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XXL-HSC: An updated catalogue of high-redshift ( z ≥ 3.5) X-ray AGN in the XMM-XXL northern field

X-rays offer a reliable method to identify active galactic nuclei (AGNs). However, in the high-redshift Universe, X-ray AGNs are poorly sampled due to their relatively low space density and the small areas covered by X-ray surveys. In addition to wide-area X-ray surveys, it is important to have deep optical data in order to locate the optical counterparts and determine their redshifts. Here, in this work, we built a high-redshift (z ≥ 3.5) X-ray-selected AGN sample in the XMM-XXL northern field using the most updated [0.5–2 keV] catalogue along with a plethora of new spectroscopic and multi-wavelength catalogues, including the deep optical Subaru Hyper Suprime-Cam (HSC) data, reaching magnitude limits i ~ 26 mag. We selected all the spectroscopically confirmed AGN and complement this sample with high-redshift candidates that are HSC g- and r-band dropouts. To confirm the dropouts, we derived their photometric redshifts using spectral energy distribution techniques. We obtained a sample of 54 high-z sources (28 with spec-z), the largest in this field so far (almost three times larger than in previous studies), and we estimated the possible contamination and completeness. We calculated the number counts (log N-log S) in different redshift bins and compared our results with previous studies and models. We provide the strongest high-redshift AGN constraints yet at bright fluxes (f 0.5 – 2 keV > 10 –15 erg s –1 cm –2 ). The samples of z ≥ 3.5, z ≥ 4, and z ≥ 5 are in agreement with an exponential decline model similar to that witnessed at optical wavelengths. Our work emphasises the importance of using wide-area X-ray surveys with deep optical data to uncover high-redshift AGNs.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

Correcting correlation functions for redshift-dependent interloper contamination

ABSTRACT The construction of catalogues of a particular type of galaxy can be complicated by interlopers contaminating the sample. In spectroscopic galaxy surveys this can be due to the misclassification of an emission line; for example in the Hobby–Eberly Telescope Dark Energy Experiment (HETDEX) low-redshift [O ii] emitters may make up a few per cent of the observed Ly α emitter (LAE) sample. The presence of contaminants affects the measured correlation functions and power spectra. Previous attempts to deal with this using the cross-correlation function have assumed sources at a fixed redshift, or not modelled evolution within the adopted redshift bins. However, in spectroscopic surveys like HETDEX, where the contamination fraction is likely to be redshift dependent, the observed clustering of misclassified sources will appear to evolve strongly due to projection effects, even if their true clustering does not. We present a practical method for accounting for the presence of contaminants with redshift-dependent contamination fractions and projected clustering. We show using mock catalogues that our method, unlike existing approaches, yields unbiased clustering measurements from the upcoming HETDEX survey in scenarios with redshift-dependent contamination fractions within the redshift bins used. We show our method returns autocorrelation functions with systematic biases much smaller than the statistical noise for samples with at least as high as 7 per cent contamination. We also present and test a method for fitting for the redshift-dependent interloper fraction using the LAE–[O ii] galaxy cross-correlation function, which gives less biased results than assuming a single interloper fraction for the whole sample.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

No redshift evolution in the rest-frame ultraviolet emission line properties of quasars from z = 1.5 to z = 4.0

We analyse the rest-frame ultraviolet (UV) spectra of 2531 high-redshift (3.5 < z < 4.0) quasars from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey DR16Q catalogue. In combination with previous work, we study the redshift evolution of the rest-frame UV line properties across the entire redshift range, 1.5 < z < 4.0. We improve the systemic redshift estimates at z > 3.5 using a cross-correlation algorithm that employs high signal-to-noise template spectra spanning the full range in UV emission line properties. We then quantify the evolution of C iv and He ii emission line properties with redshift. The increase in C iv blueshifts with cosmological redshift can be fully explained by the higher luminosities of quasars observed at high redshifts. We recover broadly similar trends between the He ii equivalent width and C iv blueshift at both 1.5 < z < 2.65 and 3.5 < z < 4.0 suggesting that the blueshift depends systematically on the spectral energy density (SED) of the quasar and there is no evolution in the SED over the redshift range 1.5 < z < 4.0. C iv blueshifts are highest when L/L Edd ≥ 0.2 and M BH ≥ 10 9 M ⊙ for the entire 1.5 < z < 4.0 sample. We find that luminosity matching samples as a means to explore the evolution of their rest-frame UV emission line properties is only viable if the samples are also matched in the M BH –L/L Edd plane. Quasars at z ≥ 6 are on average less massive and have higher Eddington-scaled accretion rates than their luminosity-matched counterparts at 1.5 < z < 4.0, which could explain the observed evolution in their UV line properties.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

Cosmology requirements on supernova photometric redshift systematics for the Rubin LSST and Roman Space Telescope

Some million type Ia supernovae (SN) will be discovered and monitored during upcoming wide area time domain surveys such as the Vera C. Rubin Observatory Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST). For cosmological use, accurate redshifts are needed among other characteristics; however the vast majority of the SN will not have spectroscopic redshifts, even for their host galaxies, only photometric redshifts. We assess the redshift systematic control necessary for robust cosmology. Based on the photometric vs true redshift relation generated by machine learning applied to a simulation of 500,000 galaxies as observed with LSST quality, we quantify requirements on systematics in the mean relation and in the outlier fraction and deviance so as not to bias dark energy cosmological inference. Certain redshift ranges are particularly sensitive, motivating spectroscopic followup of SN at z ≲ 0.2 and around z ≈ 0.5–0.6 . Including Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope near infrared bands in the simulation, we reanalyze the constraints, finding improvements at high redshift but little at the low redshifts where systematics lead to strong cosmology bias. We identify a complete spectroscopic survey of SN host galaxies for z≲0.2 as a highly favored element for robust SN cosmology.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

Random Forests as a Viable Method to Select and Discover High-redshift Quasars

We present a method of selecting quasars up to redshift ≈6 with random forests, a supervised machine-learning method, applied to Pan-STARRS1 and WISE data. We find that, thanks to the increasing set of known quasars, we can assemble a training set that enables supervised machine-learning algorithms to become a competitive alternative to other methods up to this redshift. We present a candidate set for the redshift range 4.8–6.3, which includes the region around z = 5.5 where selecting quasars is difficult due to their photometric similarity to red and brown dwarfs. We demonstrate that, under our survey restrictions, we can reach a high completeness (66% ± 7% below redshift 5.6/83{sub -9}{sup +6}% above redshift 5.6) while maintaining a high selection efficiency (78{sub -8}{sup +10}%/94{sub -8}{sup +5}%). Our selection efficiency is estimated via a novel method based on the different distributions of quasars and contaminants on the sky. The final catalog of 515 candidates includes 225 known quasars. We predict the candidate catalog to contain additional 148{sub -33}{sup +41} new quasars below redshift 5.6 and 45{sub -8}{sup +5} above, and we make the catalog publicly available. Spectroscopic follow-up observations of 37 candidates led us to discover 20 new high redshift quasars (18 at 4.6 ≤ z ≤ 5.5, 2 z ~ 5.7). These observations are consistent with our predictions on efficiency. We argue that random forests can lead to higher completeness because our candidate set contains a number of objects that would be rejected by common color cuts, including one of the newly discovered redshift 5.7 quasars.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

Redshift Evolution of the Feedback–Cooling Equilibrium in the Core of 48 SPT Galaxy Clusters: A Joint Chandra–SPT–ATCA Analysis

We analyze the cooling and feedback properties of 48 galaxy clusters at redshifts 0.4 < z < 1.3 selected from the South Pole Telescope (SPT) catalogs to evolve like the progenitors of massive and well-studied systems at z ~ 0. We estimate the radio power at the brightest cluster galaxy (BCG) location of each cluster from an analysis of Australia Telescope Compact Array data. Assuming that the scaling relation between the radio power and active galactic nucleus (AGN) cavity power P cav observed at low redshift does not evolve with redshift, we use these measurements in order to estimate the expected AGN cavity power in the core of each system. We estimate the X-ray luminosity within the cooling radius L cool of each cluster from a joint analysis of the available Chandra X-ray and SPT Sunyaev–Zel'dovich (SZ) data. This allows us to characterize the redshift evolution of the P cav /L cool ratio. When combined with low-redshift results, these constraints enable investigations of the properties of the feedback–cooling cycle across 9 Gyr of cluster growth. We model the redshift evolution of this ratio measured for cool-core clusters by a log-normal distribution Log-N (α + βz, σ 2 ) and constrain the slope of the mean evolution to β = -0.05 ± 0.47. This analysis improves the constraints on the slope of this relation by a factor of two. We find no evidence of redshift evolution of the feedback–cooling equilibrium in these clusters, which suggests that the onset of radio-mode feedback took place at an early stage of cluster formation. High values of P cav /L cool are found at the BCG location of noncool-core clusters, which might suggest that the timescales of the AGN feedback cycle and the cool core–noncool core transition are different. This work demonstrates that the joint analysis of radio, SZ, and X-ray data solidifies the investigation of AGN feedback at high redshifts.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

On the Anticorrelation between Duration and Redshift in Gamma-Ray Bursts

Abstract For gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) with durations greater than two seconds (so-called long GRBs), the intrinsic prompt gamma-ray emission appears, on average, to last longer for bursts at lower redshifts. We explore the nature of this duration–redshift anticorrelation, describing systems and conditions in which this cosmological evolution could arise. In particular, we explore its dependence on the metallicity of a massive star progenitor, because we can securely count on the average stellar metallicity to increase with decreasing redshift. Although stars with higher metallicity/lower redshift lose mass and angular momentum through line-driven winds, in some cases these stars are able to form more extended accretion disks when they collapse, potentially leading to longer-duration GRBs. We also examine how this duration–redshift trend may show up in interacting binary models composed of a massive star and compact object companion, recently suggested to be the progenitors of radio-bright GRBs. Under certain conditions, mass loss and equation-of-state effects from massive stars with higher metallicity and lower redshift can decrease the binary separation. This can then lead to spin-up of the massive star and allow for a longer-duration GRB upon the massive star’s collapse. Finally, the duration–redshift trend may also be supported by a relatively larger population of small-separation binaries born in situ at low redshift.

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Bayesian Component Separation for DESI LAE Automated Spectroscopic Redshifts and Photometric Targeting

Lyα emitters (LAEs) are valuable high-redshift cosmological probes traditionally identified using specialized narrowband photometric surveys. In ground-based spectroscopy, it can be difficult to distinguish the sharp LAE peak from residual sky emission lines using automated methods, leading to misclassified redshifts. We present a Bayesian spectral component separation technique to automatically determine spectroscopic redshifts for LAEs while marginalizing over sky residuals. We use visually inspected spectra of LAEs obtained using the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) to create a data-driven prior and can determine redshift by jointly inferring sky residual, LAE, and residual components for each individual spectrum. We demonstrate this method on 881 spectroscopically observed z = 2–4 DESI LAE candidate spectra and determine their redshifts with >90% accuracy when validated against visually inspected redshifts. Using the Δχ$^{2}$ value from our pipeline as a proxy for detection confidence, we then explore potential survey design choices and implications for targeting LAEs with medium-band photometry. This method allows for scalability and accuracy in determining redshifts from DESI spectra, and the results provide recommendations for LAE targeting in anticipation of future high-redshift spectroscopic surveys.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗

Dark Energy Survey Year 6 Results: Redshift Calibration of the Weak Lensing Source Galaxies

Determining the distribution of redshifts for galaxies in wide-field photometric surveys is essential for robust cosmological studies of weak gravitational lensing. We present the methodology, calibrated redshift distributions, and uncertainties of the final Dark Energy Survey Year 6 (Y6) weak lensing galaxy data, divided into four redshift bins centered at $\langle z \rangle = [0.414, 0.538, 0.846, 1.157]$. We combine independent information from two methods on the full shape of redshift distributions: optical and near-infrared photometry within an improved Self-Organizing Map $p(z)$ (SOMPZ) framework, and cross-correlations with spectroscopic galaxy clustering measurements (WZ), which we demonstrate to be consistent both in terms of the redshift calibration itself and in terms of resulting cosmological constraints within 0.1$σ$. We describe the process used to produce an ensemble of redshift distributions that account for several known sources of uncertainty. Among these, imperfection in the calibration sample due to the lack of faint, representative spectra is the dominant factor. The final uncertainty on mean redshift in each bin is $σ_{\langle z\rangle} = [0.012, 0.008,0.009, 0.024]$. We ensure the robustness of the redshift distributions by leveraging new image simulations and a cross-check with galaxy shape information via the shear ratio (SR) method.

Yin, B. [Duke U.] (ORCID:0009000656049980)↗

Anisotropic effective redshift and evolving clustering amplitude

A typical galaxy survey geometry results in galaxy pairs of different separation and angle to the line-of-sight having different distributions in redshift and consequently a different effective redshift. However, clustering measurements are analysed assuming that the clustering is representative of that at a single effective redshift. Here, we investigate the impact of variations in the galaxy-pair effective redshift on the large-scale clustering measured in galaxy surveys. We find that galaxy surveys spanning a large redshift range have different effective redshifts as a function of both pair separation and angle. Furthermore, when considering tracers whose clustering amplitude evolves strongly with redshift, this combination can result in an additional scale-dependent clustering anisotropy. We demonstrate the size of this effect on the eBOSS DR16 Quasar sample and show that, while the impact on monopole is negligible, neglecting this effect can result in a tilt of ~ 4% and ~40% in quadrupole and hexadecapole, respectively, on scales ~1 h -1 Gpc. We discuss strategies to mitigate this effect when making

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

The clustering of DESI-like luminous red galaxies using photometric redshifts

ABSTRACT We present measurements of the redshift-dependent clustering of a DESI-like luminous red galaxy (LRG) sample selected from the Legacy Survey imaging data set, and use the halo occupation distribution (HOD) framework to fit the clustering signal. The photometric LRG sample in this study contains 2.7 million objects over the redshift range of 0.4 < z < 0.9 over 5655 deg2. We have developed new photometric redshift (photo-z) estimates using the Legacy Survey DECam and WISE photometry, with σNMAD = 0.02 precision for LRGs. We compute the projected correlation function using new methods that maximize signal-to-noise ratio while incorporating redshift uncertainties. We present a novel algorithm for dividing irregular survey geometries into equal-area patches for jackknife resampling. For a five-parameter HOD model fit using the MultiDark halo catalogue, we find that there is little evolution in HOD parameters except at the highest redshifts. The inferred large-scale structure bias is largely consistent with constant clustering amplitude over time. In an appendix, we explore limitations of Markov chain Monte Carlo fitting using stochastic likelihood estimates resulting from applying HOD methods to N-body catalogues, and present a new technique for finding best-fitting parameters in this situation. Accompanying this paper, we have released the Photometric Redshifts for the Legacy Surveys catalogue of photo-z’s obtained by applying the methods used in this work to the full Legacy Survey Data Release 8 data set. This catalogue provides accurate photometric redshifts for objects with z < 21 over more than 16 000 deg2 of sky.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

The Dark Energy Survey Year 3 high-redshift sample: selection, characterization, and analysis of galaxy clustering

ABSTRACT The fiducial cosmological analyses of imaging surveys like DES typically probe the Universe at redshifts z < 1. We present the selection and characterization of high-redshift galaxy samples using DES Year 3 data, and the analysis of their galaxy clustering measurements. In particular, we use galaxies that are fainter than those used in the previous DES Year 3 analyses and a Bayesian redshift scheme to define three tomographic bins with mean redshifts around z ∼ 0.9, 1.2, and 1.5, which extend the redshift coverage of the fiducial DES Year 3 analysis. These samples contain a total of about 9 million galaxies, and their galaxy density is more than 2 times higher than those in the DES Year 3 fiducial case. We characterize the redshift uncertainties of the samples, including the usage of various spectroscopic and high-quality redshift samples, and we develop a machine-learning method to correct for correlations between galaxy density and survey observing conditions. The analysis of galaxy clustering measurements, with a total signal to noise S/N ∼ 70 after scale cuts, yields robust cosmological constraints on a combination of the fraction of matter in the Universe Ωm and the Hubble parameter h, $\Omega _m h = 0.195^{+0.023}_{-0.018}$, and 2–3 per cent measurements of the amplitude of the galaxy clustering signals, probing galaxy bias and the amplitude of matter fluctuations, bσ8. A companion paper (in preparation) will present the cross-correlations of these high-z samples with cosmic microwave background lensing from Planck and South Pole Telescope, and the cosmological analysis of those measurements in combination with the galaxy clustering presented in this work.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗

DESI complete calibration of the colour–redshift relation (DC3R2): results from early DESI data

We present initial results from the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) complete calibration of the colour–redshift relation (DC3R2) secondary target survey. Our analysis uses 230 k galaxies that overlap with KiDS-VIKING ugriZYJHK s photometry to calibrate the colour–redshift relation and to inform photometric redshift (photo-z) inference methods of future weak lensing surveys. Together with emission line galaxies (ELGs), luminous red galaxies (LRGs), and the Bright Galaxy Survey (BGS) that provide samples of complementary colour, the DC3R2 targets help DESI to span 56 percent of the colour space visible to Euclid and LSST with high confidence spectroscopic redshifts. The effects of spectroscopic completeness and quality are explored, as well as systematic uncertainties introduced with the use of common Self-Organizing Maps trained on different photometry than the analysis sample. We further examine the dependence of redshift on magnitude at fixed colour, important for the use of bright galaxy spectra to calibrate redshifts in a fainter photometric galaxy sample. We find that noise in the KiDS-VIKING photometry introduces a dominant, apparent magnitude dependence of redshift at fixed colour, which indicates a need for carefully chosen deep drilling fields, and survey simulation to model this effect for future weak lensing surveys.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

Archetype-based Redshift Estimation for the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument Survey

We present a computationally efficient galaxy archetype-based redshift estimation and spectral classification method for the Dark Energy Survey Instrument (DESI) survey. The DESI survey currently relies on a redshift fitter and spectral classifier using a linear combination of principal component analysis–derived templates, which is very efficient in processing large volumes of DESI spectra within a short time frame. However, this method occasionally yields unphysical model fits for galaxies and fails to adequately absorb calibration errors that may still be occasionally visible in the reduced spectra. Our proposed approach improves upon this existing method by refitting the spectra with carefully generated physical galaxy archetypes combined with additional terms designed to absorb data reduction defects and provide more physical models to the DESI spectra. We test our method on an extensive data set derived from the survey validation (SV) and Year 1 (Y1) data of DESI. Our findings indicate that the new method delivers marginally better redshift success for SV tiles while reducing catastrophic redshift failure by 10%–30%. At the same time, results from millions of targets from the main survey show that our model has relatively higher redshift success and purity rates (0.5%–0.8% higher) for galaxy targets while having similar success for QSOs. These improvements also demonstrate that the main DESI redshift pipeline is generally robust. Additionally, it reduces the false-positive redshift estimation by 5%–40% for sky fibers. We also discuss the generic nature of our method and how it can be extended to other large spectroscopic surveys, along with possible future improvements.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗

Extending empirical constraints on the SZ–mass scaling relation to higher redshifts via HST weak lensing measurements of nine clusters from the SPT-SZ survey at z ≳ 1

We present a Hubble Space Telescope (HST) weak gravitational lensing study of nine distant and massive galaxy clusters with redshifts 1.0 ≲ z ≲ 1.7 (z median = 1.4) and Sunyaev Zel’dovich (SZ) detection significance ξ > 6.0 from the South Pole Telescope Sunyaev Zel’dovich (SPT-SZ) survey. We measured weak lensing galaxy shapes in HST/ACS F606W and F814W images and used additional observations from HST/WFC3 in F110W and VLT/FORS2 in U HIGH to preferentially select background galaxies at z ≳ 1.8, achieving a high purity. We combined recent redshift estimates from the CANDELS/3D-HST and HUDF fields to infer an improved estimate of the source redshift distribution. We measured weak lensing masses by fitting the tangential reduced shear profiles with spherical Navarro-Frenk-White (NFW) models. We obtained the largest lensing mass in our sample for the cluster SPT-CL J2040—4451, thereby confirming earlier results that suggest a high lensing mass of this cluster compared to X-ray and SZ mass measurements. Combining our weak lensing mass constraints with results obtained by previous studies for lower redshift clusters, we extended the calibration of the scaling relation between the unbiased SZ detection significance ζ and the cluster mass for the SPT-SZ survey out to higher redshifts. We found that the mass scale inferred from our highest redshift bin (1.2 < z < 1.7) is consistent with an extrapolation of constraints derived from lower redshifts, albeit with large statistical uncertainties. Thus, our results show a similar tendency as found in previous studies, where the cluster mass scale derived from the weak lensing data is lower than the mass scale expected in a PlanckνΛCDM (i.e. νΛ cold dark matter) cosmology given the SPT-SZ cluster number counts.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

The first high-redshift cavity power measurements of cool-core galaxy clusters with the International LOFAR Telescope

Radio-mode feedback associated with the active galactic nuclei (AGNs) at the cores of galaxy clusters injects a large amount of energy into the intracluster medium (ICM), offsetting radiative losses through X-ray emission. This mechanism prevents the ICM from rapidly cooling down and fueling extreme starburst activity as it accretes onto the central galaxies, and it is therefore a key ingredient in the evolution of galaxy clusters. However, the influence and mode of feedback at high redshifts (z ∼ 1) remains largely unknown. Low-frequency sub-arcsecond-resolution radio observations taken with the International LOFAR Telescope have demonstrated their ability to assist X-ray observations with constraining the energy output from the AGNs (or “cavity power”) in galaxy clusters, thereby enabling research at higher redshifts than before. In this pilot project, we tested this hybrid method on a high-redshift (0.6 < z < 1.3) sample of 13 galaxy clusters for the first time with the aim of verifying the performance of this method at these redshifts and providing the first estimates of the cavity power associated with the central AGN for a sample of distant clusters. We were able to detect clear radio lobes in three out of 13 galaxy clusters at redshifts of 0.7 < z < 0.9, and we used these detections in combination with ICM pressures surrounding the radio lobes obtained from standard profiles to calculate the corresponding cavity powers of the AGNs. Combining our results with the literature, the current data appear to suggest that the average cavity power peaked at a redshift ofz ∼ 0.4 and slowly decreases toward higher redshifts. However, we require more and tighter constraints on the cavity volume and a better understanding of our observational systematics to confirm any deviation of the cavity power trend from a constant level.

Astronomy & Astrophysics↗

Z-Sequence: photometric redshift predictions for galaxy clusters with sequential random k-nearest neighbours

ABSTRACT We introduce Z-Sequence, a novel empirical model that utilizes photometric measurements of observed galaxies within a specified search radius to estimate the photometric redshift of galaxy clusters. Z-Sequence itself is composed of a machine learning ensemble based on the k-nearest neighbours algorithm. We implement an automated feature selection strategy that iteratively determines appropriate combinations of filters and colours to minimize photometric redshift prediction error. We intend for Z-Sequence to be a standalone technique but it can be combined with cluster finders that do not intrinsically predict redshift, such as our own DEEP-CEE. In this proof-of-concept study, we train, fine-tune, and test Z-Sequence on publicly available cluster catalogues derived from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. We determine the photometric redshift prediction error of Z-Sequence via the median value of |Δ$z$|/(1 + $z$) (across a photometric redshift range of 0.05 ≤ $z$ ≤ 0.6) to be ∼0.01 when applying a small search radius. The photometric redshift prediction error for test samples increases by 30–50 per cent when the search radius is enlarged, likely due to line-of-sight interloping galaxies. Eventually, we aim to apply Z-Sequence to upcoming imaging surveys such as the Legacy Survey of Space and Time to provide photometric redshift estimates for large samples of as yet undiscovered and distant clusters.

Chan, Matthew C.↗

Dark Energy Survey Year 3 results: marginalization over redshift distribution uncertainties using ranking of discrete realizations

ABSTRACT Cosmological information from weak lensing surveys is maximized by sorting source galaxies into tomographic redshift subsamples. Any uncertainties on these redshift distributions must be correctly propagated into the cosmological results. We present hyperrank, a new method for marginalizing over redshift distribution uncertainties, using discrete samples from the space of all possible redshift distributions, improving over simple parametrized models. In hyperrank, the set of proposed redshift distributions is ranked according to a small (between one and four) number of summary values, which are then sampled, along with other nuisance parameters and cosmological parameters in the Monte Carlo chain used for inference. This approach can be regarded as a general method for marginalizing over discrete realizations of data vector variation with nuisance parameters, which can consequently be sampled separately from the main parameters of interest, allowing for increased computational efficiency. We focus on the case of weak lensing cosmic shear analyses and demonstrate our method using simulations made for the Dark Energy Survey (DES). We show that the method can correctly and efficiently marginalize over a wide range of models for the redshift distribution uncertainty. Finally, we compare hyperrank to the common mean-shifting method of marginalizing over redshift uncertainty, validating that this simpler model is sufficient for use in the DES Year 3 cosmology results presented in companion papers.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗