60 research outputs found
Wide-field Multi-object Spectroscopy to Enhance Dark Energy Science from LSST
LSST will open new vistas for cosmology in the next decade, but it cannot
reach its full potential without data from other telescopes. Cosmological
constraints can be greatly enhanced using wide-field ( deg total
survey area), highly-multiplexed optical and near-infrared multi-object
spectroscopy (MOS) on 4-15m telescopes. This could come in the form of
suitably-designed large surveys and/or community access to add new targets to
existing projects. First, photometric redshifts can be calibrated with high
precision using cross-correlations of photometric samples against spectroscopic
samples at that span thousands of sq. deg. Cross-correlations of
faint LSST objects and lensing maps with these spectroscopic samples can also
improve weak lensing cosmology by constraining intrinsic alignment systematics,
and will also provide new tests of modified gravity theories. Large samples of
LSST strong lens systems and supernovae can be studied most efficiently by
piggybacking on spectroscopic surveys covering as much of the LSST
extragalactic footprint as possible (up to square degrees).
Finally, redshifts can be measured efficiently for a high fraction of the
supernovae in the LSST Deep Drilling Fields (DDFs) by targeting their hosts
with wide-field spectrographs. Targeting distant galaxies, supernovae, and
strong lens systems over wide areas in extended surveys with (e.g.) DESI or MSE
in the northern portion of the LSST footprint or 4MOST in the south could
realize many of these gains; DESI, 4MOST, Subaru/PFS, or MSE would all be
well-suited for DDF surveys. The most efficient solution would be a new
wide-field, highly-multiplexed spectroscopic instrument in the southern
hemisphere with m aperture. In two companion white papers we present gains
from deep, small-area MOS and from single-target imaging and spectroscopy.Comment: Submitted to the call for Astro2020 science white papers; tables with
estimates of telescope time needed for a supernova host survey can be seen at
http://d-scholarship.pitt.edu/id/eprint/3604
Deep Multi-object Spectroscopy to Enhance Dark Energy Science from LSST
Community access to deep (i ~ 25), highly-multiplexed optical and
near-infrared multi-object spectroscopy (MOS) on 8-40m telescopes would greatly
improve measurements of cosmological parameters from LSST. The largest gain
would come from improvements to LSST photometric redshifts, which are employed
directly or indirectly for every major LSST cosmological probe; deep
spectroscopic datasets will enable reduced uncertainties in the redshifts of
individual objects via optimized training. Such spectroscopy will also
determine the relationship of galaxy SEDs to their environments, key
observables for studies of galaxy evolution. The resulting data will also
constrain the impact of blending on photo-z's. Focused spectroscopic campaigns
can also improve weak lensing cosmology by constraining the intrinsic
alignments between the orientations of galaxies. Galaxy cluster studies can be
enhanced by measuring motions of galaxies in and around clusters and by testing
photo-z performance in regions of high density. Photometric redshift and
intrinsic alignment studies are best-suited to instruments on large-aperture
telescopes with wider fields of view (e.g., Subaru/PFS, MSE, or GMT/MANIFEST)
but cluster investigations can be pursued with smaller-field instruments (e.g.,
Gemini/GMOS, Keck/DEIMOS, or TMT/WFOS), so deep MOS work can be distributed
amongst a variety of telescopes. However, community access to large amounts of
nights for surveys will still be needed to accomplish this work. In two
companion white papers we present gains from shallower, wide-area MOS and from
single-target imaging and spectroscopy.Comment: Science white paper submitted to the Astro2020 decadal survey. A
table of time requirements is available at
http://d-scholarship.pitt.edu/36036
Non-extremal Localised Branes and Vacuum Solutions in M-Theory
Non-extremal overlapping p-brane supergravity solutions localised in their
relative transverse coordinates are constructed. The construction uses an
algebraic method of solving the bosonic equations of motion. It is shown that
these non-extremal solutions can be obtained from the extremal solutions by
means of the superposition of two deformation functions defined by vacuum
solutions of M-theory. Vacuum solutions of M-theory including irrational powers
of harmonic functions are discussed.Comment: LaTeX, 16 pages, no figures, typos correcte
The Horizon-AGN simulation: evolution of galaxy properties over cosmic time
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted reuse, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.We compare the predictions of Horizon-AGN, a hydro-dynamical cosmological simulation that uses an adaptive mesh refinement code, to observational data in the redshift range 0 < z < 6. We study the reproduction, by the simulation, of quantities that trace the aggregate stellar-mass growth of galaxies over cosmic time: luminosity and stellar-mass functions, the star formation main sequence, rest-frame UV-optical-near infrared colours and the cosmic star-formation history. We show that Horizon-AGN, which is not tuned to reproduce the local Universe, produces good overall agreement with these quantities, from the present day to the epoch when the Universe was 5% of its current age. By comparison to Horizon-noAGN, a twin simulation without AGN feedback, we quantify how feedback from black holes is likely to help shape galaxy stellar-mass growth in the redshift range 0 < z < 6, particularly in the most massive galaxies. Our results demonstrate that Horizon-AGN successfully captures the evolutionary trends of observed galaxies over the lifetime of the Universe, making it an excellent tool for studying the processes that drive galaxy evolution and making predictions for the next generation of galaxy surveys.Peer reviewedFinal Published versio
Photometric redshifts for the Kilo-Degree Survey. Machine-learning analysis with artificial neural networks
We present a machine-learning photometric redshift analysis of the
Kilo-Degree Survey Data Release 3, using two neural-network based techniques:
ANNz2 and MLPQNA. Despite limited coverage of spectroscopic training sets,
these ML codes provide photo-zs of quality comparable to, if not better than,
those from the BPZ code, at least up to zphot<0.9 and r<23.5. At the bright end
of r<20, where very complete spectroscopic data overlapping with KiDS are
available, the performance of the ML photo-zs clearly surpasses that of BPZ,
currently the primary photo-z method for KiDS.
Using the Galaxy And Mass Assembly (GAMA) spectroscopic survey as
calibration, we furthermore study how photo-zs improve for bright sources when
photometric parameters additional to magnitudes are included in the photo-z
derivation, as well as when VIKING and WISE infrared bands are added. While the
fiducial four-band ugri setup gives a photo-z bias and scatter
at mean z = 0.23, combining magnitudes, colours, and galaxy
sizes reduces the scatter by ~7% and the bias by an order of magnitude. Once
the ugri and IR magnitudes are joined into 12-band photometry spanning up to 12
, the scatter decreases by more than 10% over the fiducial case. Finally,
using the 12 bands together with optical colours and linear sizes gives and .
This paper also serves as a reference for two public photo-z catalogues
accompanying KiDS DR3, both obtained using the ANNz2 code. The first one, of
general purpose, includes all the 39 million KiDS sources with four-band ugri
measurements in DR3. The second dataset, optimized for low-redshift studies
such as galaxy-galaxy lensing, is limited to r<20, and provides photo-zs of
much better quality than in the full-depth case thanks to incorporating optical
magnitudes, colours, and sizes in the GAMA-calibrated photo-z derivation.Comment: A&A, in press. Data available from the KiDS website
http://kids.strw.leidenuniv.nl/DR3/ml-photoz.php#annz
Type IIB orientifolds on Gepner points
We study various aspects of orientifold projections of Type IIB closed string
theory on Gepner points in different dimensions. The open string sector is
introduced, in the usual constructive way, in order to cancel RR charges
carried by orientifold planes. Moddings by cyclic permutations of the internal
N=2 superconformal blocks as well as by discrete phase symmetries are
implemented. Reduction in the number of generations, breaking or enhancements
of gauge symmetries and topology changes are shown to be induced by such
moddings. Antibranes sector is also considered; in particular we show how non
supersymmetric models with antibranes and free of closed and open tachyons do
appear in this context. A systematic study of consistent models in D=8
dimensions and some illustrative examples in D=6 and D=4 dimensions are
presented.Comment: 67 pages, no figures References added, typos correcte
Inflation on an Open Racetrack
We present a variant of warped D-brane inflation by incorporating multiple
sets of holomorphically-embedded D7-branes involved in moduli stabilization
with extent into a warped throat. The resultant D3-brane motion depends on the
D7-brane configuration and the relative position of the D3-brane in these
backgrounds. The non-perturbative moduli stabilization superpotential takes the
racetrack form, but the additional D3-brane open string moduli dependence
provides more flexibilities in model building. For concreteness, we consider
D3-brane motion in the warped deformed conifold with the presence of multiple
D7-branes, and derive the scalar potential valid for the entire throat. By
explicit tuning of the microphysical parameters, we obtain inflationary
trajectories near an inflection point for various D7-brane configurations.
Moreover, the open racetrack potential admits approximate Minkowski vacua
before uplifting. We demonstrate with a concrete D-brane inflation model where
the Hubble scale during inflation can exceed the gravitino mass. Finally, the
multiple sets of D7-branes present in this open racetrack setup also provides a
mechanism to stabilize the D3-brane to metastable vacua in the intermediate
region of the warped throat.Comment: 29 pages, 15 figures, pre-print number and references adde
Modelling baryonic feedback for survey cosmology
Observational cosmology in the next decade will rely on probes of the distribution of matter in the redshift range between to elucidate the nature of dark matter and dark energy. In this redshift range, galaxy formation is known to have a significant impact on observables such as two-point correlations of galaxy shapes and positions, altering their amplitude and scale dependence beyond the expected statistical uncertainty of upcoming experiments at separations under 10 Mpc. Successful extraction of information in such a regime thus requires, at the very least, unbiased models for the impact of galaxy formation on the matter distribution, and can benefit from complementary observational priors. This work reviews the current state of the art in the modelling of baryons for cosmology, from numerical methods to approximate analytical prescriptions, and makes recommendations for studies in the next decade, including a discussion of potential probe combinations that can help constrain the role of baryons in cosmological studies. We focus, in particular, on the modelling of the matter power spectrum, , as a function of scale and redshift, and of the observables derived from this quantity. This work is the result of a workshop held at the University of Oxford in November of 2018
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