Euclid: Testing the Copernican principle with next-generation surveys

Context. The Copernican principle, the notion that we are not at a special location in the Universe, is one of the cornerstones of modern cosmology. Its violation would invalidate the Friedmann-Lemaître-Robertson-Walker metric, causing a major change in our understanding of the Universe. Thus, it is of fundamental importance to perform observational tests of this principle. Aims. We determine the precision with which future surveys will be able to test the Copernican principle and their ability to detect any possible violations. Methods. We forecast constraints on the inhomogeneous Lemaître-Tolman-Bondi (LTB) model with a cosmological constant Λ, basically a cosmological constant Λ and cold dark matter (CDM) model but endowed with a spherical inhomogeneity. We consider combinations of currently available data and simulated Euclid data, together with external data products, based on both Λ CDM and Λ LTB fiducial models. These constraints are compared to the expectations from the Copernican principle. Results. When considering the Λ CDM fiducial model, we find that Euclid data, in combination with other current and forthcoming surveys, will improve the constraints on the Copernican principle by about 30%, with ±10% variations depending on the observables and scales considered. On the other hand, when considering a Λ LTB fiducial model, we find that future Euclid data, combined with other current and forthcoming datasets, will be able to detect gigaparsec-scale inhomogeneities of contrast -0.1. Conclusions. Next-generation surveys, such as Euclid, will thoroughly test homogeneity at large scales, tightening the constraints on possible violations of the Copernican principl

Timing the r-process Enrichment of the Ultra-faint Dwarf Galaxy Reticulum II

The ultra-faint dwarf galaxy Reticulum II (Ret II) exhibits a unique chemical evolution history, with - + 72 12 10% of its stars strongly enhanced in r-process elements. We present deep Hubble Space Telescope photometry of Ret II and analyze its star formation history. As in other ultra-faint dwarfs, the color–magnitude diagram is best fit by a model consisting of two bursts of star formation. If we assume that the bursts were instantaneous, then the older burst occurred around the epoch of reionization, forming ∼80% of the stars in the galaxy, while the remainder of the stars formed ∼3 Gyr later. When the bursts are allowed to have nonzero durations, we obtain slightly better fits. The best-fitting model in this case consists of two bursts beginning before reionization, with approximately half the stars formed in a short (100 Myr) burst and the other half in a more extended period lasting 2.6 Gyr. Considering the full set of viable star formation history models, we find that 28% of the stars formed within 500 ± 200 Myr of the onset of star formation. The combination of the star formation history and the prevalence of r-process-enhanced stars demonstrates that the r-process elements in Ret II must have been synthesized early in its initial star-forming phase. We therefore constrain the delay time between the formation of the first stars in Ret II and the r-process nucleosynthesis to be less than 500 Myr. This measurement rules out an r-process source with a delay time of several Gyr or more, such as GW170817The DES participants from Spanish institutions are partially supported by MICINN under grants ESP2017-89838, PGC2018-094773, PGC2018-102021, SEV2016-0588, SEV-2016-0597, and MDM-2015-0509, some of which include ERDF funds from the European Union. IFAE is partially funded by the CERCA program of the Generalitat de Catalunya. Research leading to these results has received funding from the European Research Council, under the European Union’s Seventh Framework Program (FP7/2007- 2013), including ERC grant agreements 240672, 291329, and 306478

Dark energy survey year 3 results: Cosmology with peaks using an emulator approach

Artículo escrito por un elevado número de autores, solo se referencian el que aparece en primer lugar, los autores pertenecientes a la UAM y el nombre del grupo de colaboración, si lo hubiereWe constrain the matter density Ωm and the amplitude of density fluctuations σ8 within the ΛCDM cosmological model with shear peak statistics and angular convergence power spectra using mass maps constructed from the first three years of data of the Dark Energy Survey (DES Y3). We use tomographic shear peak statistics, including cross-peaks: peak counts calculated on maps created by taking a harmonic space product of the convergence of two tomographic redshift bins. Our analysis follows a forward-modelling scheme to create a likelihood of these statistics using N-body simulations, using a Gaussian process emulator. We take into account the uncertainty from the remaining, largely unconstrained ΛCDM parameters (Ωb, ns, and h). We include the following lensing systematics: multiplicative shear bias, photometric redshift uncertainty, and galaxy intrinsic alignment. Stringent scale cuts are applied to avoid biases from unmodelled baryonic physics. We find that the additional non-Gaussian information leads to a tightening of the constraints on the structure growth parameter yielding S8 ≡ σ8√Ωm/0.3 = 0.797+0.015−0.013 (68 per cent confidence limits), with a precision of 1.8 per cent, an improvement of 38 per cent compared to the angular power spectra only case. The results obtained with the angular power spectra and peak counts are found to be in agreement with each other and no significant difference in S8 is recorded. We find a mild tension of 1.5σ between our study and the results from Planck 2018, with our analysis yielding a lower S8. Furthermore, we observe that the combination of angular power spectra and tomographic peak counts breaks the degeneracy between galaxy intrinsic alignment AIA and S8, improving cosmological constraints. We run a suite of tests concluding that our results are robust and consistent with the results from other studies using DES Y3 dat

The demosponge Leptomitus cf. L. lineatus, first occurence from the Middle Cambrian of Spain (Murero Formation, Western Iberian Chain)

The Middle Cambrian Murero Formation in the Iberian Chain (NE Spain) has yielded a small collection of softbodied fossils (palaeoscolecid worms, onychophorans, algae), a host of fossils from organisms with mineralized skeletons such as trilobites and brachiopods, and some trace fossils. This paper deals with the description of the only specimen of the demosponge Leptomitus known so far from Spain and its association with the brachiopod Micromitra, showing a probable case of commensalism by the latter over the former. The taphonomical study indicates that there was little or no disarticulation of the sponge spicules and suggests that a rather complex series of alteration processes has occurred since these organisms were buried

Supernova siblings: assessing the consistency of properties of type Ia supernovae that share the same parent galaxies

Artículo escrito por un elevado número de autores, sólo se referencian el que aparece en primer lugar, los autores pertenecientes a la UAM y el nombre del grupo de colaboración, si lo hubiereWhile many studies have shown a correlation between properties of the light curves of SNe Ia and properties of their host galaxies, it remains unclear what is driving these correlations. We introduce a new direct method to study these correlations by analyzing "parent" galaxies that host multiple SNe Ia "siblings." Here, we search the Dark Energy Survey SN sample, one of the largest samples of discovered SNe, and find eight galaxies that hosted two likely SNe Ia. Comparing the light-curve properties of these SNe and recovered distances from the light curves, we find no better agreement between properties of SNe in the same galaxy as any random pair of galaxies, with the exception of the SN light-curve stretch. We show at 2.8σ significance that at least one-half of the intrinsic scatter of SNe Ia distance modulus residuals is not from common host properties. We also discuss the robustness with which we could make this evaluation with LSST, which will find 100× more pairs of galaxies, and pave a new line of study on the consistency of SNe Ia in the same parent galaxies. Finally, we argue that it is unlikely that some of these SNe are actually single, lensed SN with multiple imagesThe DES data management system is supported by the National Science Foundation under grant Nos. AST-1138766 and AST-1536171. The DES participants from Spanish institutions are partially supported by MINECO under grants AYA2015-71825, ESP2015-66861, FPA2015-68048, SEV2016-0588, SEV-2016-0597, and MDM-2015-0509, some of which include ERDF funds from the European Union. IFAE is partially funded by the CERCA program of the Generalitat de Catalunya. Research leading to these results has received funding from the European Research Council under the European Union’s Seventh Framework Program (FP7/2007-2013) including ERC grant agreements 240672, 291329, and 30647

Birds of a Feather? Magellan/IMACS spectroscopy of the ultra-faint satellites grus II, tucana IV, and tucana V

Artículo escrito por un elevado número de autores, sólo se referencian el que aparece en primer lugar, los autores pertenecientes a la UAM y el nombre del grupo de colaboración, si lo hubiereWe present Magellan/IMACS spectroscopy of three recently discovered ultra-faint Milky Way satellites, Grus II, Tucana IV, and Tucana V. We measure systemic velocities of vhel=-110.0 &pm; 0.5 kms-1, vhel= 15.9-1.7+1.8kms-1 and vhel=-36.2-2.2+2.5 kms-1 for the three objects, respectively. Their large relative velocities demonstrate that the satellites are unrelated despite their close physical proximity. We determine a velocity dispersion for Tuc IV of σ = 4.3-1.0+1.7km s-1 but we cannot resolve the velocity dispersions of the other two systems. For Gru II, we place an upper limit (90% confidence) on the dispersion of σ < 1.9 kms-1 and for Tuc V, we do not obtain any useful limits. All three satellites have metallicities below, but none has a detectable metallicity spread. We determine proper motions for each satellite based on Gaia astrometry and compute their orbits around the Milky Way. Gru II is on a tightly bound orbit with a pericenter of 25-7+6 kpc and orbital eccentricity of 0.45-0.05+0.08. Tuc V likely has an apocenter beyond 100 kpc and could be approaching the Milky Way for the first time. The current orbit of Tuc IV is similar to that of Gru II, with a pericenter of 25-8+11 kpc and an eccentricity of 0.36-0.06+0.13. However, a backward integration of the position of Tuc IV demonstrates that it collided with the Large Magellanic Cloud at an impact parameter of 4 kpc ∼120 Myr ago, deflecting its trajectory and possibly altering its internal kinematics. Based on their sizes, masses, and metallicities, we classify Gru II and Tuc IV as likely dwarf galaxies, but the nature of Tuc V remains uncertainThe DES participants from Spanish institutions are partially supported by MINECO under grants AYA2012-39559, ESP2013-48274, FPA2013-47986, and Centro de Excelencia Severo Ochoa SEV-2012-0234, some of which include ERDF funds from the European Union. This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under grant No. 113876

The PAU survey: classifying low-z SEDs using Machine Learning clustering

This is a pre-copyedited, author-produced PDF of an article accepted for publication in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society following peer review. The version of record Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society 524.3 (2023): 3569-3581 is available online at: https://academic.oup.com/mnras/article-abstract/524/3/3569/7225529?redirectedFrom=fulltextWe present an application of unsupervised Machine Learning clustering to the PAU survey of galaxy spectral energy distribution (SED) within the COSMOS field. The clustering algorithm is implemented and optimized to get the relevant groups in the data SEDs. We find 12 groups from a total number of 5234 targets in the survey at 0.01 < z < 0.28. Among the groups, 3545 galaxies (68 per cent) show emission lines in the SEDs. These groups also include 1689 old galaxies with no active star formation. We have fitted the SED to every single galaxy in each group with CIGALE. The mass, age, and specific star formation rates (sSFR) of the galaxies range from 0.15 < age/Gyr <11; 6 < log (M/M⊙) <11.26, and -14.67 < log (sSFR/yr-1) <-8. The groups are well-defined in their properties with galaxies having clear emission lines also having lower mass, are younger and have higher sSFR than those with elliptical like patterns. The characteristic values of galaxies showing clear emission lines are in agreement with the literature for starburst galaxies in COSMOS and GOODS-N fields at low redshift. The star-forming main sequence, sSFR versus stellar mass and UVJ diagram show clearly that different groups fall into different regions with some overlap among groups. Our main result is that the joint of low- resolution (R ∼50) photometric spectra provided by the PAU survey together with the unsupervised classification provides an excellent way to classify galaxies. Moreover, it helps to find and extend the analysis of extreme ELGs to lower masses and lower SFRs in the local UniverseThis work has been supported by the Ministry of Science and Innovation of Spain, project PID2019-107408GB-C43 (ESTALLIDOS), and the Government of the Canary Islands through EU FEDER funding, projects PID2020010050 and PID2021010077. This article is based on observations made in the Observatorios de Canarias of the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC) with the WHT operated on the island of La Palma by the Isaac Newton Group of Telescopes (ING) in the Observatorio del Roque de los Muchachos. The PAU Survey is partially supported by MINECO under grants CSD2007-00060, AYA2015-71825, ESP2017-89838, PGC2018-094773, PGC2018-102021, PID2019-111317GB, SEV-2016-0588, SEV-2016-0597, MDM-2015-0509 and Juan de la Cierva fellowship and LACEGAL and EWC Marie Sklodowska-Curie grant No 734374 and no.776247 with ERDF funds from the EU Horizon 2020 Programme, some of which include ERDF funds from the European Union. IEEC and IFAE are partially funded by the CERCA and Beatriu de Pinos program of the Generalitat de Catalunya. Funding for PAUS has also been provided by Durham Univer sity (via the ERC StG DEGAS-259586), ETH Zurich, Leiden University (via ERC StG ADULT-279396 and Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO) Vici grant 639.043.512), University College London and from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the grant agreement No 776247 EWC. The PAU data center is hosted by the Port d’Información Científica (PIC), maintained through a collaboration of CIEMAT and IFAE, with additional support from Universitat Autónoma de Barcelona and ERDF. We acknowledge the PIC services department team for their support and fruitful discussion

The demosponge Leptomitus cf. L. lineatus, first occurence from the Middle Cambrian of Spain (Murero Formation, Western Iberian Chain)

The Middle Cambrian Murero Formation in the Iberian Chain (NE Spain) has yielded a small collection of softbodied fossils (palaeoscolecid worms, onychophorans, algae), a host of fossils from organisms with mineralized skeletons such as trilobites and brachiopods, and some trace fossils. This paper deals with the description of the only specimen of the demosponge Leptomitus known so far from Spain and its association with the brachiopod Micromitra, showing a probable case of commensalism by the latter over the former. The taphonomical study indicates that there was little or no disarticulation of the sponge spicules and suggests that a rather complex series of alteration processes has occurred since these organisms were buried

First soft-bodied fossil from the Ordovician of Peru

8 páginas.Konservat-Lagerstätten are a source of insurmountable information on the diversity of fossil assemblages during the lower Palaeozoic. Soft-bodied fossils are especially rare in South America, but a new locality has been discovered from the Middle Ordovician of Peru that has produced the fairly well-preserved possible palaeoscolecidan Juninscolex ingemmetianum gen. et sp. nov. The distinctive characteristics of this worm make it similar to European taxa within the group.Peer reviewe