75 research outputs found
The clustering of galaxies in the SDSS-III Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey : cosmological implications of the full shape of the clustering wedges in the data release 10 and 11 galaxy samples
We explore the cosmological implications of the angle-averaged correlation function, ξ(s), and the clustering wedges, ξ⊥(s) and ξ∥(s), of the LOWZ and CMASS galaxy samples from Data Releases 10 and 11 of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey III (SDSS-III) Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey. Our results show no significant evidence for a deviation from the standard Λ cold dark matter model. The combination of the information from our clustering measurements with recent data from the cosmic microwave background is sufficient to constrain the curvature of the Universe to Ωk = 0.0010 ± 0.0029, the total neutrino mass to ∑mν < 0.23 eV (95 per cent confidence level), the effective number of relativistic species to Neff = 3.31 ± 0.27 and the dark energy equation of state to wDE = −1.051 ± 0.076. These limits are further improved by adding information from Type Ia supernovae and baryon acoustic oscillations from other samples. In particular, this data set combination is completely consistent with a time-independent dark energy equation of state, in which case we find wDE = −1.024 ± 0.052. We explore the constraints on the growth rate of cosmic structures assuming f(z) = Ωm(z)γ and obtain γ = 0.69 ± 0.15, consistent with the predictions of general relativity of γ = 0.55.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe
The clustering of galaxies in the SDSS-III Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey: measuring structure growth using passive galaxies
We explore the benefits of using a passively evolving population of galaxies
to measure the evolution of the rate of structure growth between z=0.25 and
z=0.65 by combining data from the SDSS-I/II and SDSS-III surveys. The
large-scale linear bias of a population of dynamically passive galaxies, which
we select from both surveys, is easily modeled. Knowing the bias evolution
breaks degeneracies inherent to other methodologies, and decreases the
uncertainty in measurements of the rate of structure growth and the
normalization of the galaxy power-spectrum by up to a factor of two. If we
translate our measurements into a constraint on sigma_8(z=0) assuming a
concordance cosmological model and General Relativity (GR), we find that using
a bias model improves our uncertainty by a factor of nearly 1.5. Our results
are consistent with a flat Lambda Cold Dark Matter model and with GR.Comment: Accepted for publication in MNRAS (clarifications added, results and
conclusions unchanged
The Morphology of Galaxies in the Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey
We study the morphology of luminous and massive galaxies at 0.3<z<0.7
targeted in the Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (BOSS) using publicly
available Hubble Space Telescope imaging from COSMOS. Our sample (240 objects)
provides a unique opportunity to check the visual morphology of these galaxies
which were targeted based solely on stellar population modelling. We find that
the majority (74+/-6%) possess an early-type morphology (elliptical or S0),
while the remainder have a late-type morphology. This is as expected from the
goals of the BOSS target selection which aimed to predominantly select slowly
evolving galaxies, for use as cosmological probes, while still obtaining a fair
fraction of actively star forming galaxies for galaxy evolution studies. We
show that a colour cut of (g-i)>2.35 selects a sub-sample of BOSS galaxies with
90% early-type morphology - more comparable to the earlier Luminous Red Galaxy
(LRG) samples of SDSS-I/II. The remaining 10% of galaxies above this cut have a
late-type morphology and may be analogous to the "passive spirals" found at
lower redshift. We find that 23+/-4% of the early-type galaxies are unresolved
multiple systems in the SDSS imaging. We estimate that at least 50% of these
are real associations (not projection effects) and may represent a significant
"dry merger" fraction. We study the SDSS pipeline sizes of BOSS galaxies which
we find to be systematically larger (by 40%) than those measured from HST
images, and provide a statistical correction for the difference. These details
of the BOSS galaxies will help users of the data fine-tune their selection
criteria, dependent on their science applications. For example, the main goal
of BOSS is to measure the cosmic distance scale and expansion rate of the
Universe to percent-level precision - a point where systematic effects due to
the details of target selection may become important.Comment: 18 pages, 11 figures; v2 as accepted by MNRA
The Atacama Cosmology Telescope: Dynamical Masses and Scaling Relations for a Sample of Massive Sunyaev-Zel'dovich Effect Selected Galaxy Clusters
We present the first dynamical mass estimates and scaling relations for a
sample of Sunyaev-Zel'dovich effect (SZE) selected galaxy clusters. The sample
consists of 16 massive clusters detected with the Atacama Cosmology Telescope
(ACT) over a 455 sq. deg. area of the southern sky. Deep multi-object
spectroscopic observations were taken to secure intermediate-resolution
(R~700-800) spectra and redshifts for ~60 member galaxies on average per
cluster. The dynamical masses M_200c of the clusters have been calculated using
simulation-based scaling relations between velocity dispersion and mass. The
sample has a median redshift z=0.50 and a median mass M_200c~12e14 Msun/h70
with a lower limit M_200c~6e14 Msun/h70, consistent with the expectations for
the ACT southern sky survey. These masses are compared to the ACT SZE
properties of the sample, specifically, the match-filtered central SZE
amplitude y, the central Compton parameter y0, and the integrated Compton
signal Y_200c, which we use to derive SZE-Mass scaling relations. All SZE
estimators correlate with dynamical mass with low intrinsic scatter (<~20%), in
agreement with numerical simulations. We explore the effects of various
systematic effects on these scaling relations, including the correlation
between observables and the influence of dynamically disturbed clusters. Using
the 3-dimensional information available, we divide the sample into relaxed and
disturbed clusters and find that ~50% of the clusters are disturbed. There are
hints that disturbed systems might bias the scaling relations but given the
current sample sizes these differences are not significant; further studies
including more clusters are required to assess the impact of these clusters on
the scaling relations.Comment: 15 pages, 4 figures. Accepted for publication in The Astrophysical
Journal; matches published version. Full Table 8 with complete spectroscopic
member sample available in machine-readable form in the journal site and upon
request to C. Sif\'o
The Atacama Cosmology Telescope: Physical Properties and Purity of a Galaxy Cluster Sample Selected via the Sunyaev-Zel'dovich Effect
We present optical and X-ray properties for the first confirmed galaxy
cluster sample selected by the Sunyaev-Zel'dovich Effect from 148 GHz maps over
455 square degrees of sky made with the Atacama Cosmology Telescope. These
maps, coupled with multi-band imaging on 4-meter-class optical telescopes, have
yielded a sample of 23 galaxy clusters with redshifts between 0.118 and 1.066.
Of these 23 clusters, 10 are newly discovered. The selection of this sample is
approximately mass limited and essentially independent of redshift. We provide
optical positions, images, redshifts and X-ray fluxes and luminosities for the
full sample, and X-ray temperatures of an important subset. The mass limit of
the full sample is around 8e14 Msun, with a number distribution that peaks
around a redshift of 0.4. For the 10 highest significance SZE-selected cluster
candidates, all of which are optically confirmed, the mass threshold is 1e15
Msun and the redshift range is 0.167 to 1.066. Archival observations from
Chandra, XMM-Newton, and ROSAT provide X-ray luminosities and temperatures that
are broadly consistent with this mass threshold. Our optical follow-up
procedure also allowed us to assess the purity of the ACT cluster sample.
Eighty (one hundred) percent of the 148 GHz candidates with signal-to-noise
ratios greater than 5.1 (5.7) are confirmed as massive clusters. The reported
sample represents one of the largest SZE-selected sample of massive clusters
over all redshifts within a cosmologically-significant survey volume, which
will enable cosmological studies as well as future studies on the evolution,
morphology, and stellar populations in the most massive clusters in the
Universe.Comment: 20 pages, 15 figures, 6 tables. Accepted for publication in ApJ.
Higher resolution figures available at:
http://peumo.rutgers.edu/~felipe/e-prints
The Atacama Cosmology Telescope: Cosmology from Galaxy Clusters Detected via the Sunyaev-Zel'dovich Effect
We present constraints on cosmological parameters based on a sample of
Sunyaev-Zel'dovich-selected galaxy clusters detected in a millimeter-wave
survey by the Atacama Cosmology Telescope. The cluster sample used in this
analysis consists of 9 optically-confirmed high-mass clusters comprising the
high-significance end of the total cluster sample identified in 455 square
degrees of sky surveyed during 2008 at 148 GHz. We focus on the most massive
systems to reduce the degeneracy between unknown cluster astrophysics and
cosmology derived from SZ surveys. We describe the scaling relation between
cluster mass and SZ signal with a 4-parameter fit. Marginalizing over the
values of the parameters in this fit with conservative priors gives sigma_8 =
0.851 +/- 0.115 and w = -1.14 +/- 0.35 for a spatially-flat wCDM cosmological
model with WMAP 7-year priors on cosmological parameters. This gives a modest
improvement in statistical uncertainty over WMAP 7-year constraints alone.
Fixing the scaling relation between cluster mass and SZ signal to a fiducial
relation obtained from numerical simulations and calibrated by X-ray
observations, we find sigma_8 = 0.821 +/- 0.044 and w = -1.05 +/- 0.20. These
results are consistent with constraints from WMAP 7 plus baryon acoustic
oscillations plus type Ia supernoava which give sigma_8 = 0.802 +/- 0.038 and w
= -0.98 +/- 0.053. A stacking analysis of the clusters in this sample compared
to clusters simulated assuming the fiducial model also shows good agreement.
These results suggest that, given the sample of clusters used here, both the
astrophysics of massive clusters and the cosmological parameters derived from
them are broadly consistent with current models.Comment: 12 pages, 7 figures. Submitted to Ap
The Eighth Data Release of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey: First Data from SDSS-III
The Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) started a new phase in August 2008, with
new instrumentation and new surveys focused on Galactic structure and chemical
evolution, measurements of the baryon oscillation feature in the clustering of
galaxies and the quasar Ly alpha forest, and a radial velocity search for
planets around ~8000 stars. This paper describes the first data release of
SDSS-III (and the eighth counting from the beginning of the SDSS). The release
includes five-band imaging of roughly 5200 deg^2 in the Southern Galactic Cap,
bringing the total footprint of the SDSS imaging to 14,555 deg^2, or over a
third of the Celestial Sphere. All the imaging data have been reprocessed with
an improved sky-subtraction algorithm and a final, self-consistent photometric
recalibration and flat-field determination. This release also includes all data
from the second phase of the Sloan Extension for Galactic Understanding and
Evolution (SEGUE-2), consisting of spectroscopy of approximately 118,000 stars
at both high and low Galactic latitudes. All the more than half a million
stellar spectra obtained with the SDSS spectrograph have been reprocessed
through an improved stellar parameters pipeline, which has better determination
of metallicity for high metallicity stars.Comment: Astrophysical Journal Supplements, in press (minor updates from
submitted version
The Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey of SDSS-III
The Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (BOSS) is designed to measure the
scale of baryon acoustic oscillations (BAO) in the clustering of matter over a
larger volume than the combined efforts of all previous spectroscopic surveys
of large scale structure. BOSS uses 1.5 million luminous galaxies as faint as
i=19.9 over 10,000 square degrees to measure BAO to redshifts z<0.7.
Observations of neutral hydrogen in the Lyman alpha forest in more than 150,000
quasar spectra (g<22) will constrain BAO over the redshift range 2.15<z<3.5.
Early results from BOSS include the first detection of the large-scale
three-dimensional clustering of the Lyman alpha forest and a strong detection
from the Data Release 9 data set of the BAO in the clustering of massive
galaxies at an effective redshift z = 0.57. We project that BOSS will yield
measurements of the angular diameter distance D_A to an accuracy of 1.0% at
redshifts z=0.3 and z=0.57 and measurements of H(z) to 1.8% and 1.7% at the
same redshifts. Forecasts for Lyman alpha forest constraints predict a
measurement of an overall dilation factor that scales the highly degenerate
D_A(z) and H^{-1}(z) parameters to an accuracy of 1.9% at z~2.5 when the survey
is complete. Here, we provide an overview of the selection of spectroscopic
targets, planning of observations, and analysis of data and data quality of
BOSS.Comment: 49 pages, 16 figures, accepted by A
The Ninth Data Release of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey: First Spectroscopic Data from the SDSS-III Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey
The Sloan Digital Sky Survey III (SDSS-III) presents the first spectroscopic
data from the Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (BOSS). This ninth data
release (DR9) of the SDSS project includes 535,995 new galaxy spectra (median
z=0.52), 102,100 new quasar spectra (median z=2.32), and 90,897 new stellar
spectra, along with the data presented in previous data releases. These spectra
were obtained with the new BOSS spectrograph and were taken between 2009
December and 2011 July. In addition, the stellar parameters pipeline, which
determines radial velocities, surface temperatures, surface gravities, and
metallicities of stars, has been updated and refined with improvements in
temperature estimates for stars with T_eff<5000 K and in metallicity estimates
for stars with [Fe/H]>-0.5. DR9 includes new stellar parameters for all stars
presented in DR8, including stars from SDSS-I and II, as well as those observed
as part of the SDSS-III Sloan Extension for Galactic Understanding and
Exploration-2 (SEGUE-2).
The astrometry error introduced in the DR8 imaging catalogs has been
corrected in the DR9 data products. The next data release for SDSS-III will be
in Summer 2013, which will present the first data from the Apache Point
Observatory Galactic Evolution Experiment (APOGEE) along with another year of
data from BOSS, followed by the final SDSS-III data release in December 2014.Comment: 9 figures; 2 tables. Submitted to ApJS. DR9 is available at
http://www.sdss3.org/dr
The clustering of galaxies in the SDSS-III Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey: the low-redshift sample
We report on the small-scale (0.5 r h−1 Mpc) clustering of 78 895 massive (M* ~ 1011.3 M⊙) galaxies at 0.2 z 13 h−1 M⊙, a large-scale bias of ~2.0 and a satellite fraction of 12 ± 2 per cent. Thus, these galaxies occupy haloes with average masses in between those of the higher redshift BOSS CMASS sample and the original SDSS I/II luminous red galaxy sample
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