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All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2025

Dark Energy Survey Year 6 Results: Point-Spread Function Modeling

We present the point-spread function (PSF) modeling for weak lensing shear measurement using the full six years of the Dark Energy Survey (DES Y6) data. We review the PSF estimation procedure using the PIFF (PSFs In the Full FOV) software package and describe the key improvements made to PIFF and modeling diagnostics since the DES year three (Y3) analysis: (i) use of external Gaia and infrared photometry catalogs to ensure higher purity of the stellar sample used for model fitting, (ii) addition of color-dependent PSF modeling, the first for any weak lensing analysis, and (iii) inclusion of model diagnostics inspecting fourth-order moments, which can bias weak lensing measurements to a similar degree as second-order modeling errors. Through a comprehensive set of diagnostic tests, we demonstrate the improved accuracy of the Y6 models evident in significantly smaller systematic errors than those of the Y3 analysis, in which all g band data were excluded due to insufficiently accurate PSF models. For the Y6 weak lensing analysis, we include g band photometry data in addition to the riz bands, providing a fourth band for photometric redshift estimation. Looking forward to the next generation of wide-field surveys, we describe several ongoing improvements to PIFF, which will be the default PSF modeling software for weak lensing analyses for the Vera C. Rubin Observatory’s Legacy Survey of Space and Time.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗
DOE OSTI2022

The Exploration of Local VolumE Satellites (ELVES) Survey: A Nearly Volume-limited Sample of Nearby Dwarf Satellite Systems

We present the final sample of the Exploration of Local VolumE Satellites (ELVES) survey, a survey of the dwarf satellites of a nearly volume-limited sample of Milky Way (MW)-like hosts in the Local Volume. Hosts are selected simply via a cut in luminosity (${M}_{{K}_{s}}\lt -22.1$ mag) and distance (D < 12 Mpc). We cataloged the satellites of 25 of the 31 such hosts, with another five taken from the literature. All hosts are surveyed out to at least 150 projected kpc ( ~ R vir /2), with the majority surveyed to 300 kpc ( ~ R vir ). Satellites are detected using a consistent semiautomated algorithm specialized for low surface brightness dwarfs. As shown through extensive tests with injected galaxies, the catalogs are complete to M V ~ -9 mag and μ 0,V ~ 26.5 mag arcsec -2 . Candidates are confirmed to be real satellites through distance measurements including redshift, tip of the red giant branch, and surface brightness fluctuations. Across all 30 surveyed hosts, there are 338 confirmed satellites with M V < -9 mag, with a further 106 candidates awaiting distance measurement. For the vast majority of these, we provide consistent multiband Sérsic photometry. We show that satellite abundance correlates with host mass, with the MW being quite typical among comparable systems, and that satellite quenched fraction rises steeply with decreasing satellite mass, mirroring the quenched fraction for the MW and M31. The ELVES survey represents a massive increase in the statistics of surveyed systems with known completeness, and the provided catalogs are a unique data set to explore various aspects of small-scale structure and dwarf galaxy evolution.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
NASA NTRS1994

Statistical association of QSO's with foreground galaxy clusters

We report a statistically significant overdensity of high redshift quasi-stellar objects (QSO's) in the directions of foreground galaxy clusters. QSO's are taken from the Large Bright QSO Survey (LBQS) between 1.4 less than or equal z less than or equal 2.2 with a limiting magnitude of m(sub B) = 18.5. Foreground clusters are regions within 6 Zwicky radii of small Zwicky clusters at a characteristic redshift of about z approximately = 0.2, covering about 40% of the total area surveyed (304 sq. deg). The overdensity, defined as the ratio of the number density of QSO's in the directions of clusters ('association QSO's) to that in the remainder of the fields ('background QSO's), is equal to 1.7, and formally differs from unity at 4.7 sigma significance. The observed overdensity probably is not due to statistical variation in QSO density, intrinsic QSO-QSO and/or cluster-cluster autocorrelations, or patchy Galactic obscuration. We thus interpret this observation as being due to statistical gravitational lensing of background QSO's by galaxy clusters. However, this amplitude of overdensity behind clusters cannot be accounted for in any cluster lensing model if the background QSO number-magnitude counts are similar to the intrinsic (unlensed) counts, and is implausible in any conventional model of cosmic mass distribution.

Rodrigues-Williams, Liliya L.↗
DOE OSTI2024

The CluMPR galaxy cluster-finding algorithm and DESI legacy survey galaxy cluster catalogue

ABSTRACT Galaxy clusters enable unique opportunities to study cosmology, dark matter, galaxy evolution, and strongly lensed transients. We here present a new cluster-finding algorithm, CluMPR (Clusters from Masses and Photometric Redshifts), that exploits photometric redshifts (photo-z’s) as well as photometric stellar mass measurements. CluMPR uses a 2D binary search tree to search for overdensities of massive galaxies with similar redshifts on the sky and then probabilistically assigns cluster membership by accounting for photo-z uncertainties. We leverage the deep DESI Legacy Survey grzW1W2 imaging over one-third of the sky to create a catalogue of $\sim 300\, 000$ galaxy cluster candidates out to z = 1, including tabulations of member galaxies and estimates of each cluster’s total stellar mass. Compared to other methods, CluMPR is particularly effective at identifying clusters at the high end of the redshift range considered (z = 0.75–1), with minimal contamination from low-mass groups. These characteristics make it ideal for identifying strongly lensed high-redshift supernovae and quasars that are powerful probes of cosmology, dark matter, and stellar astrophysics. As an example application of this cluster catalogue, we present a catalogue of candidate wide-angle strongly lensed quasars in Appendix C. The nine best candidates identified from this sample include two known lensed quasar systems and a possible changing-look lensed QSO with SDSS spectroscopy. All code and catalogues produced in this work are publicly available (see Data Availability).

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
NASA NTRS1999

Distance Estimates for High Redshift Clusters SZ and X-Ray Measurements

I present interferometric images of the Sunyaev-Zel'dovich effect for the high redshift (z $ greater than $ 0.5) galaxy clusters in the \emph(Einstein) Medium Sensitivity Survey: MS0451.5-0305 (z = 0.54), MS0015.9+1609 (z = 0.55), MS2053.7-0449 (z = 0.58), MS1 137.5+6625 (z = 0.78), and MS 1054.5-0321 (z = 0.83). Isothermal $\beta$ models are applied to the data to determine the magnitude of the Sunyaev-Zel'dovich (S-Z) decrement in each cluster. Complementary ROSAT PSPC and HRI x-ray data are also analyzed, and are combined with the S-Z data to generate an independent estimate of the cluster distance. Since the Sunyaev-Zel'dovich Effect is invariant with redshift, sensitive S-Z imaging can provide an independent determination of the size, shape, density, and distance of high redshift galaxy clusters; we will discuss current systematic uncertainties with this approach, as well as future observations which will yield stronger constraints.

Joy, Marshall K.↗
NASA NTRS1980

QSO evolution and the intergalactic medium

A model is developed of a cold, photoionized intergalactic medium in which only discrete, evolving sources (quasars) produce the observed extragalactic hard X-ray background. Constraints on the model are imposed by observed optical depth limits to various redshifts, far UV and visible flux measurements, X-ray background and source counts in the region 2-6 keV, and it makes use of results of the Palomar Bright Quasar Survey and the Braccesi Quasar survey to obtain expressions for the quasar evolution function, absolute luminosity, present number density and switch-on redshift. Results of computer modeling reveal an intergalactic medium with a density with respect to closure less than 0.35, temperature of 16,000 K and fractional ion abundances of approximately 0.000001 for H I and 0.001 for He II, under the assumption of a Hubble constant of 50 km/sec per Mpc. In addition, spectral indices of -0.4 and -1.3 are obtained for the regions of the emission spectrum above and below 4 x 10 to the 18th Hz.

Sherman, R. D.↗
DOE OSTI2020

Outside the Lyman-break box: detecting Lyman continuum emitters at 3.5 < z < 5.1 with CLAUDS

ABSTRACT Identifying non-contaminated sample of high-redshift galaxies with escaping Lyman continuum (LyC) flux is important for understanding the sources and evolution of cosmic reionization. We present CLAUDS (CFHT Large Area u-band deep survey) u-band photometry of the COSMOS field to probe LyC radiation from spectroscopically confirmed galaxies at $z$ ≥ 3.5 and outside the standard Lyman-break galaxy colour-selection expectations. Complementary to the CLAUDS data, we use Subaru multifilter photometry, Hubble Space Telescope (HST) multifilter imaging, and the spectroscopic surveys D10K, VUDS, and 3D-HST. We present a sample of Lyman continuum galaxy (LCG) candidates in the redshift range 3.5 ≲ $z$ ≲ 5.1. Here, we introduce 5 LCG candidates, where two are flagged quality 1 and three quality 2. The estimated $f_{\rm esc}^{\rm abs}$ for quality 1 candidates are in the range $\sim 5 - 73{{\ \rm per\ cent}}$ and $\sim 30 - 93{{\ \rm per\ cent}}$. These estimates are based on our derived parameters from individual galaxies as inputs to a range of BPASS models as well as mean intergalactic medium (IGM) and maximal intergalactic and circumgalactic media (IGM+CGM) transmission. We conclude that our search for LCGs is most likely biased to lines of sight with low H i densities or free from Lyman limit systems. Our two best LCG candidates have EW (Lyα) ≤ 50 Å and we find no correlation or anticorrelation between EW (Lyα), $f_{\rm esc}^{\rm abs}$, and Robs, the ratio of ionizing to non-ionizing observed flux in the measured passbands. Stacking candidates without solid LyC detections (S/N < 3) results in an estimated $f_{\rm esc}^{\rm abs}$ from galaxies not greater than $1{{\ \rm per\ cent}}$.

Meštrić, U.↗
DOE OSTI2024

Galaxy Clusters Discovered via the Thermal Sunyaev-Zel’dovich Effect in the 500-square-degree SPTpol Survey

We present a catalog of 689 galaxy cluster candidates detected at significance ξ > 4 via their thermal Sunyaev-Zel’dovich (SZ) effect signature in 95 and 150 GHz data from the 500-square-degree SPTpol survey. We use optical and infrared data from the Dark Energy Camera and the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) and Spitzer satellites, to confirm 544 of these candidates as clusters with ~ 94% purity. The sample has an approximately redshift-independent mass threshold at redshift z > 0.25. The confirmed sample spans 1.5 × 10 14 < M 500 c < 9 × 10 14 M ⊙ /h 70 and 0.03 < z ≲ 1.6 in mass and redshift, respectively, with a median mass of 2.5×10 14 M ⊙ /h 70 and median redshift z = 0.7; 21% of the confirmed clusters are at z > 1. We use external radio data from the Sydney University Molonglo Sky Survey (SUMSS) to estimate contamination to the SZ signal from synchrotron sources. The contamination reduces the recovered ξ by a median value of 0.032, or ~ 0.8% of the ξ = 4 threshold value, and ~ 7% of candidates have a predicted contamination greater than Δξ = 1. With the exception of a small number of systems (< 1%), an analysis of clusters detected in single-frequency 95 and 150 GHz data shows no significant contamination of the SZ signal by emission from dusty or synchrotron sources. This cluster sample, representing the deepest SZ-selected cluster sample to date, will be a key component in upcoming astrophysical and cosmological analyses of clusters. In addition to the cluster catalog, we also release the millimeter-wave maps and associated data products used to produce this sample. These maps have depths of 5.3 (11.7) µK CMB -arcmin at 150 (95) GHz and an effective angular resolution of 1. '2 (1. '7). The SPTpol products are available at https:// pole.uchicago.edu/public/data/sptpol_500d_clusters/index.html, and the NASA LAMBDA website. An interactive sky server with the SPTpol maps and Dark Energy Survey data release 2 images is also available at NCSA https://skyviewer.ncsa.illinois.edu.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
NASA NTRS2002

Probing Galaxy Formation and Submillimeter Surveys

Multiwavelength observations of galaxies have revealed that a significant fraction of the their stellar or accretion luminosity is absorbed and reradiated by dust at far-infrared (FIR) and submillimeter (submm) wavelengths. Submillimeter (850 micron) surveys conducted by the SCUBA instrument on the JCMT have detected a population of high redshift (z approximately equal to 1-4) ultraluminous infrared galaxies, that dominate the luminosity densities at those redshifts. Their cumulative contribution to the cosmic infrared background (CIB) detected by the COBE satellite is comparable to the observations, suggesting that at 850 microns the CIB is resolved into its constituent sources. This suggests that the early universe was much more dust enshrouded than the present one. FIR and submm surveys can therefore address fundamental questions regarding the early processes of galaxy formation and their evolution in number and luminosity over cosmic history. The scientific information that can be obtained from such surveys depend on a number of parameters, the most important of which are the diameter of the telescope and the wavelengths of the survey. We summarize the effect of these parameters on the scientific return from such surveys.

Dwek, Eli↗
DOE OSTI2022

Dark Energy Survey Year 3 results: Imprints of cosmic voids and superclusters in the Planck CMB lensing map

ABSTRACT The CMB lensing signal from cosmic voids and superclusters probes the growth of structure in the low-redshift cosmic web. In this analysis, we cross-correlated the Planck CMB lensing map with voids detected in the Dark Energy Survey Year 3 (Y3) data set (∼5000 deg2), expanding on previous measurements that used Y1 catalogues (∼1300 deg2). Given the increased statistical power compared to Y1 data, we report a 6.6σ detection of negative CMB convergence (κ) imprints using approximately 3600 voids detected from a redMaGiC luminous red galaxy sample. However, the measured signal is lower than expected from the MICE N-body simulation that is based on the ΛCDM model (parameters Ωm = 0.25, σ8 = 0.8), and the discrepancy is associated mostly with the void centre region. Considering the full void lensing profile, we fit an amplitude $A_{\kappa }=\kappa _{{\rm DES}}/\kappa _{{\rm MICE}}$ to a simulation-based template with fixed shape and found a moderate 2σ deviation in the signal with Aκ ≈ 0.79 ± 0.12. We also examined the WebSky simulation that is based on a Planck 2018 ΛCDM cosmology, but the results were even less consistent given the slightly higher matter density fluctuations than in MICE. We then identified superclusters in the DES and the MICE catalogues, and detected their imprints at the 8.4σ level; again with a lower-than-expected Aκ = 0.84 ± 0.10 amplitude. The combination of voids and superclusters yields a 10.3σ detection with an Aκ = 0.82 ± 0.08 constraint on the CMB lensing amplitude, thus the overall signal is 2.3σ weaker than expected from MICE.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2023

The DESI Survey Validation: Results from Visual Inspection of Bright Galaxies, Luminous Red Galaxies, and Emission-line Galaxies

The Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) Survey has obtained a set of spectroscopic measurements of galaxies to validate the final survey design and target selections. To assist in these tasks, we visually inspect DESI spectra of approximately 2500 bright galaxies, 3500 luminous red galaxies (LRGs), and 10,000 emission-line galaxies (ELGs) to obtain robust redshift identifications. We then utilize the visually inspected redshift information to characterize the performance of the DESI operation. Based on the visual inspection (VI) catalogs, our results show that the final survey design yields samples of bright galaxies, LRGs, and ELGs with purity greater than 99%. Moreover, we demonstrate that the precision of the redshift measurements is approximately 10 km s –1 for bright galaxies and ELGs and approximately 40 km s –1 for LRGs. The average redshift accuracy is within 10 km s –1 for the three types of galaxies. The VI process also helps improve the quality of the DESI data by identifying spurious spectral features introduced by the pipeline. Finally, we show examples of unexpected real astronomical objects, such as Ly α emitters and strong lensing candidates, identified by VI. These results demonstrate the importance and utility of visually inspecting data from incoming and upcoming surveys, especially during their early operation phases.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2023

The miniJPAS survey quasar selection – II. Machine learning classification with photometric measurements and uncertainties

Astrophysical surveys rely heavily on the classification of sources as stars, galaxies, or quasars from multiband photometry. Surveys in narrow-band filters allow for greater discriminatory power, but the variety of different types and redshifts of the objects present a challenge to standard template-based methods. In this work, which is part of a larger effort that aims at building a catalogue of quasars from the miniJPAS survey, we present a machine learning-based method that employs convolutional neural networks (CNNs) to classify point-like sources including the information in the measurement errors. We validate our methods using data from the miniJPAS survey, a proof-of-concept project of the Javalambre Physics of the Accelerating Universe Astrophysical Survey (J-PAS) collaboration covering ∼1 deg 2 of the northern sky using the 56 narrow-band filters of the J-PAS survey. Due to the scarcity of real data, we trained our algorithms using mocks that were purpose-built to reproduce the distributions of different types of objects that we expect to find in the miniJPAS survey, as well as the properties of the real observations in terms of signal and noise. We compare the performance of the CNNs with other well-established machine learning classification methods based on decision trees, finding that the CNNs improve the classification when the measurement errors are provided as inputs. The predicted distribution of objects in miniJPAS is consistent with the putative luminosity functions of stars, quasars, and unresolved galaxies. Our results are a proof of concept for the idea that the J-PAS survey will be able to detect unprecedented numbers of quasars with high confidence.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2025

A Gigaparsec-scale Hydrodynamic Volume Reconstructed with Deep Learning

The next generation of spectroscopic surveys will map the large-scale structure of the Universe at high redshifts (2 ≤ z ≤ 5) using millions of quasar spectra, enabling major advances in constraining both the standard cosmological model and its extensions. Robust cosmological analyses of these data sets require numerical simulations that both cover gigaparsec volumes and resolve features on ∼10 kpc scales and smaller. However, running such large-volume, high-resolution hydrodynamic simulations is computationally prohibitive. We present a generative deep learning model that enhances a low-resolution, gigaparsec-scale (960 h −1 Mpc) hydrodynamic simulation using a smaller (80 h −1 Mpc) high-resolution input hydrodynamic simulation as training data. The resulting enhanced simulation reproduces the line-of-sight power spectrum to within ∼10% and the three-dimensional power spectrum at the ∼20% level at intermediate to small scales (k ≲ 2 h Mpc −1 ). Our method shows strong promise for producing realistic simulations for cosmological analyses with current surveys such as the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument and upcoming next-generation experiments, but further improvements are needed to accurately recover the large-scale modes. We publicly release the enhanced hydrodynamic simulation, along with a halo catalog from a companion N-body dark matter simulation to support the calibration of data analysis pipelines for these large-scale surveys.

Convolutional neural networks↗
DOE OSTI2022

The dark matter halo masses of elliptical galaxies as a function of observationally robust quantities

Context. The assembly history of the stellar component of a massive elliptical galaxy is closely related to that of its dark matter halo. Measuring how the properties of galaxies correlate with their halo mass can therefore help to understand their evolution. Aims. We investigate how the dark matter halo mass of elliptical galaxies varies as a function of their properties, using weak gravitational lensing observations. To minimise the chances of biases, we focus on the following galaxy properties that can be determined robustly: the surface brightness profile and the colour. Methods. We selected 2409 central massive elliptical galaxies (log M*/M ⊙ ≳ 11.4) from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey spectroscopic sample. We first measured their surface brightness profile and colours by fitting Sérsic models to photometric data from the Kilo-Degree Survey (KiDS). We fitted their halo mass distribution as a function of redshift, rest-frame r-band luminosity, half-light radius, and rest-frame u - g colour, using KiDS weak lensing measurements and a Bayesian hierarchical approach. For the sake of robustness with respect to assumptions on the large-radii behaviour of the surface brightness, we repeated the analysis replacing the total luminosity and half-light radius with the luminosity within a 10 kpc aperture, L r, 10 , and the light-weighted surface brightness slope, Γ 10 . Results. We did not detect any correlation between the halo mass and either the half-light radius or colour at fixed redshift and luminosity. Using the robust surface brightness parameterisation, we found that the halo mass correlates weakly with L r,10 and anti-correlates with Γ 10 . At fixed redshift, L r, 10 and Γ 10 , the difference in the average halo mass between galaxies at the 84th percentile and 16th percentile of the colour distribution is 0.00 ± 0.11 dex. Conclusion. Our results indicate that the average star formation efficiency of massive elliptical galaxies has little dependence on their final size or colour. This suggests that the origin of the diversity in the size and colour distribution of these objects lies with properties other than the halo mass.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2022

The evolution of high-density cores of the BOSS Great Wall superclusters

Context. High-density cores (HDCs) of galaxy superclusters that embed rich clusters and groups of galaxies are the earliest large objects to form in the cosmic web, and the largest objects that may collapse in the present or future. Aims. We aim to study the dynamical state and possible evolution of the HDCs in the BOSS Great Wall (BGW) superclusters at redshift z ≈ 0.5 from the CMASS (constant mass) galaxy sample, based on the Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (BOSS) in order to understand the growth and evolution of structures in the Universe. Methods. We analysed the luminosity density distribution in the BGW superclusters to determine the HDCs in them. We derived the density contrast values for the spherical collapse model in a wide range of redshifts and used these values to study the dynamical state and possible evolution of the HDCs of the BGW superclusters. The masses of the HDCs were calculated using stellar masses of galaxies in them. We found the masses and radii of the turnaround and future collapse regions in the HDCs of the BGW superclusters and compared them with those of local superclusters. Results. We determined eight HDCs in the BGW superclusters. The masses of their turnaround regions are in the range of M T ≈ 0.4–3.3 × 10 15 h -1 M ⊙ , and radii are in the range of R T ≈ 3.5–7 h -1 Mpc. The radii of their future collapse regions are in the range of R FC ≈ 4–8 h -1 Mpc. Distances between individual cores in superclusters are much larger: of the order of 25–35 h -1 Mpc. The richness and sizes of the HDCs are comparable with those of the HDCs of the richest superclusters in the local Universe. Conclusions. The BGW superclusters will probably evolve to several poorer superclusters with masses similar to those of the local superclusters. This may weaken the tension with the ΛCDM model, which does not predict a large number of very rich and large superclusters in our local cosmic neighbourhood, and explains why there are no superclusters as elongated as those in the BGW in the local Universe.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2021

Line confusion in spectroscopic surveys and its possible effects: shifts in Baryon Acoustic Oscillations position

ABSTRACT Roman Space Telescope will survey about 17 million emission-line galaxies over a range of redshifts. Its main targets are Hα emission-line galaxies at low redshifts (z < 2) and [O iii] emission-line galaxies at high redshifts (z > 2). The Roman Space Telescope will estimate the redshift of these galaxies with single-line identification. This suggests that other emission-line galaxies may be misidentified as the main targets. In particular, it is hard to distinguish between the H β and [O iii] lines as the two lines are close in wavelength and hence the photometric information may not be sufficient to separate them reliably. Misidentifying H β emitter as [O iii] emitter will cause a shift in the inferred radial position of the galaxy by approximately 90 Mpc h−1. This length-scale is similar to the Baryon Acoustic Oscillation (BAO) scale and could shift and broaden the BAO peak, possibly introduce errors in determining the BAO peak position. We qualitatively describe the effect of this new systematic and further quantify it with a light-cone simulation with emission-line galaxies. Our results show a systematic shift in the recovered isotropic BAO positions that depends on the percentage of interlopers (percentage of ${\rm H}\,\beta$) in the sample. The systematic shift can be as large as $0.1{-}0.3\,\mathrm{ per}\,\mathrm{ cent} \, {\rm x}\, {{\%}}{\rm H}\,\beta$ for analysis performed at redshifts z = 1.3−1.9.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2024

Examining the self-interaction of dark matter through central cluster galaxy offsets

ABSTRACT While collisionless cold dark matter models have been largely successful in explaining a wide range of observational data, some tensions still exist, and it remains possible that dark matter possesses a non-negligible level of self-interactions. In this paper, we investigate a possible observable consequence of self-interacting dark matter: offsets between the central galaxy and the centre of mass of its parent halo. We examine 23 relaxed galaxy clusters in a redshift range of 0.1–0.3 drawn from clusters in the Dark Energy Survey and the Sloan Digital Sky Survey which have archival Chandra X-ray data of sufficient depth for centre and relaxation determination. We find that most clusters in our sample show non-zero offsets between the X-ray centre, taken to be the centroid within the cluster core, and the central galaxy position. All of the measured offsets are larger, typically by an order of magnitude, than the uncertainty in the X-ray position due to Poisson noise. In all but six clusters, the measured offsets are also larger than the estimated, combined astrometric uncertainties in the X-ray and optical positions. A more conservative cut on concentration to select relaxed clusters marginally reduces but does not eliminate the observed offset. With our more conservative sample, we find an estimated median X-ray to central galaxy offset of $\mu = 6.0 ^{+ 1.4}_{- 1.5}$ kpc. Comparing to recent simulations, this distribution of offsets is consistent with some level of dark matter self-interaction, though further simulation work is needed to place constraints.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2022

Dark Energy Survey Year 3 results: Measurement of the baryon acoustic oscillations with three-dimensional clustering

The three-dimensional correlation function offers an effective way to summarize the correlation of the large-scale structure even for imaging galaxy surveys. We have applied the projected three-dimensional correlation function, ξ p to measure the baryonic acoustic oscillations (BAO) scale on the first-three years Dark Energy Survey data. The sample consists of about 7 million galaxies in the redshift range 0.6< z p < 1.1 over a footprint of 4108 deg 2 . Our theory modeling includes the impact of realistic true redshift distributions beyond Gaussian photo-z approximation. ξ p is obtained by projecting the three-dimensional correlation to the transverse direction. To increase the signal-to-noise of the measurements, we have considered a Gaussian stacking window function in place of the commonly used top-hat. ξ p is sensitive to D M (z eff )/r s , the ratio between the comoving angular diameter distance and the sound horizon. Using the full sample, D M (z eff )/r s is constrained to be19.00 ± 0.67 (top-hat) and 19.15 ± 0.58 (Gaussian) at z eff = 0.835. The constraint is weaker than the angular correlation w constraint 18.84 ± 0.50), and we trace this to the fact that the BAO signals are heterogeneous across redshift. While ξ p responds to the heterogeneous signals by enlarging the error bar, w can still give a tight bound on D M s in this case. When a homogeneous BAO-signal subsample in the range 0.7 < z p <1.0 (z eff = 0.845) is considered, ξp yields 19.80 ± 0.67 (top-hat) and 19.84 ± 0.53 (Gaussian). The latter is mildly stronger than the w constraint (19.86 ± 0.55). We find that the ξ p results are more sensitive to photo-z because ξ p keeps the three-dimensional clustering information causing it to be more prone to photo-z noise. The Gaussian window gives more robust results than the top-hat as the former is designed to suppress the low signal modes. ξ p and the angular statistics such as w have their own pros and cons, and they serve an important crosscheck with each other.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗