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Combining galaxy clustering information from regions of different environmental densities can help break cosmological parameter degeneracies and access non-Gaussian information from the density field that is not readily captured by the standard two-point correlation function (2PCF) analyses. However, modelling these density-dependent statistics down to the non-linear regime has so far remained challenging. We present a simulation-based model that is able to capture the cosmological dependence of the full shape of the density-split clustering (DSC) statistics down to intra-halo scales. Our models are based on neural-network emulators that are trained on high-fidelity mock galaxy catalogues within an extended-ΛCDM framework, incorporating the effects of redshift-space, Alcock–Paczynski distortions, and models of the halo–galaxy connection. Our models reach sub-per cent level accuracy down to |$1 \, h^{-1}\text{Mpc}$| and are robust against different choices of galaxy–halo connection modelling. When combined with the galaxy 2PCF, DSC can tighten the constraints on ωcdm, σ8, and ns by factors of 2.9, 1.9, and 2.1, respectively, compared to a 2PCF-only analysis. DSC additionally puts strong constraints on environment-based assembly bias parameters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present a clustering analysis of the BOSS DR12 CMASS galaxy sample, combining measurements of the galaxy two-point correlation function and density-split clustering down to a scale of |$1 \, h^{-1}\, \text{Mpc}$|⁠. Our theoretical framework is based on emulators trained on high-fidelity mock galaxy catalogues that forward model the cosmological dependence of the clustering statistics within an extended-ΛCDM framework, including redshift-space and Alcock–Paczynski distortions. Our base-ΛCDM analysis finds ωcdm = 0.1201 ± 0.0022, σ8 = 0.792 ± 0.034, and ns  = 0.970 ± 0.018, corresponding to f σ8 = 0.462 ± 0.020 at z ≈ 0.525, which is in agreement with Planck 2018 predictions and various clustering studies in the literature. We test single-parameter extensions to base-ΛCDM, varying the running of the spectral index, the dark energy equation of state, and the density of mass-less relic neutrinos, finding no compelling evidence for deviations from the base model. We model the galaxy–halo connection using a halo occupation distribution framework, finding signatures of environment-based assembly bias in the data. We validate our pipeline against mock catalogues that match the clustering and selection properties of CMASS, showing that we can recover unbiased cosmological constraints even with a volume 84 times larger than the one used in this study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We analyse the full shape of anisotropic clustering measurements from the extended Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey quasar sample together with the combined galaxy sample from the Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey. We obtain constraints on the cosmological parameters independent of the Hubble parameter h for the extensions of the Lambda cold dark matter (ΛCDM) models, focusing on cosmologies with free dark energy equation of state parameter w. We combine the clustering constraints with those from the latest cosmic microwave background data from Planck to obtain joint constraints for these cosmologies for w and the additional extension parameters – its time evolution w a, the physical curvature density ω K and the neutrino mass sum ∑ m ν. Our joint constraints are consistent with a flat ΛCDM cosmological model within 68  per cent confidence limits. We demonstrate that the Planck data are able to place tight constraints on the clustering amplitude today, σ12, in cosmologies with varying w and present the first constraints for the clustering amplitude for such cosmologies, which is found to be slightly higher than the ΛCDM value. Additionally, we show that when we vary w and allow for non-flat cosmologies and the physical curvature density is used, Planck prefers a curved universe at 4σ significance, which is ∼2σ higher than when using the relative curvature density ΩK. Finally, when w is varied freely, clustering provides only a modest improvement (of 0.021 eV) on the upper limit of ∑ m ν. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we present COMET , a Gaussian process emulator of the galaxy power spectrum multipoles in redshift space. The model predictions are based on one-loop perturbation theory and we consider two alternative descriptions of redshift-space distortions: one that performs a full expansion of the real- to redshift-space mapping, as in recent effective field theory models, and another that preserves the non-perturbative impact of small-scale velocities by means of an effective damping function. The outputs of COMET can be obtained at arbitrary redshifts, for arbitrary fiducial background cosmologies, and for a large parameter space that covers the shape parameters ω c , ω b , and ns , as well as the evolution parameters h ,  As , Ω K , w 0, and wa. This flexibility does not impair COMET 's accuracy, since we exploit an exact degeneracy between the evolution parameters that allows us to train the emulator on a significantly reduced parameter space. While the predictions are sped up by two orders of magnitude, validation tests reveal an accuracy of |$0.1\, {{\ \rm per\ cent}}$| for the monopole and quadrupole (⁠|$0.3\, {{\ \rm per\ cent}}$| for the hexadecapole), or alternatively, better than |$0.25\, \sigma$| for all three multipoles in comparison to statistical uncertainties expected for the Euclid survey with a tenfold increase in volume. We show that these differences translate into shifts in mean posterior values that are at most of the same size, meaning that COMET can be used with the same confidence as the exact underlying models. COMET is a publicly available python package that also provides the tree-level bispectrum multipoles and Gaussian covariance matrices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We report and analyse a serendipitous finding of foregrounds in the cosmic microwave background (CMB) radiation associated with extended galactic haloes. Using the cross-correlation of Planck and Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe maps and the 2MRS galaxy catalogue, we find that the mean temperature radial profiles around nearby galaxies at |$cz\le 4500~\rm {km~s^{-1}}$| show a statistically significant systematic decrease of |$\sim 15~\mu \rm {K}$| extending up to several galaxy radii. This deficit in the temperature strongly depends on the galaxy morphological type at scales within several tens of times the galaxy size, becoming nearly independent of galaxy morphology at larger scales. The effect is significantly stronger for the more extended galaxies, with galaxy clustering having a large impact on the results. Our findings indicate the presence of statistically relevant foregrounds in the CMB maps that should be considered in detailed cosmological studies. Besides, we argue that these can be used to explore the intergalactic medium surrounding bright late-type galaxies and allow for diverse astrophysical analyses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present a new approach to describe statistics of the non-linear matter density field that exploits a degeneracy in the impact of different cosmological parameters on the linear dimensionless matter power spectrum, |$\Delta ^2_{\rm L}(k)$|⁠. We classify all cosmological parameters into two groups, shape parameters, which determine the shape of |$\Delta ^2_{\rm L}(k)$|⁠ , and evolution parameters, which only affect its amplitude at any given redshift. With this definition, the time evolution of |$\Delta ^2_{\rm L}(k)$| in models with identical shape parameters but different evolution parameters can be mapped from one to the other by relabelling the redshifts that correspond to the same clustering amplitude, which we characterize by the linear mass fluctuation in spheres of radius |$12\, {\rm Mpc}$|⁠ , σ12(z). We use N -body simulations to show that the same evolution-mapping relation gives a good description of the non-linear power spectrum, the halo mass function, or the full density field. The deviations from the exact degeneracy are the result of the different structure formation histories experienced by each model to reach the same clustering amplitude and can be accurately described in terms of differences in the suppression factor g (a) = D (a)/ a. These relations can be used to drastically reduce the number of parameters required to describe the cosmology dependence of the power spectrum. We show how this can help to speed up the inference of parameter constraints from cosmological observations. We also present a new design of an emulator of the non-linear power spectrum whose predictions can be adapted to an arbitrary choice of evolution parameters and redshift. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present the analysis of the full shape of anisotropic clustering measurement from the extended Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (eBOSS) quasar sample together with the combined galaxy sample from the Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (BOSS), re-analysed using an updated recipe for the non-linear matter power spectrum and the non-local bias parameters. We obtain constraints for flat Lambda cold dark matter cosmologies, focusing on the cosmological parameters that are independent of the Hubble parameter h. Our recovered value for the Root Mean Square (RMS) linear perturbation theory variance as measured on the scale of |$12\, {\rm Mpc}$| is σ12 = 0.805 ± 0.049, while using the traditional reference scale of |$8\, h^{-1}\, {\rm Mpc}$| gives σ8 = 0.815 ± 0.044. We quantify the agreement between our measurements and the latest cosmic microwave background data from Planck using the suspiciousness metric, and find them to be consistent within 0.64 ± 0.03σ. Combining our clustering constraints with the 3 × 2pt data sample from the Dark Energy Survey Year 1 release slightly degrades this agreement to the level of 1.54 ± 0.08σ, while still showing an overall consistency with Planck. We furthermore study the effect of imposing a Planck – like prior on the parameters that define the shape of the linear matter power spectrum, and find significantly tighter constraints on the parameters that control the evolution of density fluctuations. In particular, the combination of low-redshift data sets prefers a value of the physical dark energy density ωDE = 0.335 ± 0.011, which is 1.7σ higher than the one preferred by Planck. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This is the second part of a thorough investigation of the redshift-space effects that affect void properties and the impact they have on cosmological tests. Here, we focus on the void-galaxy cross-correlation function, specifically, on the projected versions that we developed in a previous work. The pillar of the analysis is the one-to-one relationship between real and redshift-space voids above the shot-noise level identified with a spherical void finder. Under this mapping, void properties are affected by three effects: (i) a systematic expansion as a consequence of the distortions induced by galaxy dynamics, (ii) the Alcock–Paczynski volume effect, which manifests as an overall expansion or contraction depending on the fiducial cosmology, and (iii) a systematic off-centring along the line of sight as a consequence of the distortions induced by void dynamics. We found that correlations are also affected by an additional source of distortions: the ellipticity of voids. This is the first time that distortions due to the off-centring and ellipticity effects are detected and quantified. With a simplified test, we verified that the Gaussian streaming model is still robust provided all these effects are taken into account, laying the foundations for improvements in current models in order to obtain unbiased cosmological constraints from spectroscopic surveys. Besides this practical importance, this analysis also encodes key information about the structure and dynamics of the Universe at the largest scales. Furthermore, some of the effects constitute cosmological probes by themselves, as is the case of the void ellipticity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Minkowski functionals (MFs) are a set of statistics that characterize the geometry and topology of the cosmic density field and contain complementary information to the standard two-point analyses. We present medusa , an implementation of an accurate method for estimating the MFs of three-dimensional point distributions. These estimates are inferred from triangulated isodensity surfaces that are constructed from the Delaunay tessellation of the input point sample. medusa can account for periodic boundary conditions, which is crucial for the analysis of N -body simulations. We validate our code against several test samples with known MFs, including Gaussian random fields with a ΛCDM power spectrum, and find excellent agreement with the theory predictions. We use medusa to measure the MFs of synthetic galaxy catalogues constructed from N -body simulations. Our results show clearly non-Gaussian signatures that arise from the non-linear gravitational evolution of the density field. We find that, although redshift-space distortions change our MFs estimates, their impact is considerably reduced if these measurements are expressed as a function of the volume-filling fraction. We also show that the effect of Alcock–Paczynski (AP) distortions on the MFs can be described by scaling them with different powers of the isotropic AP parameter q defined in terms of the volume-averaged distance D V(z). Thus the MFs estimates by medusa are useful probes of non-linearities in the density field, and the expansion and growth of structure histories of the Universe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The construction of catalogues of a particular type of galaxy can be complicated by interlopers contaminating the sample. In spectroscopic galaxy surveys this can be due to the misclassification of an emission line; for example in the Hobby–Eberly Telescope Dark Energy Experiment (HETDEX) low-redshift [O  ii ] emitters may make up a few per cent of the observed Ly  α emitter (LAE) sample. The presence of contaminants affects the measured correlation functions and power spectra. Previous attempts to deal with this using the cross-correlation function have assumed sources at a fixed redshift, or not modelled evolution within the adopted redshift bins. However, in spectroscopic surveys like HETDEX, where the contamination fraction is likely to be redshift dependent, the observed clustering of misclassified sources will appear to evolve strongly due to projection effects, even if their true clustering does not. We present a practical method for accounting for the presence of contaminants with redshift-dependent contamination fractions and projected clustering. We show using mock catalogues that our method, unlike existing approaches, yields unbiased clustering measurements from the upcoming HETDEX survey in scenarios with redshift-dependent contamination fractions within the redshift bins used. We show our method returns autocorrelation functions with systematic biases much smaller than the statistical noise for samples with at least as high as 7 per cent contamination. We also present and test a method for fitting for the redshift-dependent interloper fraction using the LAE–[O  ii ] galaxy cross-correlation function, which gives less biased results than assuming a single interloper fraction for the whole sample. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

All estimators of the two-point correlation function are based on a random catalogue, a set of points with no intrinsic clustering following the selection function of a survey. High-accuracy estimates require the use of large random catalogues, which imply a high computational cost. We propose to replace the standard random catalogues by glass-like point distributions or glass catalogues whose power spectrum P (k) ∝ k 4 exhibits significantly less power on scales larger than the mean interparticle separation than a Poisson distribution with the same number of points. We show that these distributions can be obtained by iteratively applying the technique of Zeldovich reconstruction commonly used in studies of baryon acoustic oscillations (BAO). We provide a modified version of the widely used Landy–Szalay estimator of the correlation function adapted to the use of glass catalogues and compare its performance with the results obtained using random samples. Our results show that glass-like samples do not add any bias with respect to the results obtained using Poisson distributions. On scales larger than the mean interparticle separation of the glass catalogues, the modified estimator leads to a significant reduction of the variance of the Legendre multipoles ξℓ(s) with respect to the standard Landy–Szalay results with the same number of points. The size of the glass catalogue required to achieve a given accuracy in the correlation function is significantly smaller than when using random samples. Their use could help us to drastically reduce the computational cost of configuration-space clustering analysis of future surveys while maintaining high-accuracy requirements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Accurate modelling of redshift-space distortions (RSD) is challenging in the non-linear regime for two-point statistics e.g. the two-point correlation function (2PCF). We take a different perspective to split the galaxy density field according to the local density, and cross-correlate those densities with the entire galaxy field. Using mock galaxies, we demonstrate that combining a series of cross-correlation functions (CCFs) offers improvements over the 2PCF as follows: (1) The distribution of peculiar velocities in each split density is nearly Gaussian. This allows the Gaussian streaming model for RSD to perform accurately within the statistical errors of a (⁠|$1.5\, h^{-1}$| Gpc)3 volume for almost all scales and all split densities. (2) The probability distribution of the density contrast at small scales is non-Gaussian, but the CCFs of split densities capture the non-Gaussianity, leading to improved cosmological constraints over the 2PCF. We can obtain unbiased constraints on the growth parameter f σ12 at the per cent level, and Alcock–Paczynski (AP) parameters at the sub-per cent level with the minimal scale of |$15\, h^{-1}{\rm Mpc}$|⁠. This is a ∼30 per cent and ∼6 times improvement over the 2PCF, respectively. The diverse and steep slopes of the CCFs at small scales are likely to be responsible for the improved constraints of AP parameters. (3) Baryon acoustic oscillations (BAO) are contained in all CCFs of split densities. Including BAO scales helps to break the degeneracy between the line-of-sight and transverse AP parameters, allowing independent constraints on them. We discuss and compare models for RSD around spherical densities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We measure the anisotropic clustering of the quasar sample from Data Release 16 (DR16) of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey IV extended Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (eBOSS). A sample of 343 708 spectroscopically confirmed quasars between redshift 0.8 < z < 2.2 are used as tracers of the underlying dark matter field. In comparison with DR14 sample, the final sample doubles the number of objects as well as the survey area. In this paper, we present the analysis in configuration space by measuring the two-point correlation function and decomposing it using the Legendre polynomials. For the full-shape analysis of the Legendre multipole moments, we measure the baryon acoustic oscillation (BAO) distance and the growth rate of the cosmic structure. At an effective redshift of z eff = 1.48, we measure the comoving angular diameter distance D M(z eff)/ r drag = 30.66 ± 0.88, the Hubble distance D H(z eff)/ r drag = 13.11 ± 0.52, and the product of the linear growth rate and the rms linear mass fluctuation on scales of |$8 \, h^{-1}\, {\rm Mpc}$|⁠ , f σ8(z eff) = 0.439 ± 0.048. The accuracy of these measurements is confirmed using an extensive set of mock simulations developed for the quasar sample. The uncertainties on the distance and growth rate measurements have been reduced substantially (∼45 and ∼30 per cent) with respect to the DR14 results. We also perform a BAO-only analysis to cross check the robustness of the methodology of the full-shape analysis. Combining our analysis with the Fourier-space analysis, we arrive at |$D^{{\bf c}}_{\rm M}(z_{\rm eff})/r_{\rm drag} = 30.21 \pm 0.79$|⁠ , |$D^{{\bf c}}_{\rm H}(z_{\rm eff})/r_{\rm drag} = 13.23 \pm 0.47$|⁠ , and |$f\sigma _8^{{\bf c}}(z_{\rm eff}) = 0.462 \pm 0.045$|⁠. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Voids are promising cosmological probes. Nevertheless, every cosmological test based on voids must necessarily employ methods to identify them in redshift space. Therefore, redshift-space distortions (RSD) and the Alcock–Paczyński effect (AP) have an impact on the void identification process itself generating distortion patterns in observations. Using a spherical void finder, we developed a statistical and theoretical framework to describe physically the connection between the identification in real and redshift space. We found that redshift-space voids above the shot noise level have a unique real-space counterpart spanning the same region of space, they are systematically bigger and their centres are preferentially shifted along the line of sight. The expansion effect is a by-product of RSD induced by tracer dynamics at scales around the void radius, whereas the off-centring effect constitutes a different class of RSD induced at larger scales by the global dynamics of the whole region containing the void. The volume of voids is also altered by the fiducial cosmology assumed to measure distances, this is the AP change of volume. These three systematics have an impact on cosmological statistics. In this work, we focus on the void size function. We developed a theoretical framework to model these effects and tested it with a numerical simulation, recovering the statistical properties of the abundance of voids in real space. This description depends strongly on cosmology. Hence, we lay the foundations for improvements in current models of the abundance of voids in order to obtain unbiased cosmological constraints from redshift surveys. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we demonstrate that the information encoded in one single (sufficiently large) N -body simulation can be used to reproduce arbitrary numbers of halo catalogues, using approximated realizations of dark matter density fields with different initial conditions. To this end, we use as a reference one realization (from an ensemble of 300) of the Minerva N -body simulations and the recently published Bias Assignment Method to extract the local and non-local bias linking the halo to the dark matter distribution. We use an approximate (and fast) gravity solver to generate 300 dark matter density fields from the down-sampled initial conditions of the reference simulation and sample each of these fields using the halo-bias and a kernel, both calibrated from the arbitrarily chosen realization of the reference simulation. We show that the power spectrum, its variance, and the three-point statistics are reproduced within |$\sim \!2{{\ \rm per\ cent}}$| (up to |$k\sim 1.0\, h\, {\rm Mpc}^{-1}$|⁠), |$\sim \!5-10{{\ \rm per\ cent}}$|⁠ , and |$\sim \!10{{\ \rm per\ cent}}$|⁠ , respectively. Using a model for the real space power spectrum (with three free bias parameters), we show that the covariance matrices obtained from our procedure lead to parameter uncertainties that are compatible within |$\sim \!10{{\ \rm per\ cent}}$| with respect to those derived from the reference covariance matrix, and motivate approaches that can help to reduce these differences to |$\sim \!1{{\ \rm per\ cent}}$|⁠. Our method has the potential to learn from one simulation with moderate volumes and high-mass resolution and extrapolate the information of the bias and the kernel to larger volumes, making it ideal for the construction of mock catalogues for present and forthcoming observational campaigns such as Euclid or DESI. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present a new cosmological test using the distribution of galaxies around cosmic voids without assuming a fiducial cosmology. The test is based on a physical model for the void–galaxy cross-correlation function projected along and perpendicular to the line of sight. We treat correlations in terms of void-centric angular distances and redshift differences between void–galaxy pairs, hence it is not necessary to assume a fiducial cosmology. This model reproduces the coupled dynamical (Kaiser effect, RSD) and geometrical (Alcock–Paczynski effect, GD) distortions that affect the correlation measurements. It also takes into account the scale mixing due to the projection ranges in both directions. The model is general, so it can be applied to an arbitrary cylindrical binning scheme, not only in the case of the projected correlations. It primarily depends on two cosmological parameters: Ω m , the matter fraction of the Universe today (sensitive to GD), and β, the ratio between the growth rate factor of density perturbations and the tracer bias (sensitive to RSD). In the context of the new generation of galaxy spectroscopic surveys, we calibrated the test using the Millennium XXL simulation for different redshifts. The method successfully recovers the cosmological parameters. We studied the effect of measuring with different projection ranges, finding robust results up to wide ranges. The resulting data covariance matrices are relatively small, which reduces the noise in the Gaussian likelihood analysis and will allow the usage of a smaller number of mock catalogues. The performance evaluated in this work indicates that the developed method is a promising test to be applied on real data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Measurements of redshift space distortions (RSD) provide a means to test models of gravity on large scales. We use mock galaxy catalogues constructed from large N -body simulations of standard and modified gravity models to measure galaxy clustering in redshift space. We focus our attention on two of the most representative and popular families of modified gravity models: the Hu & Sawicki f (R) gravity and the normal branch of the Dvali−Gabadadze−Porrati (DGP) model. The galaxy catalogues are built using a halo occupation distribution (HOD) prescription with the HOD parameters in the modified gravity models tuned to match with the number density and the real-space clustering of boss-cmass galaxies. We employ two approaches to model RSD: the first is based on linear perturbation theory and the second models non-linear effects on small scales by assuming standard gravity and including biasing and RSD effects. We measure the monopole to real-space correlation function ratio, the quadrupole to monopole ratio, clustering wedges, and multipoles of the correlation function and use these statistics to find the constraints on the distortion parameter, β. We find that the linear model fails to reproduce the N -body simulation results and the true value of β on scales |$s \lt 40\, h^{-1}\, {\rm Mpc}$|⁠, while the non-linear modelling of RSD recovers the value of β on the scales of interest for all models. RSD on large scales (⁠|$s\gtrsim 20\!-\!40\, h^{-1}\, {\rm Mpc}$|⁠) have been found to show significant deviations from the prediction of standard gravity in the DGP models. However, the potential to use RSD to constrain f (R) models is less promising, due to the different screening mechanism in this model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We study the accuracy of several approximate methods for gravitational dynamics in terms of halo power spectrum multipoles and their estimated covariance matrix. We propagate the differences in covariances into parameter constraints related to growth rate of structure, Alcock–Paczynski distortions, and biasing. We consider seven methods in three broad categories: algorithms that solve for halo density evolution deterministically using Lagrangian trajectories (ICE–COLA, pinocchio, and peakpatch), methods that rely on halo assignment schemes on to dark matter overdensities calibrated with a target N-body run (halogen, patchy), and two standard assumptions about the full density probability distribution function (Gaussian and lognormal). We benchmark their performance against a set of three hundred N-body simulations, running similar sets of approximate simulations with matched initial conditions, for each method. We find that most methods reproduce the monopole to within |$5{{\ \rm per\ cent}}$|⁠, while residuals for the quadrupole are sometimes larger and scale dependent. The variance of the multipoles is typically reproduced within |$10{{\ \rm per\ cent}}$|⁠. Overall, we find that covariances built from approximate simulations yield errors on model parameters within |$10{{\ \rm per\ cent}}$| of those from the N-body-based covariance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We measure the growth rate and its evolution using the anisotropic clustering of the extended Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (eBOSS) Data Release 14 (DR14) quasar sample, which includes |$148\, 659$| quasars covering the wide redshift range of 0.8 < z < 2.2 and a sky area of |$2112.90\, \rm deg^2$|⁠. To optimize measurements we deploy a redshift-dependent weighting scheme, which allows us to avoid binning and perform the data analysis consistently including the redshift evolution across the sample. We perform the analysis in Fourier space, and use the redshift evolving power spectrum multipoles to measure the redshift-space distortion parameter f σ8 and parameters controlling the anisotropic projection of the cosmological perturbations. We measure f σ8(z  = 1.52) = 0.43 ± 0.05 and d f σ8/d z (z  = 1.52) = −0.16 ± 0.08, consistent with the expectation for a lambda cold dark matter cosmology as constrained by the Planck experiment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We compare the measurements of the bispectrum and the estimate of its covariance obtained from a set of different methods for the efficient generation of approximate dark matter halo catalogues to the same quantities obtained from full N -body simulations. To this purpose we employ a large set of 300 realizations of the same cosmology for each method, run with matching initial conditions in order to reduce the contribution of cosmic variance to the comparison. In addition, we compare how the error on cosmological parameters such as linear and non-linear bias parameters depends on the approximate method used for the determination of the bispectrum variance. As general result, most methods provide errors within 10 per cent of the errors estimated from N -body simulations. Exceptions are those methods requiring calibration of the clustering amplitude but restrict this to 2-point statistics. Finally we test how our results are affected by being limited to a few hundreds measurements from N -body simulation by comparing with a larger set of several thousands of realizations performed with one approximate method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is the first in a set that analyses the covariance matrices of clustering statistics obtained from several approximate methods for gravitational structure formation. We focus here on the covariance matrices of anisotropic two-point correlation function measurements. Our comparison includes seven approximate methods, which can be divided into three categories: predictive methods that follow the evolution of the linear density field deterministically (ice-cola, peak patch, and pinocchio), methods that require a calibration with N -body simulations (patchy and halogen), and simpler recipes based on assumptions regarding the shape of the probability distribution function (PDF) of density fluctuations (lognormal and Gaussian density fields). We analyse the impact of using covariance estimates obtained from these approximate methods on cosmological analyses of galaxy clustering measurements, using as a reference the covariances inferred from a set of full N -body simulations. We find that all approximate methods can accurately recover the mean parameter values inferred using the N -body covariances. The obtained parameter uncertainties typically agree with the corresponding N -body results within 5 per cent for our lower mass threshold and 10 per cent for our higher mass threshold. Furthermore, we find that the constraints for some methods can differ by up to 20 per cent depending on whether the halo samples used to define the covariance matrices are defined by matching the mass, number density, or clustering amplitude of the parent N -body samples. The results of our configuration-space analysis indicate that most approximate methods provide similar results, with no single method clearly outperforming the others. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We explore the cosmological implications of anisotropic clustering measurements of the quasar sample from Data Release 14 (DR14) of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey IV extended Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (eBOSS) in configuration space. The $${\sim } 147\, 000$$ quasar sample observed by eBOSS offers a direct tracer of the density field and bridges the gap of previous baryon acoustic oscillation measurements between redshift 0.8 < $$z$$ < 2.2. By analysing the two-point correlation function characterized by clustering wedges $$\xi _{\rm w_i}(s)$$ and multipoles ξℓ(s), we measure the angular diameter distance, Hubble parameter, and cosmic structure growth rate. We define a systematic error budget for our measurements based on the analysis of N -body simulations and mock catalogues. Based on the DR14 large-scale structure quasar sample at the effective redshift $$z$$ eff = 1.52, we find the growth rate of cosmic structure f σ8($$z$$ eff) = 0.396 ± 0.079, and the geometric parameters D V($$z$$)/ r d = 26.47 ± 1.23, and F AP($$z$$) = 2.53 ± 0.22, where the uncertainties include both statistical and systematic errors. These values are in excellent agreement with the best-fitting standard Λ cold dark matter model to the latest cosmic microwave background data from Planck. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We use baryon acoustic oscillation and redshift space distortion from the completed Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey, corresponding to Data Release 12 of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, combined sample analysis in combination with cosmic microwave background, supernova, and redshift space distortion measurements from additional spectroscopic surveys to test deviations from general relativity. We present constraints on several phenomenological models of modified gravity: First, we parametrize the growth of structure using the growth index γ , finding γ = 0.566 ± 0.058 (68 per cent C.L.). Secondly, we modify the relation of the two Newtonian potentials by introducing two additional parameters, GM and GL. In this approach, GM refers to modifications of the growth of structure whereas GL to modification of the lensing potential. We consider a power law to model the redshift dependence of GM and GL as well as binning in redshift space, introducing four additional degrees of freedom, GM(z < 0.5), GM(z > 0.5), GL(z < 0.5), and GL(z > 0.5). At 68 per cent C.L., we measure GM = 0.980 ± 0.096 and GL = 1.082 ± 0.060 for a linear model, GM = 1.01 ± 0.36 and GL = 1.31 ± 0.19 for a cubic model as well as GM(z < 0.5) = 1.26 ± 0.32, GM(z > 0.5) = 0.986 ± 0.022, GL(z < 0.5) = 1.067 ± 0.058, and GL(z > 0.5) = 1.037 ± 0.029. Thirdly, we investigate general scalar tensor theories of gravity, finding the model to be mostly unconstrained by current data. Assuming a one-parameter f(R) model, we can constrain B0 < 7.7 × 10-5 (95 per cent C.L). For all models we considered, we find good agreement with general relativity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We investigate the cosmological implications of studying galaxy clustering using a tomographic approach applied to the final Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (BOSS) DR12 galaxy sample, including both auto- and cross-correlation functions between redshift shells. We model the signal of the full shape of the angular correlation function, ω(θ), in redshift bins using state-of-the-art modelling of non-linearities, bias and redshift-space distortions. We present results on the redshift evolution of the linear bias of BOSS galaxies, which cannot be obtained with traditional methods for galaxy-clustering analysis. We also obtain constraints on cosmological parameters, combining this tomographic analysis with measurements of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) and Type Ia supernova (SNIa).We explore a number of cosmological models, including the standard Λ cold darkmattermodel and its most interesting extensions, such as deviations from wDE=-1, non-minimal neutrino masses, spatial curvature and deviations from general relativity (GR) using the growth-index γ parametrization. These results are, in general, comparable to the most precise present-day constraints on cosmological parameters, and show very good agreement with the standard model. In particular, combining CMB, ω(θ) and SNIa, we find a value of wDE consistent with -1 to a precision better than 5 per cent when it is assumed to be constant in time, and better than 6 per cent when we also allow for a spatially curved Universe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We extract cosmological information from the anisotropic power-spectrummeasurements from the recently completed Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (BOSS), extending the concept of clustering wedges to Fourier space. Making use of new fast-Fourier-transform-based estimators, we measure the power-spectrum clustering wedges of the BOSS sample by filtering out the information of Legendre multipoles ℓ > 4. Our modelling of these measurements is based on novel approaches to describe non-linear evolution, bias and redshift-space distortions, which we test using synthetic catalogues based on large-volume N-body simulations. We are able to include smaller scales than in previous analyses, resulting in tighter cosmological constraints. Using three overlapping redshift bins, we measure the angular-diameter distance, the Hubble parameter and the cosmic growth rate and explore the cosmological implications of our full-shape clustering measurements in combination with cosmic microwave background and Type Ia supernova data. Assuming a Λ cold dark matter (ΛCDM) cosmology, we constrain the matter density #8230; and the Hubble parameter to #8230; , at a confidence level of 68 per cent. We also allow for nonstandard dark energy models and modifications of the growth rate, finding good agreement with the ΛCDM paradigm. For example, we constrain the equation-of-state parameter to #8230;. This paper is part of a set that analyses the final galaxy-clustering data set from BOSS. The measurements and likelihoods presented here are combined with others in Alam et al. to produce the final cosmological constraints from BOSS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We explore the cosmological implications of anisotropic clustering measurements in configuration space of the final galaxy samples from Data Release 12 of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey III Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey. We implement a new detailed modelling of the effects of non-linearities, bias and redshift-space distortions that can be used to extract unbiased cosmological information from our measurements for scales s ≳ 20 h-1 Mpc. We combined the information from Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (BOSS) with the latest cosmic microwave background (CMB) observations and Type Ia supernovae samples and found no significant evidence for a deviation from the Λ cold dark matter (ΛCDM) cosmological model. In particular, these data sets can constrain the dark energy equationof- state parameter to wDE = -0.996 ± 0.042 when to be assumed time independent, the curvature of the Universe to Ωk = -0.0007 ± 0.0030 and the sum of the neutrino masses to ∑m2 < 0.25 eV at 95 per cent confidence levels. We explore the constraints on the growth rate of cosmic structures assuming f(z)=Ωm(z)γ and obtain γ =0.609±0.079, in good agreement with the predictions of general relativity of γ = 0.55. We compress the information of our clustering measurements into constraints on the parameter combinations DV(z)/rd, FAP(z) and ƒσ8(z) at zeff = 0.38, 0.51 and 0.61 with their respective covariance matrices and find good agreement with the predictions for these parameters obtained from the best-fitting ΛCDM model to the CMB data from the Planck satellite. This paper is part of a set that analyses the final galaxy clustering data set from BOSS. The measurements and likelihoods presented here are combined with others by Alam et al. to produce the final cosmological constraints from BOSS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The cosmological information contained in anisotropic galaxy clustering measurements can often be compressed into a small number of parameters whose posterior distribution is well described by a Gaussian. We present a general methodology to combine these estimates into a single set of consensus constraints that encode the total information of the individual measurements, taking into account the full covariance between the different methods. We illustrate this technique by applying it to combine the results obtained from different clustering analyses, including measurements of the signature of baryon acoustic oscillations and redshiftspace distortions, based on a set of mock catalogues of the final SDSS-III Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (BOSS). Our results show that the region of the parameter space allowed by the consensus constraints is smaller than that of the individual methods, highlighting the importance of performing multiple analyses on galaxy surveys even when the measurements are highly correlated. This paper is part of a set that analyses the final galaxy clustering data set from BOSS. The methodology presented here is used in Alam et al. to produce the final cosmological constraints from BOSS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Measurements of the redshift-space galaxy clustering have been a prolific source of cosmological information in recent years. Accurate covariance estimates are an essential step for the validation of galaxy clustering models of the redshift-space two-point statistics. Usually, only a limited set of accurate N-body simulations is available. Thus, assessing the data covariance is not possible or only leads to a noisy estimate. Further, relying on simulated realizations of the survey data means that tests of the cosmology dependence of the covariance are expensive. With these points in mind, this work presents a simple theoretical model for the linear covariance of anisotropic galaxy clustering observations with synthetic catalogues. Considering the Legendre moments ('multipoles') of the two-point statistics and projections into wide bins of the line-of-sight parameter ('clustering wedges'), we describe the modelling of the covariance for these anisotropic clustering measurements for galaxy samples with a trivial geometry in the case of a Gaussian approximation of the clustering likelihood. As main result of this paper, we give the explicit formulae for Fourier and configuration space covariance matrices. To validate our model, we create synthetic halo occupation distribution galaxy catalogues by populating the haloes of an ensemble of large-volume N-body simulations. Using linear and non-linear input power spectra, we find very good agreement between the model predictions and the measurements on the synthetic catalogues in the quasi-linear regime. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present distance scale measurements from the baryon acoustic oscillation signal in the constant stellar mass and low-redshift sample samples from the Data Release 12 of the Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey. The total volume probed is 14.5 Gpc³, a 10 per cent increment from Data Release 11. From an analysis of the spherically averaged correlation function, we infer a distance to z = 0.57 of DV(z)rfidd/rd=2028±21 Mpc and a distance to z = 0.32 of DV(z)rfidd/rd=1264±22 Mpc assuming a cosmology in which rfidd=147.10 Mpc. From the anisotropic analysis, we find an angular diameter distance to z = 0.57 of DA(z)rfidd/rd=1401±21 Mpc and a distance to z = 0.32 of 981 ± 20 Mpc, a 1.5 and 2.0 per cent measurement, respectively. The Hubble parameter at z = 0.57 is H(z)rd/rfidd=100.3±3.7 km s-1 Mpc-1 and its value at z = 0.32 is 79.2 ± 5.6 km s-1 Mpc-1, a 3.7 and 7.1 per cent measurement, respectively. These cosmic distance scale constraints are in excellent agreement with a Λ cold dark matter model with cosmological parameters released by the recent Planck 2015 results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We reproduce the galaxy clustering catalogue from the SDSS-III Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey Final Data Release (BOSS DR11&DR12) with high fidelity on all relevant scales in order to allow a robust analysis of baryon acoustic oscillations and redshift space distortions. We have generated (6000) 12 288 MultiDark PATCHY BOSS (DR11) DR12 light cones corresponding to an effective volume of ∼192 000 [h-1 Gpc]³ (the largest ever simulated volume), including cosmic evolution in the redshift range from 0.15 to 0.75. The mocks have been calibrated using a reference galaxy catalogue based on the halo abundance matching modelling of the BOSS DR11&DR12 galaxy clustering data and on the data themselves. The production follows three steps. First, we apply the PATCHY code to generate a dark matter field and an object distribution including non-linear stochastic galaxy bias. Secondly, we run the halo/stellar distribution reconstruction HADRON code to assign masses to the various objects. This step uses the mass distribution as a function of local density and non-local indicators (i.e. tidal field tensor eigenvalues and relative halo exclusion separation for massive objects) from the reference simulation applied to the corresponding patchy dark matter and galaxy distribution. Finally, we apply the SUGAR code to build the light cones. The resulting MultiDarkPATCHY mock light cones reproduce the number density, selection function, survey geometry, and in general within 1s, for arbitrary stellar mass bins, the power spectrum up to k = 0.3 h Mpc-1, the two-point correlation functions down to a few Mpc scales, and the three-point statistics of the BOSS DR11&DR12 galaxy samples. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The estimation of cosmological constraints from observations of the large-scale structure of the Universe, such as the power spectrum or the correlation function, requires the knowledge of the inverse of the associated covariance matrix, namely the precision matrix, Ψ. In most analyses, Ψ is estimated from a limited set of mock catalogues. Depending on how many mocks are used, this estimation has an associated error which must be propagated into the final cosmological constraints. For future surveys such as Euclid and Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument, the control of this additional uncertainty requires a prohibitively large number of mock catalogues. In this work, we test a novel technique for the estimation of the precision matrix, the covariance tapering method, in the context of baryon acoustic oscillation measurements. Even though this technique was originally devised as a way to speed up maximum likelihood estimations, our results show that it also reduces the impact of noisy precision matrix estimates on the derived confidence intervals, without introducing biases on the target parameters. The application of this technique can help future surveys to reach their true constraining power using a significantly smaller number of mock catalogues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Extraction of the Baryon Acoustic Oscillations (BAO) to per cent level accuracy is challenging and demands an understanding of many potential systematics to an accuracy well below 1 per cent, in order to ensure that they do not combine significantly when compared to statistical error of the BAO measurement. Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (BOSS) Data Release 11 (DR11) reaches a distance measurement with ∼1 per cent statistical error and this prompts an extensive search for all possible sub-per cent level systematic errors which could previously be safely ignored. In this paper, we analyse the potential systematics in BAO fitting methodology using mocks and data from BOSS DR10 and DR11. We demonstrate the robustness of the fiducial multipole fitting methodology to be at 0.1–0.2 per cent level with a wide range of tests in mock galaxy catalogues pre- and post-reconstruction. We also find the DR10 and DR11 data from BOSS to be robust against changes in methodology at a similar level. This systematic error budget is incorporated into the BOSS DR10 and DR11 BAO measurements. Of the wide range of changes we have investigated, we find that when fitting post-reconstructed data or mocks, the only change which has an effect >0.1 per cent on the best-fitting values of distance measurements is varying the order of the polynomials to describe the broad-band terms (∼0.2 per cent). Finally, we compare an alternative methodology denoted as Clustering Wedges with Multipoles, and find that it is consistent with the standard approach. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

We investigate the cosmological implications of the latest growth of structure measurement from the Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (BOSS) CMASS Data Release 11 with particular focus on the sum of the neutrino masses, ∑mν. We examine the robustness of the cosmological constraints from the baryon acoustic oscillation (BAO) scale, the Alcock–Paczynski effect and redshift-space distortions (DV/rs, FAP, fσ8) of Beutler et al., when introducing a neutrino mass in the power spectrum template. We then discuss how the neutrino mass relaxes discrepancies between the cosmic microwave background (CMB) and other low-redshift measurements within Λ cold dark matter. Combining our cosmological constraints with 9-year Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP9) yields ∑mν = 0.36 ± 0.14 eV (68 per cent c.l.), which represents a 2.6σ preference for non-zero neutrino mass. The significance can be increased to 3.3σ when including weak lensing results and other BAO constraints, yielding ∑mν = 0.35 ± 0.10 eV (68 per cent c.l.). However, combining CMASS with Planck data reduces the preference for neutrino mass to ∼2σ. When removing the CMB lensing effect in the Planck temperature power spectrum (by marginalizing over AL), we see shifts of ∼1σ in σ8 and Ωm, which have a significant effect on the neutrino mass constraints. In the case of CMASS plus Planck without the AL lensing signal, we find a preference for a neutrino mass of ∑mν = 0.34 ± 0.14 eV (68 per cent c.l.), in excellent agreement with the WMAP9+CMASS value. The constraint can be tightened to 3.4σ yielding ∑mν = 0.36 ± 0.10 eV (68 per cent c.l.) when weak lensing data and other BAO constraints are included. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We test the cosmological implications of studying galaxy clustering using a tomographic approach, by computing the galaxy two-point angular correlation function ω(θ) in thin redshift shells using a spectroscopic redshift galaxy survey. The advantages of this procedure are that it is not necessary to assume a fiducial cosmology in order to convert measured angular positions and redshifts into distances, and that it gives several (less accurate) measurements of the angular diameter distance DA(z) instead of only one (more precise) measurement of the effective average distance DV(z), which results in better constraints on the expansion history of the Universe. We test our model for ω(θ) and its covariance matrix against a set of mock galaxy catalogues and show that this technique is able to extract unbiased cosmological constraints. Also, assuming the best-fitting Λ cold dark matter (ΛCDM) cosmology from the cosmic microwave background measurements from the Planck satellite, we forecast the result of applying this tomographic approach to the final Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey catalogue in combination with Planck for three flat cosmological models, and compare them with the expected results of the isotropic baryon acoustic oscillation (BAO) measurements post-reconstruction on the same galaxy catalogue combined with Planck. While BAOs are more accurate for constraining cosmological parameters for the standard ΛCDM model, the tomographic technique gives better results when we allow the dark energy equation of state wDE to deviate from −1, resulting in a performance similar to BAOs in the case of a constant value of wDE, and a moderate improvement in the case of a time-dependent value of wDE, increasing the value of the figure of merit in the w0–wa plane up to 15 per cent. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

We analyse the anisotropic clustering of the Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (BOSS) CMASS Data Release 11 (DR11) sample, which consists of 690 827 galaxies in the redshift range 0.43 < z < 0.7 and has a sky coverage of 8498 deg2. We perform our analysis in Fourier space using a power spectrum estimator suggested by Yamamoto et al. We measure the multipole power spectra in a self-consistent manner for the first time in the sense that we provide a proper way to treat the survey window function and the integral constraint, without the commonly used assumption of an isotropic power spectrum and without the need to split the survey into subregions. The main cosmological signals exploited in our analysis are the baryon acoustic oscillations and the signal of redshift space distortions, both of which are distorted by the Alcock–Paczynski effect. Together, these signals allow us to constrain the distance ratio DV(zeff)/rs(zd) = 13.89 ± 0.18, the Alcock–Paczynski parameter FAP(zeff) = 0.679 ± 0.031 and the growth rate of structure f (zeff)σ8(zeff) = 0.419 ± 0.044 at the effective redshift zeff = 0.57. We emphasize that our constraints are robust against possible systematic uncertainties. In order to ensure this, we perform a detailed systematics study against CMASS mock galaxy catalogues and N-body simulations. We find that such systematics will lead to 3.1 per cent uncertainty for fσ8 if we limit our fitting range to k = 0.01–0.20 h Mpc−1, where the statistical uncertainty is expected to be three times larger. We did not find significant systematic uncertainties for DV/rs or FAP. Combining our data set with Planck to test General Relativity (GR) through the simple γ-parametrization, where the growth rate is given by $f(z) = \Omega ^{\gamma }_{\rm m}(z)$, reveals a ∼2σ tension between the data and the prediction by GR. The tension between our result and GR can be traced back to a tension in the clustering amplitude σ8 between CMASS and Planck. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

We present results on the clustering of 282 068 galaxies in the Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (BOSS) sample of massive galaxies with redshifts 0.4 < z < 0.7 which is part of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey III project. Our results cover a large range of scales from ∼500 to ∼90 h−1 Mpc. We compare these estimates with the expectations of the flat Λ cold dark matter (ΛCDM) standard cosmological model with parameters compatible with Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe 7 data. We use the MultiDark cosmological simulation, one of the largest N-body runs presently available, together with a simple halo abundance matching technique, to estimate galaxy correlation functions, power spectra, abundance of subhaloes and galaxy biases. We find that the ΛCDM model gives a reasonable description to the observed correlation functions at z ≈ 0.5, which is remarkably good agreement considering that the model, once matched to the observed abundance of BOSS galaxies, does not have any free parameters. However, we find a ≳10 per cent deviation in the correlation functions for scales ≲ 1 and ∼10–40 h−1 Mpc. A more realistic abundance matching model and better statistics from upcoming observations are needed to clarify the situation. We also estimate that about 12 per cent of the ‘galaxies’ in the abundance-matched sample are satellites inhabiting central haloes with mass M ≳ 1014 h−1 M⊙. Using the MultiDark simulation, we also study the real-space halo bias b of the matched catalogue finding that b = 2.00 ± 0.07 at large scales, consistent with the one obtained using the measured BOSS-projected correlation function. Furthermore, the linear large-scale bias, defined using the extrapolated linear matter power spectrum, depends on the number density n of the abundance-matched sample as b = −0.048 − (0.594 ± 0.02)log10(n/ h3 Mpc−3). Extrapolating these results to baryon acoustic oscillation scales, we measure a scale-dependent damping of the acoustic signal produced by non-linear evolution that leads to ∼2–4 per cent dips at ≳ 3σ level for wavenumbers k ≳ 0.1 h Mpc−1 in the linear large-scale bias. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present a fast method for producing mock galaxy catalogues that can be used to compute the covariance of large-scale clustering measurements and test analysis techniques. Our method populates a second-order Lagrangian perturbation theory (2LPT) matter field, where we calibrate masses of dark matter haloes by detailed comparisons with N-body simulations. We demonstrate that the clustering of haloes is recovered at ∼10 per cent accuracy. We populate haloes with mock galaxies using a halo occupation distribution (HOD) prescription, which has been calibrated to reproduce the clustering measurements on scales between 30 and 80 h−1 Mpc. We compare the sample covariance matrix from our mocks with analytic estimates, and discuss differences. We have used this method to make catalogues corresponding to Data Release 9 of the Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (BOSS), producing 600 mock catalogues of the ‘CMASS’ galaxy sample. These mocks have enabled detailed tests of methods and errors, and have formed an integral part of companion analyses of these galaxy data. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

ABSTRACT We analyse the anisotropic clustering of massive galaxies from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey III Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (BOSS) Data Release 9 (DR9) sample, which consists of 264 283 galaxies in the redshift range 0.43 < z < 0.7 spanning 3275 deg2. Both peculiar velocities and errors in the assumed redshift-distance relation ('Alcock-Paczynski effect') generate correlations between clustering amplitude and orientation with respect to the line of sight. Together with the sharp baryon acoustic oscillation (BAO) standard ruler, our measurements of the broad-band shape of the monopole and quadrupole correlation functions simultaneously constrain the comoving angular diameter distance (2190 ± 61 Mpc) to z = 0.57, the Hubble expansion rate at z = 0.57 (92.4 ± 4.5 km s−1 Mpc−1) and the growth rate of structure at that same redshift (dσ8/d ln a = 0.43 ± 0.069). Our analysis provides the best current direct determination of both DA and H in galaxy clustering data using this technique. If we further assume a Λcold dark matter expansion history, our growth constraint tightens to dσ8/d ln a = 0.415 ± 0.034. In combination with the cosmic microwave background, our measurements of DA, H and dσ8/d ln a all separately require dark energy at z > 0.57, and when combined imply ΩΛ = 0.74 ± 0.016, independent of the Universe's evolution at z < 0.57. All of these constraints assume scale-independent linear growth, and assume general relativity to compute both [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT We describe the construction of a suite of galaxy cluster mock catalogues from N-body simulations, based on the properties of the new ROSAT-ESO Flux Limited X-Ray (REFLEX II) galaxy cluster catalogue. Our procedure is based on the measurements of the cluster abundance, and involves the calibration of the underlying scaling relation linking the mass of dark matter haloes to the cluster X-ray luminosity determined in the ROSAT energy band 0.1-2.4 keV. In order to reproduce the observed abundance in the luminosity range probed by the REFLEX II X-ray luminosity function [0.01 < LX/(1044 erg s−1 h−2) < 10], a mass-X-ray luminosity relation deviating from a simple power law is required. We discuss the dependence of the calibration of this scaling relation on the X-ray luminosity and the definition of halo masses and analyse the one- and two-point statistical properties of the mock catalogues. Our set of mock catalogues provides samples with self-calibrated scaling relations of galaxy clusters together with inherent properties of flux-limited surveys. This makes them a useful tool to explore different systematic effects and statistical methods involved in constraining both astrophysical and cosmological information from present and future galaxy cluster surveys. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT With the advent of very large volume, wide-angle photometric redshift surveys like e.g. Panoramic Survey Telescope and Rapid Response System, Dark Energy Survey or Physics of the Accelerating Universe, which aim at using the spatial distribution of galaxies as a means to constrain the equation of state parameter of dark energy, wDE, it has become extremely important to understand the influence of redshift inaccuracies on the measurement. We have developed a new model for the anisotropic two-point large-scale ( r≳64 h−1 Mpc) correlation function [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT We obtain constraints on cosmological parameters from the spherically averaged redshift-space correlation function of the CMASS Data Release 9 (DR9) sample of the Baryonic Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (BOSS). We combine this information with additional data from recent cosmic microwave background (CMB), supernova and baryon acoustic oscillation measurements. Our results show no significant evidence of deviations from the standard flat Λ cold dark matter model, whose basic parameters can be specified by Ωm = 0.285 ± 0.009, 100 Ωb = 4.59 ± 0.09, ns = 0.961 ± 0.009, H0 = 69.4 ± 0.8 km s−1 Mpc−1 and σ8 = 0.80 ± 0.02. The CMB+CMASS combination sets tight constraints on the curvature of the Universe, with Ω k = −0.0043 ± 0.0049, and the tensor-to-scalar amplitude ratio, for which we find r < 0.16 at the 95 per cent confidence level (CL). These data show a clear signature of a deviation from scale invariance also in the presence of tensor modes, with ns < 1 at the 99.7 per cent CL. We derive constraints on the fraction of massive neutrinos of fν < 0.049 (95 per cent CL), implying a limit of ∑ mν < 0.51 eV. We find no signature of a deviation from a cosmological constant from the combination of all data sets, with a constraint of wDE = −1.033 ± 0.073 when this parameter is assumed time-independent, and no evidence of a departure from this value when it is allowed to evolve as wDE( a) = w0 + w a(1 − a). The achieved accuracy on our cosmological constraints is a clear demonstration of the constraining power of current cosmological observations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT 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 0.65 by combining data from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (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 modelled. 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 2. If we translate our measurements into a constraint on σ8( 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 Λ cold dark matter model and with GR. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT We analyse the density field of galaxies observed by the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS)-III Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (BOSS) included in the SDSS Data Release Nine (DR9). DR9 includes spectroscopic redshifts for over 400 000 galaxies spread over a footprint of 3275 deg2. We identify, characterize and mitigate the impact of sources of systematic uncertainty on large-scale clustering measurements, both for angular moments of the redshift-space correlation function, ξℓ( s), and the spherically averaged power spectrum, P( k), in order to ensure that robust cosmological constraints will be obtained from these data. A correlation between the projected density of stars and the higher redshift (0.43 < z < 0.7) galaxy sample (the approximately constant stellar mass threshold 'CMASS' sample) due to imaging systematics imparts a systematic error that is larger than the statistical error of the clustering measurements at scales s > 120 h−1 Mpc or k < 0.01 h Mpc−1. We find that these errors can be ameliorated by weighting galaxies based on their surface brightness and the local stellar density. The clustering of CMASS galaxies found in the Northern and Southern Galactic footprints of the survey generally agrees to within 2σ. We use mock galaxy catalogues that simulate the CMASS selection function to determine that randomly selecting galaxy redshifts in order to simulate the radial selection function of a random sample imparts the least systematic error on ξℓ( s) measurements and that this systematic error is negligible for the spherically averaged correlation function, ξ0. We find a peak in ξ0 at s∼ 200 h−1 Mpc, with a corresponding feature with period ∼0.03 h Mpc−1 in P( k), and find features at least as strong in 4.8 per cent of the mock galaxy catalogues, concluding this feature is likely to be a consequence of cosmic variance. The methods we recommend for the calculation of clustering measurements using the CMASS sample are adopted in companion papers that locate the position of the baryon acoustic oscillation feature, constrain cosmological models using the full shape of ξ0 and measure the rate of structure growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT We obtain cosmological constraints from a measurement of the spherically averaged power spectrum of the distribution of about 90 000 luminous red galaxies (LRGs) across 7646 deg2 in the Northern Galactic Cap from the seventh data release (DR7) of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. The errors and mode correlations are estimated thanks to the 160 LasDamas mock catalogues, created in order to simulate the same galaxies and to have the same selection as the data. We apply a model that can accurately describe the full shape of the power spectrum with the use of a small number of free parameters. Using the LRG power spectrum, in combination with the latest measurement of the temperature and polarization anisotropy in the cosmic microwave background (CMB), the luminosity-distance relation from the largest available Type 1a supernovae (SNIa) data set and a precise determination of the local Hubble parameter, we obtain cosmological constraints for five different parameter spaces. When all the four experiments are combined, the flat ΛCDM model is characterized by , Ωb= 0.045 ± 0.001, ns= 0.963 ± 0.011, σ8= 0.802 ± 0.021 and H0= 71.2 ± 1.4 km s−1 Mpc−1. When we consider curvature as a free parameter, we do not detect deviations from flatness: Ωk= (1.6 ± 5.4) × 10−3, when only CMB and the LRG power spectrum are used; the inclusion of the other two experiments does not improve this result substantially. We also test for possible deviations from the cosmological constant paradigm. Considering the dark energy equation of state parameter wDE as time independent, we measure , if the geometry is assumed to be flat, otherwise. When describing wDE through a simple linear function of the scale factor, our results do not evidence any time evolution. In the next few years new experiments will allow us to measure the clustering of galaxies with a precision much higher than achievable today. Models like the one used here will be a valuable tool in order to achieve the full potentials of the observations and obtain unbiased constraints on the cosmological parameters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT The baryonic acoustic feature in galaxy clustering is a promising tool for constraining the nature of the cosmic acceleration, through measurements of expansion rates H and angular diameter distances DA. Angle-averaged measurements of clustering yield constraints on the quantity . However, to break the degeneracy between these two parameters one must measure the anisotropic clustering as a function of both line-of-sight (radial) and transverse separations. Here we investigate how to most effectively do so, using analytic techniques and mock catalogues. In particular, we examine multipole expansions of the correlation function and introduce 'clustering wedges'ξ(Δμ, s), where μ= s∥/ s and s∥ is the radial component of separation s. Both techniques allow strong constraints on H and DA, as expected. The radial wedges strongly depend on H and the transverse wedges are sensitive to DA. When analysing the full shape of ξ, we find similar constraints when using the clustering wedges and the monopole-quadrupole pair. We find additional improvement when using the hexadecapole, as previously mentioned in the literature. Our findings here demonstrate that wedge statistics provide a practical alternative technique to multipoles, which should be useful to test systematics and will provide comparable constraints. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT We present the power spectrum of galaxy clusters measured from the new ROSAT-ESO Flux-Limited X-Ray (REFLEX II) galaxy cluster catalogue. This new sample extends the flux limit of the original REFLEX catalogue to 1.8 × 10−12 erg s−1 cm−2, yielding a total of 911 clusters with ≥94 per cent completeness in redshift follow-up. The analysis of the data is improved by creating a set of 100 REFLEX II-catalogue-like mock galaxy cluster catalogues built from a suite of large-volume Λ cold dark matter (ΛCDM) N-body simulations (L-BASICC II). The measured power spectrum is in agreement with the predictions from a ΛCDM cosmological model. The measurements show the expected increase in the amplitude of the power spectrum with increasing X-ray luminosity. On large scales, we show that the shape of the measured power spectrum is compatible with a scale-independent bias and provide a model for the amplitude that allows us to connect our measurements with a cosmological model. By implementing a luminosity-dependent power-spectrum estimator, we observe that the power spectrum measured from the REFLEX II sample is weakly affected by flux-selection effects. The shape of the measured power spectrum is compatible with a featureless power spectrum on scales k > 0.01 h Mpc−1 and hence no statistically significant signal of baryonic acoustic oscillations can be detected. We show that the measured REFLEX II power spectrum displays signatures of non-linear evolution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present a new model for the full shape of the large-scale power spectrum based on renormalized perturbation theory. To test the validity of this prescription, we compare this model to power spectra measured in a suite of 50 large-volume, moderate-resolution N-body simulations. Our results indicate that this simple model provides an accurate description of the full shape of the power spectrum taking into account the effects of non-linear evolution, redshift-space distortions and halo bias for scales , making it a valuable tool for the analysis of forthcoming galaxy surveys. Even though its application is restricted to large scales, this prescription can provide tighter constraints on the dark energy equation of state parameter w than those obtained by modelling the baryonic acoustic oscillations signal only, where the information of the broad-band shape of the power spectrum is discarded. Our model is able to provide constraints comparable to those obtained by applying a similar model to the full shape of the correlation function, which is affected by different systematics. Hence, with accurate modelling of the power spectrum, the same cosmological information can be extracted from both statistics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We apply a new model for the spherically averaged correlation function at large pair separations to the measurement of the clustering of luminous red galaxies (LRGs) made from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey by Cabre & Gaztañaga. Our model takes into account the form of the baryonic acoustic oscillation peak and the large-scale shape of the correlation function. We perform a Monte Carlo Markov chain analysis for different combinations of data sets and for different parameter sets. When used in combination with a compilation of the latest cosmic microwave background (CMB) measurements, the LRG clustering and the latest supernovae results give constraints on cosmological parameters which are comparable and in remarkably good agreement, resolving the tension reported in some studies. The best-fitting model in the context of a flat, Λ cold dark matter cosmology is specified by and . If we allow the time-independent dark energy equation of state parameter to vary, we find results consistent with a cosmological constant at the 5 per cent level using all data sets: . The large-scale structure measurements by themselves can constrain the dark energy equation-of-state parameter to , independently of CMB or supernovae data. We do not find convincing evidence for an evolving equation of state. We provide a set of ‘extended distance priors’ that contain the most relevant information from the CMB power spectrum and the shape of the LRG correlation function which can be used to constrain dark energy models and spatial curvature. Our model should provide an accurate description of the clustering even in much larger, forthcoming surveys, such as those planned with NASA's JDEM or ESA's Euclid mission. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Oscillations in the baryon–photon fluid prior to recombination imprint different signatures on the power spectrum and correlation function of matter fluctuations. The measurement of these features using galaxy surveys has been proposed as means to determine the equation of state of the dark energy. The accuracy required to achieve competitive constraints demands an extremely good understanding of systematic effects which change the baryonic acoustic oscillation (BAO) imprint. We use 50 very large volume N-body simulations to investigate the BAO signature in the two-point correlation function. The location of the BAO bump does not correspond to the sound horizon scale at the level of accuracy required by future measurements, even before any dynamical or statistical effects are considered. Careful modelling of the correlation function is therefore required to extract the cosmological information encoded on large scales. We find that the correlation function is less affected by scale-dependent effects than the power spectrum. We show that a model for the correlation function proposed by Crocce & Scoccimarro, based on renormalized perturbation theory, gives an essentially unbiased measurement of the dark energy equation of state. This means that information from the large-scale shape of the correlation function, in addition to the form of the BAO peak, can be used to provide robust constraints on cosmological parameters. The correlation function therefore provides a better constraint on the distance scale (∼50 per cent smaller errors with no systematic bias) than the more conservative approach required when using the power spectrum (i.e. which requires amplitude and long-wavelength shape information to be discarded). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Published galaxy power spectra from the two-degree field galaxy redshift survey (2dFGRS) and Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) are not in good agreement. We revisit this issue by analysing both the 2dFGRS and SDSS Data Release 5 (DR5) catalogues using essentially identical techniques. We confirm that the 2dFGRS exhibits relatively more large-scale power than the SDSS, or, equivalently, SDSS has more small-scale power. We demonstrate that this difference is due to the r-band selected SDSS catalogue being dominated by more strongly clustered red galaxies, which have a stronger scale-dependent bias. The power spectra of galaxies of the same rest-frame colours from the two surveys match well. If not accounted for, the difference between the SDSS and 2dFGRS power spectra causes a bias in the obtained constraints on cosmological parameters which is larger than the uncertainty with which they are determined. We also found that the correction developed by Cole et al. to model the distortion in the shape of the power spectrum due to non-linear evolution and scale-dependent bias is not able to reconcile the constraints obtained from the 2dFGRS and SDSS power spectra. Intriguingly, the model is able to describe the differences between the 2dFGRS and the much more strongly clustered Luminous Red Galaxy (LRG) sample, which exhibits greater non-linearities. This shows that more work is needed to understand the relation between the galaxy power spectrum and the linear perturbation theory prediction for the power spectrum of matter fluctuations. It is therefore important to accurately model these effects to get precise estimates of cosmological parameters from these power spectra and from future galaxy surveys like Pan-STARRS, or the Dark Energy Survey, which will use selection criteria similar to the one of SDSS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]