG5). We find all the methods mutually consistent, with comparable systematic errors on the Alcock-Paczynski parameters and the growth of structure, and robust to different HOD prescriptions - thus validating the robustness of the models and the pipelines used for the baryon acoustic oscillation (BAO) and full shape clustering analysis. In particular, all the techniques are able to recover and alpha(11) to within 0.9 per cent, and f sigma(8) to within 1.5 per cent. As a by-product of our work, we are also able to gain interesting insights on the galaxy-halo connection. Our study is relevant for the final eBOSS DR16 'consensus cosmology', as the systematic error budget is informed by testing the results of analyses against these high-resolution mocks. In addition, it is also useful for future large-volume surveys, since similar mock-making techniques and systematic corrections can be readily extended to model for instance the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) galaxy sample.

cosmology: theory, large-scale structure of Univer↗
DOE OSTI2022

The effect of quasar redshift errors on Lyman-α forest correlation functions

ABSTRACT Using synthetic Lyman-α forests from the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) survey, we present a study of the impact of errors in the estimation of quasar redshift on the Lyman-α correlation functions. Estimates of quasar redshift have large uncertainties of a few hundred km s−1 due to the broadness of the emission lines and the intrinsic shifts from other emission lines. We inject Gaussian random redshift errors into the mock quasar catalogues, and measure the auto-correlation and the Lyman-α-quasar cross-correlation functions. We find a smearing of the BAO feature in the radial direction, but changes in the peak position are negligible. However, we see a significant unphysical correlation for small separations transverse to the line of sight which increases with the amplitude of the redshift errors. We interpret this contamination as a result of the broadening of emission lines in the measured mean continuum, caused by quasar redshift errors, combined with the unrealistically strong clustering of the simulated quasars on small scales.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2023

Planting a Lyman alpha forest on ABACUSSUMMIT

The full-shape correlations of the Lyman alpha (Ly$α$) forest contain a wealth of cosmological information through the Alcock Paczynski effect. However, these measurements are challenging to model without robustly testing and verifying the theoretical framework used for analyzing 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) catalogs. 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 ($L$ box = 2 $h$ -1 Gpc, $N$ = 6912 3 ) 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; $L$ box = 205 $h$ -1 Mpc, $N$ = 2500 3 ). 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. Furthermore, our catalogues and skewers are publicly available on Globus via the National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center (NERSC) (full link under Data Availability).

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2023

The cross-correlation of galaxies in absorption with the Lyman α forest

ABSTRACT We present the first clustering measurement of Strong Blended Lyman α (SBLA) absorption systems by measuring their cross-correlation with the Lyman α forest. SBLAs are a new population of absorbers detected within the Lyman α forest. We find a bias of 2.329 ± 0.057, consistent with that of Damped Lyman α absorbers (DLAs). For DLAs, we recover a bias of 2.331 ± 0.057 larger than previously reported. We also find a redshift space distortion parameter β = 0.417 ± 0.010, also consistent with the recovered value for DLAs (β = 0.416 ± 0.010). This is consistent with SBLA and DLA systems tracing different portions of the circumgalactic medium of a broadly common population of galaxies. Given these common clustering properties, we combined them to perform a cross-correlation of galaxies in absorption with the Lyα forest. We find that the BAO scale uncertainty of this new measurement is 1.75 × that of Lyα autocorrelation and 1.6 × that of the quasar cross-correlation with the Lyα forest. We note that the current preferred metal contamination model for fitting the correlation functions with respect to the Lyα forest is not realistic enough for SBLA systems, likely due to their status as high redshift precision sites of high metal enrichment. Mock spectra including SBLA systems and their associated metal absorption are required to understand this sample fully. We conclude that SBLAs have the potential to complement the standard Lyα cosmological analyses in future surveys.

Astronomy & Astrophysics↗
DOE OSTI2025

Modelling the impact of quasar redshift errors on the full-shape analysis of correlations in the Lyman-α forest.

In preparation for the first cosmological measurements from the full shape of the Lyman-α (Lyα) forest from DESI, we must carefully model all relevant systematics that might bias our analysis. It was shown in Youles et al. (2022) that random quasar redshift errors produce a smoothing effect on the mean quasar continuum in the Lyα forest region. This, in turn, gives rise to spurious features in the Lyα autocorrelation and its cross-correlation with quasars. Using synthetic data sets based on the DESI survey, we confirm that the impact on BAO measurements is small, but that a bias is introduced to parameters which depend on the full shape of our correlations. We combine a model of this contamination in the cross-correlation (Youles et al. 2022) with a new model we introduce here for the auto-correlation. These are parametrised by 3 parameters, which, when included in a joint fit to both correlation functions, successfully eliminate any impact of redshift errors on our full-shape constraints. We also present a strategy for removing this contamination from real data, by removing ∼0.3% of correlating pairs.

cosmology↗