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The jackknife method gives an internal covariance estimate for large-scale structure surveys and allows model-independent errors on cosmological parameters. Using the SDSS-III BOSS CMASS sample, we study how the jackknife size and number of resamplings impact the precision of the covariance estimate on the correlation function multipoles and the error on the inferred baryon acoustic scale. We compare the measurement with the MultiDark Patchy mock galaxy catalogues, and we also validate it against a set of lognormal mocks with the same survey geometry. We build several jackknife configurations that vary in size and number of resamplings. We introduce the Hartlap factor in the covariance estimate that depends on the number of jackknife resamplings. We also find that it is useful to apply the tapering scheme to estimate the precision matrix from a limited number of resamplings. The results from CMASS and mock catalogues show that the error estimate of the baryon acoustic scale does not depend on the jackknife scale. For the shift parameter α, we find an average error of 1.6 per cent, 2.2 per cent and 1.2 per cent, respectively, from CMASS, Patchy, and lognormal jackknife covariances. Despite these uncertainties fluctuate significantly due to some structural limitations of the jackknife method, our α estimates are in reasonable agreement with published pre-reconstruction analyses. Jackknife methods will provide valuable and complementary covariance estimates for future large-scale structure surveys. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cosmological fluids are commonly assumed to be distributed in a spatially homogeneous way, while their internal properties are described by a perfect fluid. As such, they influence the Hubble expansion through their respective densities and equation-of-state parameters. The subject of this paper is an investigation of the fluid-mechanical properties of a dark energy fluid, which is characterized by its sound speed and its viscosity apart from its equation of state. In particular, we compute the predicted spectra for the integrated Sachs-Wolfe effect for our generalized fluid, and compare them with the corresponding predictions for weak gravitational lensing and galaxy clustering, which had been computed in previous work. We perform statistical forecasts and show that the integrated Sachs-Wolfe signal obtained by cross-correlating Euclid galaxies with Planck temperatures, when joined to galaxy clustering and weak lensing observations, yields a percent sensitivity on the dark energy sound speed and viscosity. We prove that the iSW effect provides strong degeneracy breaking for low sound speeds and large differences between the sound speed and viscosity parameters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Current and upcoming surveys will measure the cosmological parameters with an extremely high accuracy. The primary goal of these observations is to eliminate some of the currently viable cosmological models created to explain the late-time accelerated expansion (either real or only inferred). However, most of the statistical tests used in cosmology have a strong requirement: the use of a model to fit the data. Recently there has been an increased interest on finding tests that are model independent, i.e. to have a function that depends entirely on observed quantities and not on the model, see for instance [C. Clarkson, B. Bassett and T. H. C. Lu, Phys. Rev. Lett. 101 (2008) 011301, arXiv:0712.3457 [astro-ph]]. In this paper, we present an alternative consistency check at the perturbative level for a homogeneous and isotropic Universe filled with a dark energy component. This test makes use of the growth of matter perturbations data and it is able to detect a deviation from the standard cosmological model, which could later be attributed to a clustering dark energy component, a tension in the data or a modification of gravity, within the framework of a Friedmann-Lemaître-Robertson-Walker (FLRW) universe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we review a part of the approaches that have been considered to explain the extraordinary discovery of the late time acceleration of the Universe. We discuss the arguments that have led physicists and astronomers to accept dark energy as the current preferable candidate to explain the acceleration. We highlight the problems and the attempts to overcome the difficulties related to such a component. We also consider alternative theories capable of explaining the acceleration of the Universe, such as modification of gravity. We compare the two approaches and point out the observational consequences, reaching the sad but foresightful conclusion that we will not be able to distinguish between a Universe filled by dark energy or a Universe where gravity is different from General Relativity. We review the present observations and discuss the future experiments that will help us to learn more about our Universe. This is not intended to be a complete list of all the dark energy models but this paper should be seen as a review on the phenomena responsible for the acceleration. Moreover, in a landscape of hardly compelling theories, it is an important task to build simple measurable parameters useful for future experiments that will help us to understand more about the evolution of the Universe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]