Beecroft Institute for Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology

Abstract:

An accurate calibration of the source redshift distribution p(z) is a key aspect in the analysis of cosmic shear data. This, one way or another, requires the use of spectroscopic or high-quality photometric samples. However, the difficulty to obtain colour-complete spectroscopic samples matching the depth of weak lensing catalogs means that the analyses of different cosmic shear datasets often use the same samples for redshift calibration. This introduces a source of statistical and systematic uncertainty that is highly correlated across different weak lensing datasets, and which must be accurately characterised and propagated in order to obtain robust cosmological constraints from their combination. In this paper we introduce a method to quantify and propagate the uncertainties on the source redshift distribution in two different surveys sharing the same calibrating sample. The method is based on an approximate analytical marginalisation of the p(z) statistical uncertainties and the correlated marginalisation of residual systematics. We apply this method to the combined analysis of cosmic shear data from the DESY1 data release and the HSC-DR1 data, using the COSMOS 30-band catalog as a common redshift calibration sample. We find that, although there is significant correlation in the uncertainties on the redshift distributions of both samples, this does not change the final constraints on cosmological parameters significantly. The same is true also for the impact of residual systematic uncertainties from the errors in the COSMOS 30-band photometric redshifts. Additionally, we show that these effects will still be negligible in Stage-IV datasets. Finally, the combination of DESY1 and HSC-DR1 allows us to constrain the “clumpiness” parameter to S8 = 0.768+0.021 −0.017. This corresponds to a ∼ √ 2 improvement in uncertainties with respect to either DES or HSC alone.

Abstract:

The interaction of binary black hole mergers with their environments can be studied using numerical relativity simulations. These start only a short finite time before merger, at which point appropriate initial conditions must be imposed. A key task is therefore to identify the configuration that is appropriate for the binary and its environment at this stage of the evolution. In this work we study the behavior of wave dark matter around equal mass black hole binaries, finding that there is a preferred, quasistationary profile that persists and grows over multiple orbits, in contrast to heavier mass dark matter where any overdensity tends to be dispersed by the binary motion. While different initial configurations converge to the preferred quasistationary one after several orbits, unwanted transient oscillations are generated in the process, which may have an impact on the signal in short simulation runs. We also point out that naively superimposing the matter onto a circular binary results in artificially eccentric orbits due to the matter backreaction, which is an effect of the initial conditions and not a signature of dark matter. We discuss the further work required so that comparison of waveforms obtained with environments to vacuum cases can be done in a meaningful way.

Abstract:

Primordial non-Gaussianity (PNG) is one of the most powerful probes of the early universe, and measurements of the large-scale structure of the universe have the potential to transform our understanding of this area. However, relating measurements of the late-time universe to the primordial perturbations is challenging due to the nonlinear processes that govern the evolution of the universe. To help address this issue, we release a large suite of N-body simulations containing four types of PNG: QUIJOTE-PNG. These simulations were designed to augment the QUIJOTE suite of simulations that explored the impact of various cosmological parameters on large-scale structure observables. Using these simulations, we investigate how much information on PNG can be extracted by extending power spectrum and bispectrum measurements beyond the perturbative regime at z = 0.0. This is the first joint analysis of the PNG and cosmological information content accessible with power spectrum and bispectrum measurements of the nonlinear scales. We find that the constraining power improves significantly up to kmax 0.3 Mpc h » -1 , with diminishing returns beyond as the statistical probes signal-to-noise ratios saturate. This saturation emphasizes the importance of accurately modeling all the contributions to the covariance matrix. Further, we find that combining the two probes is a powerful method of breaking the degeneracies with the ΛCDM parameters