2,411 research outputs found
A theoretical framework for combining techniques that probe the link between galaxies and dark matter
We develop a theoretical framework that combines measurements of
galaxy-galaxy lensing, galaxy clustering, and the galaxy stellar mass function
in a self-consistent manner. While considerable effort has been invested in
exploring each of these probes individually, attempts to combine them are still
in their infancy despite the potential of such combinations to elucidate the
galaxy-dark matter connection, to constrain cosmological parameters, and to
test the nature of gravity. In this paper, we focus on a theoretical model that
describes the galaxy-dark matter connection based on standard halo occupation
distribution techniques. Several key modifications enable us to extract
additional parameters that determine the stellar-to-halo mass relation and to
simultaneously fit data from multiple probes while allowing for independent
binning schemes for each probe. In a companion paper, we demonstrate that the
model presented here provides an excellent fit to galaxy-galaxy lensing, galaxy
clustering, and stellar mass functions measured in the COSMOS survey from z=0.2
to z=1.0. We construct mock catalogs from numerical simulations to investigate
the effects of sample variance and covariance on each of the three probes.
Finally, we analyze and discuss how trends in each of the three observables
impact the derived parameters of the model. In particular, we investigate the
various features of the observed galaxy stellar mass function (low-mass slope,
plateau, knee, and high-mass cut-off) and show how each feature is related to
the underlying relationship between stellar and halo mass. We demonstrate that
the observed plateau feature in the stellar mass function at Mstellar~2x10^10
Msun is due to the transition that occurs in the stellar-to-halo mass relation
at Mhalo ~ 10^12 Msun from a low-mass power-law regime to a sub-exponential
function at higher stellar mass.Comment: 21 pages. Accepted to Ap
Where do "red and dead" early-type void galaxies come from?
Void regions of the Universe offer a special environment for studying
cosmology and galaxy formation, which may expose weaknesses in our
understanding of these phenomena. Although galaxies in voids are observed to be
predominately gas rich, star forming and blue, a sub-population of bright red
void galaxies can also be found, whose star formation was shut down long ago.
Are the same processes that quench star formation in denser regions of the
Universe also at work in voids?
We compare the luminosity function of void galaxies in the 2dF Galaxy
Redshift Survey, to those from a galaxy formation model built on the Millennium
Simulation. We show that a global star formation suppression mechanism in the
form of low luminosity "radio mode" AGN heating is sufficient to reproduce the
observed population of void early-types. Radio mode heating is environment
independent other than its dependence on dark matter halo mass, where, above a
critical mass threshold of approximately M_vir~10^12.5 M_sun, gas cooling onto
the galaxy is suppressed and star formation subsequently fades. In the
Millennium Simulation, the void halo mass function is shifted with respect to
denser environments, but still maintains a high mass tail above this critical
threshold. In such void halos, radio mode heating remains efficient and red
galaxies are found; collectively these galaxies match the observed space
density without any modification to the model. Consequently, galaxies living in
vastly different large-scale environments but hosted by halos of similar mass
are predicted to have similar properties, consistent with observations.Comment: 6 pages, 3 figures, accepted MNRA
Angular Momentum Evolution of Stars in the Orion Nebula Cluster
(Abridged) We present theoretical models of stellar angular momentum
evolution from the Orion Nebula Cluster (ONC) to the Pleiades and the Hyades.
We demonstrate that observations of the Pleiades and Hyades place tight
constraints on the angular momentum loss rate from stellar winds. The observed
periods, masses and ages of ONC stars in the range 0.2--0.5 M, and the
loss properties inferred from the Pleiades and Hyades stars, are then used to
test the initial conditions for stellar evolution models. We use these models
to estimate the distribution of rotational velocities for the ONC stars at the
age of the Pleiades (120 Myr). The modeled ONC and observed Pleiades
distributions of rotation rates are not consistent if only stellar winds are
included. In order to reconcile the observed loss of angu lar momentum between
these two clusters, an extrinsic loss mechanism such as protostar-accretion
disk interaction is required. Our model, which evolves the ONC stars with a
mass dependent saturation threshold normalized such that at 0.5 \m, and which includes a distribution of disk lifetimes
that is uniform over the range 0--6 Myr, is consistent with the Pleiades. This
model for disk-locking lifetimes is also consistent with inferred disk
lifetimes from the percentage of stars with infrared excesses observed in young
clusters. Different models, using a variety of initial period distributions and
different maximum disk lifetimes, are also compared to the Pleiades. For
disk-locking models that use a uniform distribution of disk lifetimes over the
range 0 to , the acceptable range of the maximum lifetime is Myr.Comment: 21 pages, 7 figures, submitted to Ap
From Galaxy-Galaxy Lensing to Cosmological Parameters
Galaxy-galaxy lensing measures the mean excess surface density DS(r) around a
sample of lensing galaxies. We develop a method for combining DS(r) with the
galaxy correlation function xi_gg(r) to constrain Omega_m and sigma_8, going
beyond the linear bias model to reach the level of accuracy demanded by current
and future measurements. We adopt the halo occupation distribution (HOD)
framework, and we test its applicability to this problem by examining the
effects of replacing satellite galaxies in the halos of an SPH simulation with
randomly selected dark matter particles from the same halos. The difference
between dark matter and satellite galaxy radial profiles has a ~10% effect on
DS(r) at r<1 Mpc/h. However, if radial profiles are matched, the remaining
impact of individual subhalos around satellite galaxies and environmental
dependence of the HOD at fixed halo mass is <5% in DS(r) for 0.1<r<15 Mpc/h. We
develop an analytic approximation for DS(r) that incorporates halo exclusion
and scale-dependent halo bias, and we demonstrate its accuracy with tests
against a suite of populated N-body simulations. We use the analytic model to
investigate the dependence of DS(r) and the galaxy-matter correlation function
xi_gm(r) on Omega_m and sigma_8, once HOD parameters for a given cosmological
model are pinned down by matching xi_gg(r). The linear bias prediction is
accurate for r>2 Mpc/h, but it fails at the 30-50% level on smaller scales. The
scaling of DS(r) ~ Omega_m^a(r) sigma_8^b(r) approaches the linear bias
expectation a=b=1 at r>10 Mpc/h, but a(r) and b(r) vary from 0.8 to 1.6 at
smaller r. We calculate a fiducial DS(r) and scaling indices a(r) and b(r) for
two SDSS galaxy samples; galaxy-galaxy lensing measurements for these samples
can be combined with our predictions to constrain Omega_m and sigma_8.Comment: 18 pages, 10 figures, accepted for publication in The Astrophysical
Journa
Cosmological Constraints from Galaxy Clustering and the Mass-to-Number Ratio of Galaxy Clusters
We place constraints on the average density (Omega_m) and clustering
amplitude (sigma_8) of matter using a combination of two measurements from the
Sloan Digital Sky Survey: the galaxy two-point correlation function, w_p, and
the mass-to-galaxy-number ratio within galaxy clusters, M/N, analogous to
cluster M/L ratios. Our w_p measurements are obtained from DR7 while the sample
of clusters is the maxBCG sample, with cluster masses derived from weak
gravitational lensing. We construct non-linear galaxy bias models using the
Halo Occupation Distribution (HOD) to fit both w_p and M/N for different
cosmological parameters. HOD models that match the same two-point clustering
predict different numbers of galaxies in massive halos when Omega_m or sigma_8
is varied, thereby breaking the degeneracy between cosmology and bias. We
demonstrate that this technique yields constraints that are consistent and
competitive with current results from cluster abundance studies, even though
this technique does not use abundance information. Using w_p and M/N alone, we
find Omega_m^0.5*sigma_8=0.465+/-0.026, with individual constraints of
Omega_m=0.29+/-0.03 and sigma_8=0.85+/-0.06. Combined with current CMB data,
these constraints are Omega_m=0.290+/-0.016 and sigma_8=0.826+/-0.020. All
errors are 1-sigma. The systematic uncertainties that the M/N technique are
most sensitive to are the amplitude of the bias function of dark matter halos
and the possibility of redshift evolution between the SDSS Main sample and the
maxBCG sample. Our derived constraints are insensitive to the current level of
uncertainties in the halo mass function and in the mass-richness relation of
clusters and its scatter, making the M/N technique complementary to cluster
abundances as a method for constraining cosmology with future galaxy surveys.Comment: 23 pages, submitted to Ap
Cosmic Voids and Galaxy Bias in the Halo Occupation Framework
(Abridged) We investigate the power of void statistics to constrain galaxy
bias and the amplitude of dark matter fluctuations. We use the halo occupation
distribution (HOD) framework to describe the relation between galaxies and dark
matter. After choosing HOD parameters that reproduce the mean space density
n_gal and projected correlation function w_p measured for galaxy samples with
M_r<-19 and M_r<-21 from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS), we predict the
void probability function (VPF) and underdensity probability function (UPF) of
these samples by populating the halos of a large, high-resolution N-body
simulation. If we make the conventional assumption that the HOD is independent
of large scale environment at fixed halo mass, then models constrained to match
n_gal and w_p predict nearly identical void statistics, independent of the
scatter between halo mass and central galaxy luminosity or uncertainties in HOD
parameters. Models with sigma_8=0.7 and sigma_8=0.9 also predict very similar
void statistics. However, the VPF and UPF are sensitive to environmental
variations of the HOD in a regime where these variations have little impact on
w_p. For example, doubling the minimum host halo mass in regions with large
scale (5 Mpc/h) density contrast delta<-0.65 has a readily detectable impact on
void probabilities of M_r<-19 galaxies, and a similar change for delta<-0.2
alters the void probabilities of M_r<-21 galaxies at a detectable level. The
VPF and UPF provide complementary information about the onset and magnitude of
density- dependence in the HOD. By detecting or ruling out HOD changes in low
density regions, void statistics can reduce systematic uncertainties in the
cosmological constraints derived from HOD modeling, and, more importantly,
reveal connections between halo formation history and galaxy properties.Comment: emulateapj, 16 pages, 13 figure
The Large Scale Bias of Dark Matter Halos: Numerical Calibration and Model Tests
We measure the clustering of dark matter halos in a large set of
collisionless cosmological simulations of the flat LCDM cosmology. Halos are
identified using the spherical overdensity algorithm, which finds the mass
around isolated peaks in the density field such that the mean density is Delta
times the background. We calibrate fitting functions for the large scale bias
that are adaptable to any value of Delta we examine. We find a ~6% scatter
about our best fit bias relation. Our fitting functions couple to the halo mass
functions of Tinker et. al. (2008) such that bias of all dark matter is
normalized to unity. We demonstrate that the bias of massive, rare halos is
higher than that predicted in the modified ellipsoidal collapse model of Sheth,
Mo, & Tormen (2001), and approaches the predictions of the spherical collapse
model for the rarest halos. Halo bias results based on friends-of-friends halos
identified with linking length 0.2 are systematically lower than for halos with
the canonical Delta=200 overdensity by ~10%. In contrast to our previous
results on the mass function, we find that the universal bias function evolves
very weakly with redshift, if at all. We use our numerical results, both for
the mass function and the bias relation, to test the peak-background split
model for halo bias. We find that the peak-background split achieves a
reasonable agreement with the numerical results, but ~20% residuals remain,
both at high and low masses.Comment: 11 pages, submitted to ApJ, revised to include referee's coment
Measurement of Residual Flexibility for Substructures Having Prominent Flexible Interfaces
Verification of a dynamic model of a constrained structure requires a modal survey test of the physical structure and subsequent modification of the model to obtain the best agreement possible with test data. Constrained-boundary or fixed-base testing has historically been the most common approach for verifying constrained mathematical models, since the boundary conditions of the test article are designed to match the actual constraints in service. However, there are difficulties involved with fixed-base testing, in some cases making the approach impractical. It is not possible to conduct a truly fixed-base test due to coupling between the test article and the fixture. In addition, it is often difficult to accurately simulate the actual boundary constraints, and the cost of designing and constructing the fixture may be prohibitive. For use when fixed-base testing proves impractical or undesirable, alternate free-boundary test methods have been investigated, including the residual flexibility technique. The residual flexibility approach has been treated analytically in considerable detail and has had limited frequency response measurements for the method. This concern is well-justified for a number of reasons. First, residual flexibilities are very small numbers, typically on the order of 1.0E-6 in/lb for translational diagonal terms, and orders of magnitude smaller for off-diagonal values. This poses difficulty in obtaining accurate and noise-free measurements, especially for points removed from the excitation source. A second difficulty encountered in residual measurements lies in obtaining a clean residual function in the process of subtracting synthesized modal data from a measured response function. Inaccuracies occur since modes are not subtracted exactly, but only to the accuracy of the curve fits for each mode; these errors are compounded with increasing distance from the excitation point. In this paper, the residual flexibility method is applied to a simple structure in both test and analysis. Measured and predicted residual functions are compared, and regions of poor data in the measured curves are described. It is found that for accurate residual measurements, frequency response functions having prominent stiffness lines in the acceleration/force format are needed. The lack of such stiffness lines increases measurement errors. Interface drive point frequency respose functions for shuttle orbiter payloads exhibit dominant stiffness lines, making the residual test approach a good candidate for payload modal tests when constrained tests are inappropriate. Difficulties in extracting a residual flexibility value from noisy test data are discussed. It is shown that use of a weighted second order least-squares curve fit of the measured residual function allows identification of residual flexibility that compares very well with predictions for the simple structure. This approach also provides an estimate of second order residual mass effects
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