Beecroft Institute for Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology

Abstract:

We investigate the clustering of Lyman-break galaxies at redshifts of 3 5 within the COSMOS field by measuring the angular two-point correlation function. Our robust sample of 60 000 bright () Lyman-break galaxies was selected based on spectral energy distribution fitting across 14 photometric bands spanning optical and near-infrared wavelengths. We constrained both the 1- and 2-halo terms at separations up to 300 arcsec, finding an excess in the correlation function at scales corresponding to kpc, consistent with enhancement due to clumps in the same galaxy or interactions on this scale. We then performed Bayesian model fits on the correlation functions to infer the Halo Occupation Distribution parameters, star formation duty cycle, and galaxy bias in three redshift bins. We examined several cases where different combinations of parameters were varied, showing that our data can constrain the slope of the satellite occupation function, which previous studies have fixed. For an -limited sub-sample, we found galaxy bias values of at , at , at . The duty cycle values are , , and , respectively. These results suggest that, as the redshift increases, there is a slight decrease in the host halo masses and a shorter time-scale for star formation in bright galaxies, at a fixed rest-frame UV luminosity threshold.

Abstract:

Self-interacting dark matter (SIDM) arises generically in scenarios for physics beyond the standard model that have dark sectors with light mediators or strong dynamics. The self-interactions allow energy and momentum transport through halos, altering their structure and dynamics relative to those produced by collisionless dark matter. SIDM models provide a promising way to explain the diversity of galactic rotation curves, and they form a predictive and versatile framework for interpreting astrophysical phenomena related to dark matter. This review provides a comprehensive explanation of the physical effects of dark matter self-interactions in objects ranging from galactic satellites (dark and luminous) to clusters of galaxies and the large-scale structure. The second major part describes the methods used to constrain SIDM models, including current constraints, with the aim of advancing tests with upcoming galaxy surveys. This part also provides a detailed review of the unresolved small-scale structure-formation issues and concrete ways to test simple SIDM models. The review is rounded off by a discussion of the theoretical motivation for self-interactions, degeneracies with baryonic and gravitational effects, extensions to the single-component elastic-interaction SIDM framework, and future observational and theoretical prospects.

Abstract:

Several new galaxy-galaxy strong gravitational lenses have been detected in the early release observations (ERO) from Euclid. The all-sky survey is expected to find 170 000 new systems, which are expected to greatly enhancing studies of dark matter and dark energy, and to constrain the cosmological parameters better. As a first step, we visually inspect all galaxies in one of the ERO fields (Perseus) to identify candidate strong-lensing systems and compared them to the predictions from convolutional neural networks (CNNs). The entire ERO dataset is too large for an expert visual inspection, however. In this paper, we therefore extend the CNN analysis to the whole ERO dataset and use different CNN architectures and methods. Using five CNN architectures, we identified 8469 strong gravitational lens candidates from IE-band cutouts of 13 Euclid ERO fields and narrowed them down to 97 through visual inspection. The sample includes 14 grade A and 31 grade B candidates. We present the spectroscopic confirmation of a strong gravitational lensing candidate, EUCL J081705.61+702348.8. The foreground lensing galaxy, an early-type system at z = 0.335, and the background source, a star-forming galaxy at z = 1.475 with [O II] emission, are both identified. The lens modelling with the Euclid strong lens modelling pipeline revealed two distinct arcs in a lensing configuration, with an Einstein radius of 1.a′3;18 ± 0.3;03. This confirms the lensing nature of the system. These findings demonstrate that CNN-based candidate selection followed by visual inspection provides an effective approach for identifying strong lenses in Euclid data. They also highlight areas for improvement in future large-scale implementations.

Abstract:

Stars in galactic centres are occasionally scattered so close to the central supermassive black hole that they are completely disrupted by tidal forces, initiating a transient accretion event. The aftermath of such a tidal disruption event (TDE) produces a bright-and-blue accretion flow that is known to persist for at least a decade (observationally) and can in principle produce ionizing radiation for hundreds of years. TDEs are known (observationally) to be overrepresented in galaxies that show extended emission-line regions (EELRs), with no pre-TDE classical active galactic nucleus activity, and to produce transient ‘coronal lines’, such as [Fe x] and [Fe xiv]. Using coupled cloudy-TDE disc simulations we show that TDE discs produce a sufficient ionizing radiation flux over their lifetimes to power both EELR of radial extents of light years, and coronal lines. EELRs are produced when the ionizing radiation interacts with low-density () clouds on galactic scales, while coronal lines are produced by high-density () clouds near the galactic centre. High-density gas in galactic centres will also result in the rapid switching on of narrow-line features in post-TDE galaxies, and also various high-ionization lines, which may be observed throughout the infrared with James Webb Space Telescope. Galaxies with a higher intrinsic rate of TDEs will be more likely to show macroscopic EELRs, which can be traced to originate from the previous TDE in that galaxy.

Abstract:

Context. Baryonic physics has a considerable impact on the distribution of matter in our Universe on scales probed by current and future cosmological surveys, acting as a key systematic in such analyses. Aims. We seek simple symbolic parametrisations for the impact of baryonic physics on the matter power spectrum for a range of physically motivated models, as a function of wavenumber, redshift, cosmology, and parameters controlling the baryonic feedback. Methods. We used symbolic regression to construct analytic approximations for the ratio of the matter power spectrum in the presence of baryons to that without such effects. We obtained separate functions of each of four distinct sub-grid prescriptions of baryonic physics from the CAMELS suite of hydrodynamical simulations (Astrid, IllustrisTNG, SIMBA, and Swift-EAGLE) as well as for a baryonification algorithm. We also provide functions that describe the uncertainty on these predictions, due to both the stochastic nature of baryonic physics and the errors on our fits. Results. The error on our approximations to the hydrodynamical simulations is comparable to the sample variance estimated through varying initial conditions, and our baryonification expression has a root mean squared error of better than one percent, although this increases on small scales. These errors are comparable to those of previous numerical emulators for these models. Our expressions are enforced to have the physically correct behaviour on large scales and at high redshift. Due to their analytic form, we are able to directly interpret the impact of varying cosmology and feedback parameters, and we can identify parameters that have little to no effect. Conlcusions. Each function is based on a different implementation of baryonic physics, and can therefore be used to discriminate between these models when applied to real data. We provide a publicly available code for all symbolic approximations found.